New chain saw

[dimock44]

Re: New chain saw

Just broke the frame yoke on a 21 year old Echo. Bought a husky rancher Pre EPA version. excellant saw. Hard to pull when cold. but starts in a couple of tries. Considered Stihl but got a deal on the husky. Hope it last as long as the old echo

 

[Chief101]

Re: New chain saw

If you get a Stihl of the right size for the job you have to do it will be the last time you have to ask this question. As I did a lot of commercial logging in the past and have mebe 4 saws leftover that look ratty but perform flawlessly, one is over 30 years old with 500.000miles on it. Chief Chief

 

[skimmer]

Re: New chain saw

Even though your buddy already gave you one I thought i'd put my 2 cents in since I climb trees and cut them down for a living, my advice if you want a saw for around the house go a stihl woodboss 250 a 260c, a 280 or a 290 farmboss, my personal favourite, or if the stuff your cutting is only small go for a miniboss or a woodboss 210. We use stihl and huskys, basically huskys will cut softwood quicker, and their lighter, better for when your up in the tree, but they'll struggle a bit more than a stihl with hardwoods, also if you drop a stihl 20 feet out of a tree it'll bounce a bit and be fine, drop a husky it'll shatter.

 

[Skinnywater]

Re: New chain saw

I usually cut 2 cord of firewood a year and prune 30 assorted trees.

My Sthil 028, 18" bar is perfect for the firewood but has gotten very heavy these days for the pruneing jobs.

I bought the saw new 18 years ago. It's a 5-6 pull on the first day of the season and it's a 3 pull start, cold, on any given day during the season.
If I run it out of gas, it's a 3 pull start. If i just shut it down, it's a 1 pull start.
It has done this from the first day I brought it home to three weeks ago.

The only time that this failed to occur has happend twice and are the only repairs it's ever need. Both times the fuel charge and fuel feed hose at the fuel tank were dry rotted and were sucking air.

The first time this happend was about 9 years ago, since it meant a trip to the local Sthil dealer for parts, I bought a second set of hoses to have around.
I just had to install the extra set of hoses this season.
The job takes close to 45 min to do.

I've never had to put a screwdriver to the idle or mixture adjustment screws once since it's break-in the first season.
Sthil has the original spark plug.

About 10 years ago bought a Sthil FS-something weed whacker. Same thing, all it's ever required last year were the same dry rotted fuel hoses. Only these take 20 minutes to replace.

Boat, car, tool or piece of equipment, I absolutely refuse to own it if it needs constant tinkering or fiddleing to keep it running.

 

[tomatolord]

Re: New chain saw

stihl
husk
deere (actually made by european company)

Now there are the homeowner models and the professional models.

The homeowners have more plastic like pull start gears etc so they are lighter - they wont last as long, they cut just as well.

the pros are heavier - made for longer use.

if you go to the respective sites you can compare the saws

my dad bought a husky farm pro - and it is a champ but heavy and he regrets it now, because he does not use it that often and it is too heavy for him.

The other mac and poulan - are just homeowner saws - made for light use and work ok if used as such.

I bought the deere 16 and it runs fine for 5 years now.

tomatolord

 

[kmk_7110]

Re: New chain saw

My father has a John Deere Chainsaw, works great, his has a pretty long bar on it. He uses it for logging mostly. They say nothing runs like a deere.

My father also has a Deere chain saw that is still running and he has 2 or 3 McCulloughs and they were always in the shops. Last year we needed a new saw and we got a Husky. Its very lightweight compared to the other older ones and runs like a champ Our electric leaf blower went and we got a husky and they use the same gas, so no mixing of different gases.

Buy the factory oil for the huskys because they will burn up on anything else because the oil is of higher grade. My fathers boss ate up one because of the cheapo oil he used and he is a dealer repairer of them. He sent it in and husky sent a new one and said to use their oil and thats why it went.