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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:15:50 AM EDT
[#1]
I swear by my Stihl.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:16:18 AM EDT
[#2]
I had a 14" Poulan that worked fine for me for many years. Finally, I just used it up. It refused to start - had spark, compression - just refused. After asking the same basic question you're asking in this thread, I got a Stihl MS 170 for a hundred eighty bucks. Honestly, the difference is like night and day. The Stihl handles better, cuts better, starts better, runs better... the Stihl is hands-down a better saw than the Poulan was even on it's best day. If I had it to do over again, I never would have bought that Poulan in the first place. YMMV.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:17:35 AM EDT
[#3]
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:18:48 AM EDT
[#4]
Stihl for sure, I have the ms290 farm boss, you cant kill it.
seriously when you shut it off it keeps running... just kidding 
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:24:52 AM EDT
[#5]
I got a Poulan 18" "Wild Thing" Gas Chainsaw after hurricane Katrina and it works great.I've cut tons with it.
eta: I see all that was stated before I posted, but it shouldn't hurt to repeat it. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:27:08 AM EDT
[#6]
Quoted: You have 3 choices: -Stihl -Huskie -everything else. Stick with the first two. Hardly. Dolmar, Jonsered, EFCO, Shindaiwa and Redmax all make top-shelf professional saws. Stihl is the market leader with a large dealer network, that's their only real advantage. In fact, in power to weight & cost some of their competitors are better buys. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:27:44 AM EDT
[#7]
my dad has the ms310 and he forgot to mix oil into the gas and ran a few tanks before it siezed up. We sprayed wd40 into the piston and it freed up and is still cutting firewood today. that was about 6 years ago.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:27:59 AM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I been wonderin about this myself. We need "the Chart" for chainsaws... How 'bout a "box o' truth"? Let me see what I can do... 
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:29:55 AM EDT
[#9]
Quoted:
I hate chainsaws...never start when you want them to...many hours cussing over chainsaws... This. PITA to start, pulling on that cord fucking forever. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:37:08 AM EDT
[#10]
Quoted:
Quoted:
You have 3 choices: -Stihl -Huskie -everything else. Stick with the first two. Hardly. Dolmar, Jonsered, EFCO, Shindaiwa and Redmax all make top-shelf professional saws. Stihl is the market leader with a large dealer network, that's their only real advantage. In fact, in power to weight & cost some of their competitors are better buys. Jonsered makes a damn fine saw,never used a dolmar but i hear they are good as well,but like you said, no dealer network,no sale.Stihl and husky make a lot of low and medium use saws,when you get into pro grade its a different ball game.The stihl pro line is on par with any other brand imho. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:05:17 AM EDT
[#11]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I hate chainsaws...never start when you want them to...many hours cussing over chainsaws... This. PITA to start, pulling on that cord fucking forever. Heres a pic of my dads old pioneer p28 made in 1980. The last time it cut a piece of wood was in 1989, a year before he passed. I start it once a year and today happened to be that day....she still runs great and started on the 5th pull. Not to bad for not being run in a year.
This is why a person should spend an extra $150 on a saw and not buy bottom shelf. It will run long after your gone..... Taken 5 minutes ago..... 
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:08:57 AM EDT
[#12]
I have an 18" Husqvarna and it rocks!!!
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:09:49 AM EDT
[#13]
I've got an old Stihl 011 which was my Dad's until he decided to buy a new saw, I've had it for a decade. It's gotten pretty ornery in it's old age, and it takes a ton of babying to get it to start. I think it's just worn smooth out.
