Most gas and electric log splitters are full-beam, which means the bed is long enough to support the entire log. While there are a few other differences, the main difference with a half-beam log splitter is that the bed is shorter, so part of the hydraulic cylinder—that’s the moving part of the tool that applies the splitting force to the log—is unsupported. That doesn’t affect the power or performance of the tool, however; there are half-beam log splitters with just as much tonnage as  their full-beam counterparts.  In terms of your buying decision, as a rough guideline, half-beam splitters are less expensive than full-beam splitters, and are also lighter, which makes them easier to maneuver. However, full-beam splitters are easier to tow behind a car, which can be a major issue if you often need to take your log splitter to distant worksites.