About 3 years ago I got a Echo 360T, it's been an amazing saw. I'm nothing but happy with it. All the rest of my yard tools are Echo as well. I cut several cords worth of wood every year: in yard maintenance, wood for the stove at the hunting lease, and out at my folks' place for their stove and BBQ. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:12:08 AM EDT
[#14]
I picked up and Echo about the same time my Dad got his Stihl (spelling?) An after useing them both, Ill keep my Echo
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:31:59 AM EDT
[#15]
Quoted: Oh boy, what a piece of fuck. I wrecked 2 of those crap magnets, before I bought my Stihl. The Homelights were cheap, but in the long run not worth it.Guys, the guy is going to trim some limbs once a year...he isn't going into tree surgeon business, pulpwooding, or even cutting down a few hickories and oaks every fall to feed the wood stove next year. OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it. This being arfcom, expect 100 posts of "stihl" and "husky", they are good saws, but they are overkill for 99% of the chainsaw using population. My dad's 16" homelite  has cut more trees than some of these guys have ever seen. Running the carb dry and keeping a sharp chain mean a whole lot more than what brand it is unless your job or life depends on the saw. A homelite or poulan will still be running 20-30 years from now if all it does is cut down several trees a year. But, you did ask "what's the best" not "what do I need", so everyone else here isn't incorrect.Nice to have a saw that starts up right away, and has plenty of power. Wish I'd have bought a Stihl years before I did. I just kept looking at the price. Was TOO CHEAP to buy quality. You get what you pay for. No more no less. The kind of guy that buys a Homelite, puts a Tasco scope on an AR.  |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:36:04 AM EDT
[#16]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Oh boy, what a piece of fuck. I wrecked 2 of those crap magnets, before I bought my Stihl. The Homelights were cheap, but in the long run not worth it.
Guys, the guy is going to trim some limbs once a year...he isn't going into tree surgeon business, pulpwooding, or even cutting down a few hickories and oaks every fall to feed the wood stove next year. OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it. This being arfcom, expect 100 posts of "stihl" and "husky", they are good saws, but they are overkill for 99% of the chainsaw using population. My dad's 16" homelite has cut more trees than some of these guys have ever seen. Running the carb dry and keeping a sharp chain mean a whole lot more than what brand it is unless your job or life depends on the saw. A homelite or poulan will still be running 20-30 years from now if all it does is cut down several trees a year. But, you did ask "what's the best" not "what do I need", so everyone else here isn't incorrect.Nice to have a saw that starts up right away, and has plenty of power. Wish I'd have bought a Stihl years before I did. I just kept looking at the price. Was TOO CHEAP to buy quality. You get what you pay for. No more no less. The kind of guy that buys a Homelite, puts a Tasco scope on an AR.
No,the kind of guy that buys a homelite,has never used a chainsaw before 
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:51:15 AM EDT
[#17]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Guys, the guy is going to trim some limbs once a year...he isn't going into tree surgeon business, pulpwooding, or even cutting down a few hickories and oaks every fall to feed the wood stove next year. OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it. This being arfcom, expect 100 posts of "stihl" and "husky", they are good saws, but they are overkill for 99% of the chainsaw using population. My dad's 16" homelite has cut more trees than some of these guys have ever seen. Running the carb dry and keeping a sharp chain mean a whole lot more than what brand it is unless your job or life depends on the saw. A homelite or poulan will still be running 20-30 years from now if all it does is cut down several trees a year. But, you did ask "what's the best" not "what do I need", so everyone else here isn't incorrect. Yeah, if you want to have a running saw for a year or two. Those things are junk. Ymmv. "YMMV" or "what do you do with it"? As I said, loggers, pulpwooders, tree surgeons, etc that use a saw nearly every day, year round, need a better saw. The people who trim a few limbs once a year don't. All I know is that given sharp chains and proper care those "cheap" saws will last 20+ years on a farm felling and bucking a few trees a year for firewood and the occasional dead tree that's threatening a fenceline. Felling and bucking half a dozen oaks is more chainsaw work than 99% of chainsaw owners, including the OP and most of the self-described experts on this board, will ever do in their lifetime, much less in a year, and it certainly won't overwork a lowly homelite. True, that homelite gave up the ghost after about 25 years. Considering a stihl or husky cost 3-5 times as much, I'd say dad still got his money's worth. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 10:08:18 AM EDT
[#18]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Oh boy, what a piece of fuck. I wrecked 2 of those crap magnets, before I bought my Stihl. The Homelights were cheap, but in the long run not worth it.
Guys, the guy is going to trim some limbs once a year...he isn't going into tree surgeon business, pulpwooding, or even cutting down a few hickories and oaks every fall to feed the wood stove next year. OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it. This being arfcom, expect 100 posts of "stihl" and "husky", they are good saws, but they are overkill for 99% of the chainsaw using population. My dad's 16" homelite has cut more trees than some of these guys have ever seen. Running the carb dry and keeping a sharp chain mean a whole lot more than what brand it is unless your job or life depends on the saw. A homelite or poulan will still be running 20-30 years from now if all it does is cut down several trees a year. But, you did ask "what's the best" not "what do I need", so everyone else here isn't incorrect.Nice to have a saw that starts up right away, and has plenty of power. Wish I'd have bought a Stihl years before I did. I just kept looking at the price. Was TOO CHEAP to buy quality. You get what you pay for. No more no less. The kind of guy that buys a Homelite, puts a Tasco scope on an AR.
No,the kind of guy that buys a homelite,has never used a chainsaw before How about "the guy that buys a homelite needs a saw to keep the house warm in winter and may not have an extra 200 bucks lying around begging to be spent". Like I said, a homelite felled and bucked several trees a year for over 20 years. Then again, we also split everything with mauls because we didn't have money to rent or buy a logsplitter. Those of you maligning homelite, poulan, etc are the same ones who insist on nothing less than a $3500 AR with a $1000 scope to sit down at the 100 yard line and shoot holes in paper...something a sub-$1000 AR with a $300 scope will do just as well. If you want to spend several hundred bucks on a saw to trim one or two limbs off the pear tree in the front yard once a year, be my guest. But don't assume that normal saws don't do real work for real people for a real long time. Is a stihl better? Sure. Is it a few hundred dollars better? Sure. Do you need "few thundred dollars better" to trim a tree once a year? Not really. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 10:10:19 AM EDT
[#19]
It's been said many times but, I'll stick with my Stihl.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 10:51:08 AM EDT
[#20]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Oh boy, what a piece of fuck. I wrecked 2 of those crap magnets, before I bought my Stihl. The Homelights were cheap, but in the long run not worth it.
Guys, the guy is going to trim some limbs once a year...he isn't going into tree surgeon business, pulpwooding, or even cutting down a few hickories and oaks every fall to feed the wood stove next year. OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it. This being arfcom, expect 100 posts of "stihl" and "husky", they are good saws, but they are overkill for 99% of the chainsaw using population. My dad's 16" homelite has cut more trees than some of these guys have ever seen. Running the carb dry and keeping a sharp chain mean a whole lot more than what brand it is unless your job or life depends on the saw. A homelite or poulan will still be running 20-30 years from now if all it does is cut down several trees a year. But, you did ask "what's the best" not "what do I need", so everyone else here isn't incorrect.Nice to have a saw that starts up right away, and has plenty of power. Wish I'd have bought a Stihl years before I did. I just kept looking at the price. Was TOO CHEAP to buy quality. You get what you pay for. No more no less. The kind of guy that buys a Homelite, puts a Tasco scope on an AR.
No,the kind of guy that buys a homelite,has never used a chainsaw before How about "the guy that buys a homelite needs a saw to keep the house warm in winter and may not have an extra 200 bucks lying around begging to be spent". Like I said, a homelite felled and bucked several trees a year for over 20 years. Then again, we also split everything with mauls because we didn't have money to rent or buy a logsplitter. Those of you maligning homelite, poulan, etc are the same ones who insist on nothing less than a $3500 AR with a $1000 scope to sit down at the 100 yard line and shoot holes in paper...something a sub-$1000 AR with a $300 scope will do just as well. If you want to spend several hundred bucks on a saw to trim one or two limbs off the pear tree in the front yard once a year, be my guest. But don't assume that normal saws don't do real work for real people for a real long time. Is a stihl better? Sure. Is it a few hundred dollars better? Sure. Do you need "few thundred dollars better" to trim a tree once a year? Not really. I agree to a point,no you dont need an expensive saw to trim your trees,however if you want a saw that is reliable you will have to spend a bit of cash,Like i said I clear trees to pay the bills,in the past 10 yrs ive cut thousands of tons of wood ,I will be cutting tomorrow,at the end of the day I am too fucking tired to worry about draining the gas out of my carb.If your homelite works for you great,I do see your point dont get me wrong but not everyone has the ability or desire to work on a tool before the tool does work.I am coming from a different point of view ,if my saw cuts out on me at the wrong time it could be very very bad and I will probably lose more than an "extra 200 bucks" at that point.A homelite will trim your trees just fine providing you take very good care of it.Do you need a stihl?is it worth the extra cash?That all depends on how much value you place on your time. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:21:24 AM EDT
[#21]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I hate chainsaws...never start when you want them to...many hours cussing over chainsaws... This. PITA to start, pulling on that cord fucking forever. Heres a pic of my dads old pioneer p28 made in 1980. The last time it cut a piece of wood was in 1989, a year before he passed. I start it once a year and today happened to be that day....she still runs great and started on the 5th pull. Not to bad for not being run in a year.
This is why a person should spend an extra $150 on a saw and not buy bottom shelf. It will run long after your gone..... Taken 5 minutes ago..... http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv31/Arfcomfuknrules/sw.jpg It may start, but it wont cut too good without a chain. 
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:25:28 AM EDT
[#22]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I hate chainsaws...never start when you want them to...many hours cussing over chainsaws... This. PITA to start, pulling on that cord fucking forever. Heres a pic of my dads old pioneer p28 made in 1980. The last time it cut a piece of wood was in 1989, a year before he passed. I start it once a year and today happened to be that day....she still runs great and started on the 5th pull. Not to bad for not being run in a year.
This is why a person should spend an extra $150 on a saw and not buy bottom shelf. It will run long after your gone..... Taken 5 minutes ago..... http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv31/Arfcomfuknrules/sw.jpg It may start, but it wont cut too good without a chain. This is very true,Ive tried but it just dont work
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:37:39 AM EDT
[#23]
Stihl no brainer....
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:40:19 AM EDT
[#24]
Stihl of course. Get the MS 260 Professional with a 16'' bar. The extra length is a big help. It's also worth it to get the Pro models. My MS 361 has been perfect.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:43:38 AM EDT
[#25]
Quoted:
Stihl of course. Get the MS 260 Professional with a 16'' bar. The extra length is a big help. It's also worth it to get the Pro models. My MS 361 has been perfect. ms361 is the saw of saws,ive got 2 and they are awesome. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:44:49 AM EDT
[#26]
Quoted:
Stihl all the way. My father has cut 6 cords of wood per season since 1980 with his model 028. He has even dropped a tree on it once or twice, and it is still kickin. I own two myself and have never had a problem with them. happy shopping. That's what I use, no problems. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 11:51:26 AM EDT
[#27]
Husqvarna or Stihl.
We used both when cutting timber for weeks straight in the Australian Bush. They were the only ones that held up. We were constantly rebuilding or retiring the other (cheaper) brands. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:10:52 PM EDT
[#28]
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: You have 3 choices: -Stihl -Huskie -everything else. Stick with the first two. Hardly. Dolmar, Jonsered, EFCO, Shindaiwa and Redmax all make top-shelf professional saws. Stihl is the market leader with a large dealer network, that's their only real advantage. In fact, in power to weight & cost some of their competitors are better buys. Jonsered makes a damn fine saw,never used a dolmar but i hear they are good as well,but like you said, no dealer network,no sale.Stihl and husky make a lot of low and medium use saws,when you get into pro grade its a different ball game.The stihl pro line is on par with any other brand imho. I run Stihl equipment with my lawn biz, and I heartily agree they make fine stuff - I wouldn't use 'em otherwise. I just take exception to the idea that no no one else does. I use Cub commercial saws too (rebadged EFCO). They have a good dealer network, are ridiculously cheap for the quality, and are built like tanks....really good saws with nice features, and I use mine hard. I agree too about Stihl's pro stuff...they lead the industry there. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:12:16 PM EDT
[#29]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Stihl of course. Get the MS 260 Professional with a 16'' bar. The extra length is a big help. It's also worth it to get the Pro models. My MS 361 has been perfect. ms361 is the saw of saws,ive got 2 and they are awesome. That saw is my favorite out of the Stihl line. They're even better with a muffler mod. 
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:23:05 PM EDT
[#30]
Stihl and Husqvarna both make good small saws for your use and they won't break the bank at under $200.
I heat my house strictly with wood (mainly oak), been using a Husky 55 with an 18" bar for 10 years. Added a Husky 395 with both 24" and 36" bars for the big stuff 4 years ago. That 395 is a monster but when you get over 24" diameter logs it is great to have. Neither have let me down. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:25:04 PM EDT
[#31]
20 year Arborist (tree surgeon) here
buy a stihl Reliable, powerful, good safety features and easy to get parts if you break it. professionals run the orange abd white......... |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:30:09 PM EDT
[#32]
OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it.
This is absolutely true. On the other hand, I don't recall ever throwing a high-end tool down in disgust and screaming, "Damn, I wish I'd bought the cheaper one". I have an MS 361 and an MS 200. Love 'em. J |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:36:39 PM EDT
[#33]
Quoted: OP, you'll be fine with a 14" poulan if you insist on a gas saw. Your level of work (depending on how big your yard is) can be handled with an electric chainsaw. Keep a sharp chain, you'll be fine. If you want to spend $500 on a saw, you can, and it will be a great saw, but you don't need it. This is absolutely true. On the other hand, I don't recall ever throwing a high-end tool down in disgust and screaming, "Damn, I wish I'd bought the cheaper one". I have an MS 361 and an MS 200. Love 'em. J  |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:40:10 PM EDT
[#34]
This time last year I bought a Stihl. I think it would make a half-assed boat anchor. Biggest piece of junk I have ever bougth!
It's an MS 170. It starts fine most of the time. Start it & it runs fine. Turn it off to move brush or whatever. Start it again & the damn thing won't rev up & half ass runs. The dealer of course can't find a thing wrong with it. If it pisses me off one more time I'm going to take the sledge hammer to it! |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:40:42 PM EDT
[#35]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
You have 3 choices: -Stihl -Huskie -everything else. Stick with the first two. Hardly. Dolmar, Jonsered, EFCO, Shindaiwa and Redmax all make top-shelf professional saws. Stihl is the market leader with a large dealer network, that's their only real advantage. In fact, in power to weight & cost some of their competitors are better buys. Jonsered makes a damn fine saw,never used a dolmar but i hear they are good as well,but like you said, no dealer network,no sale.Stihl and husky make a lot of low and medium use saws,when you get into pro grade its a different ball game.The stihl pro line is on par with any other brand imho. I run Stihl equipment with my lawn biz, and I heartily agree they make fine stuff - I wouldn't use 'em otherwise. I just take exception to the idea that no no one else does. I use Cub commercial saws too (rebadged EFCO). They have a good dealer network, are ridiculously cheap for the quality, and are built like tanks....really good saws with nice features, and I use mine hard. I agree too about Stihl's pro stuff...they lead the industry there. I agree there are a lot of good companys out there, its a shame they arent more prevalant. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:41:34 PM EDT
[#36]
echo
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:43:49 PM EDT
[#37]
just remember you will get what you pay for, buy from a rep. dealer it will cost more ,but its worth it. my saw is 15 years old and stll going strong ! I have a stihl but any of those are good saws
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:46:22 PM EDT
[#38]
A year or so I would have said Husqvarna. Now I would probably say Stihl.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:49:21 PM EDT
[#39]
Quoted:
You have 3 choices: -Stihl -Huskie -everything else. Stick with the first two. +1 |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 12:54:44 PM EDT
[#40]
Where I work we sell Stihl and Echo and most people want the Stihl.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 1:33:57 PM EDT
[#41]
Quoted:
I agree to a point,no you dont need an expensive saw to trim your trees,however if you want a saw that is reliable you will have to spend a bit of cash,Like i said I clear trees to pay the bills,in the past 10 yrs ive cut thousands of tons of wood ,I will be cutting tomorrow,at the end of the day I am too fucking tired to worry about draining the gas out of my carb.If your homelite works for you great,I do see your point dont get me wrong but not everyone has the ability or desire to work on a tool before the tool does work.I am coming from a different point of view ,if my saw cuts out on me at the wrong time it could be very very bad and I will probably lose more than an "extra 200 bucks" at that point.A homelite will trim your trees just fine providing you take very good care of it.Do you need a stihl?is it worth the extra cash?That all depends on how much value you place on your time. I agree 100%, if you use a saw nearly every day year round you need a quality tool that can handle that level of use. The homelite was dad's. And, his experience may not be typical, because he religeously cared for his tools. I use a poulan...10 years old, still runs fine. But, I take care of it, and I don't cut wood every single day...more like a couple of days a year. I think the issue many people have with "cheap" saws is just like any other "cheap" item...the amount of care they take of something is directly proportional to what they spend on it. If JoeBob who trims a tree once a year needs to spend $300 on a saw in order to be motivated to care for it, then he needs to spend $300. Just like a rifle or car or house or anything else...sometimes when people don't buy top of the line they adopt an "don't give a shit, it's just a cheap POS" attitude about it. Now, a stihl won't handle having varnished and water contaminated unmixed fuel run through it any more than a homelite, but spending the extra on a stihl often results in people paying attention to what fuel can they fill it up with. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 3:34:18 PM EDT
[#42]
Man I appologize for poking fun at cheaper saws,but I think youve missed the point,a top shelf saw be it sthil,husky,jonsered or whatever will tolerate more abuse,I spent 800 bucks for each of my 361s and about 500 for my 360 I did not pay that kind of money so I could brag about how shiny and new my saws are,I paid that kind of money because I have a job to do and I dont have time to worry about the quality of premix i am using.I could go on all day about the durability of forged pistons and stouter cyls,but I doubt it would matter,Again I appologize for bagging on cheaper saws,but better is better and there is no denying it.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 3:42:55 PM EDT
[#43]
Quoted:
Buy a orange one. /thread |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 3:53:14 PM EDT
[#44]
Used my personal husky for work cutting straight lines for a 220 acre road profile survey in York, SC––––cut at least 250 trees and was 100% reliable........ STIHL and HUSKY can't really go wrong.....
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Posted: 9/18/2009 4:25:26 PM EDT
[#45]
I make no apologies for trashing cheap saws/ Like I said I wrecked two Homelites. Granted they were only 100 dollars or so. The fact of the matter is they were temperamental son-A-bitches.
Yea my Stihl pro series was 500, with an extra chain, but well worth it. I don't drain the gas every year. I don't run it out of gas. I just take it. fill it with gas, fill the chain lube, start it and use it. I do have 3 chains, so I always have a sharp one. Like the other member says. Your time id worth something. So is not being pissed off because the saw won't start, or run worth a shit when you need it. I wish I would have realised the error of my ways years ago. I have a couple of dead Elm trees, I have to take down soon. I know my saw will start and perform like it should. Oh yea. As a side note, I did the same thing with weedeaters. I have a Stihl there also. When I realised the quality of the chain saw, When it was time for a new weedeater, it was a no brainier.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 4:57:46 PM EDT
[#46]
I have a two acres with lots of pine trees, I wasted untold hours screwing with my Mac and Poulan POS saws. When I first bought my home I bought a Poulan 14" saw, and a couple of months later a friend that didn't know I already had a Chainsaw bought me a Mac 16". They were fine the first year, the second year having two was a blessing, because every time I went to use a saw one of them would refuse to start. The third year was the end of them. One fine February night we had an ice storm, and a tree fell down across the drive way, we live on a flag pole lot, which means that they only way onto and off the property is the driveway, which is about 25 feet wide. and lined with large trees on either side. With the driveway blocked nobody was going in or out.
I went to the saws, both of which had been cleaned, drained and maintained that fall, I had bought fresh gas and oil the day before in preparation, when we get ice, trees come down in my yard. Neither saw would start, the Poulan had a rotted fuel line, and wouldn't run, the mac was just a POS and wouldn't start, I cut the tree with an ax. Once the tree was cut in two I pulled the halves of the tree out of the way and went to town, I remembered seeing a small engine place on the way, and figured I would stop and get some fuel line for the Poulan. It turns out that the small engine place was a stocking Stihl dealer. They gave me the fuel line for free, and asked if there was anything else I needed, I said no, I was OK. However while I waited on them to find me the correct line I had been browsing through their displays, and noticed that they sold Stihl Farm Boss MS290 chainsaws with a 16" blade for $225, and an idea was born. Before I got out to my car I turned around and had them ring me up a new saw, they took it out back, fired it up and made sure it was working, gave me a six pack of oil, and some other stuff, and then mentioned that the model I was buying was on special because of the storm, $175 plus tax, with the extras. I haven't bought from anybody else since, and I haven't bought anything but Stihl since. Since then I have never had another yard power tool problem. The MS290 is a bargain at even $250, it will last a very long time, it will start up and run when you need it. I generally laugh at people who buy one tone diesel trucks to haul groceries home from Walmart, and buy gourmet kitchen appliances for wives who don't know how to turn a stove on much less what to do with it once it is on, but I see no point in buying anything other than Stihl saws, they are very reasonably priced, and out perform anything you will find at most Bigbox stores. I know lots of people are crazy about Husky saws, but my dad has one, he bought the top of the line Husky at Lowes, and he absolutely regrets it. His Husky starts every time, but the chain won't stay on, he can't cut anything because of the chain always jumping. He has even borrowed my Stihl for projects he didn't want to waste time getting done. He paid a lot more than I did for his saw by the way, and still ends up borrowing mine when the job has to be done the first time on time. ETA: Pikie, I think you and I have made the same mistakes and learned the same lessons, the first time my Lowes special weedeater acted up it was replaced by a Stihl, and it is a completely different experience, I never realized that using power tools didn't have to include spending more time futzing with the tool than actually working with it, owning Stihl products has made doing yard work just that, working on the yard, not a test of my small engine repair skills. |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 5:01:47 PM EDT
[#47]
Stihl
/thread |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 8:58:22 PM EDT
[#48]
I bought the MS310 today.... I'm gonna go try it out this weekend collecting firewood, so we'll see! - Clint |
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:04:29 PM EDT
[#49]
I was aimed at an orange saw of one type or another, but someone on here posted about a bunch of guys freaking out on arboristsite about some smaller Ryobi saws that were actually rebranded redmax GZ400's and are sold very cheap. That's what I plan on getting, most likely in the next week or two. It'll come out at about half what I was looking to spend on a Husky and likely a third of a Stihl.
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Posted: 9/18/2009 9:15:17 PM EDT
[#50]
Quoted:
I have a two acres with lots of pine trees, I wasted untold hours screwing with my Mac and Poulan POS saws. When I first bought my home I bought a Poulan 14" saw, and a couple of months later a friend that didn't know I already had a Chainsaw bought me a Mac 16". They were fine the first year, the second year having two was a blessing, because every time I went to use a saw one of them would refuse to start. The third year was the end of them. One fine February night we had an ice storm, and a tree fell down across the drive way, we live on a flag pole lot, which means that they only way onto and off the property is the driveway, which is about 25 feet wide. and lined with large trees on either side. With the driveway blocked nobody was going in or out. I went to the saws, both of which had been cleaned, drained and maintained that fall, I had bought fresh gas and oil the day before in preparation, when we get ice, trees come down in my yard. Neither saw would start, the Poulan had a rotted fuel line, and wouldn't run, the mac was just a POS and wouldn't start, I cut the tree with an ax. Once the tree was cut in two I pulled the halves of the tree out of the way and went to town, I remembered seeing a small engine place on the way, and figured I would stop and get some fuel line for the Poulan. It turns out that the small engine place was a stocking Stihl dealer. They gave me the fuel line for free, and asked if there was anything else I needed, I said no, I was OK. However while I waited on them to find me the correct line I had been browsing through their displays, and noticed that they sold Stihl Farm Boss MS290 chainsaws with a 16" blade for $225, and an idea was born. Before I got out to my car I turned around and had them ring me up a new saw, they took it out back, fired it up and made sure it was working, gave me a six pack of oil, and some other stuff, and then mentioned that the model I was buying was on special because of the storm, $175 plus tax, with the extras. I haven't bought from anybody else since, and I haven't bought anything but Stihl since. Since then I have never had another yard power tool problem. The MS290 is a bargain at even $250, it will last a very long time, it will start up and run when you need it. I generally laugh at people who buy one tone diesel trucks to haul groceries home from Walmart, and buy gourmet kitchen appliances for wives who don't know how to turn a stove on much less what to do with it once it is on, but I see no point in buying anything other than Stihl saws, they are very reasonably priced, and out perform anything you will find at most Bigbox stores. I know lots of people are crazy about Husky saws, but my dad has one, he bought the top of the line Husky at Lowes, and he absolutely regrets it. His Husky starts every time, but the chain won't stay on, he can't cut anything because of the chain always jumping. He has even borrowed my Stihl for projects he didn't want to waste time getting done. He paid a lot more than I did for his saw by the way, and still ends up borrowing mine when the job has to be done the first time on time. ETA: Pikie, I think you and I have made the same mistakes and learned the same lessons, the first time my Lowes special weedeater acted up it was replaced by a Stihl, and it is a completely different experience, I never realized that using power tools didn't have to include spending more time futzing with the tool than actually working with it, owning Stihl products has made doing yard work just that, working on the yard, not a test of my small engine repair skills. Top of the line Husqvarna saws are not sold at Lowes. Bottom and some middle grades are. That being said, a chain jumping off is usually a simple fix. Take it to a dealer and have it fixed. I own two Husqvarna saws, and when I need another it will also be a Husky. I really wish they didn't manufacturer the lower grade saws with their name on them though, it hurts their reputation. |
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