Chainsaws

[mikim]

I bought a 16" poulan at Lowes for about $120 and it works great - but never being satisfied I'm looking hard at a Husky that Baileys has for sale right now for $290 - figure to put a 20" bar on it then I'll have 3 saws again - the other is my wifes 14" echo that is old and also a great saw - very dependable - starts easy - Sears : who makes them this year? I believe they change their contractor every so often.

 

[Rockyroad]

I'll add my two cents. I have a Stihl 045 that I bought over 20 years ago. It still runs great and is the saw I grab when I have any serious cutting to do. I cleared my land with it, and it has done a lot of firewood cutting. I still use it, and it does not owe me a dime. Has electronic ignition, and it always starts up on the 2nd or 3rd pull. It is powerful, but heavy. Built like the proverbial brick commode.

I had a Homelite for the same period of time, lighter and more pleasant to use on light cutting. It recently expired.

I went to the "big box" and bought a Poulan Wild Thing on sale for about $100 as a replacement for my small saw. Next to the Stihl, it feels like a disposable saw. However, it has been working fine and I have been using it on all my firewood this year except for the heavy stuff, for which I still use the 045.

The nice thing about the Poulan is the price. If you are going to be just using the saw occassionally, then it is probably OK. As someone pointed out on another post, you can buy and burn out several Poulan's for the price of one of the higher end saws.

The Poulan will definitely be better for light cutting because of its weight due to the plastic casing. But for pruning, I bought an Echo "chainsaw on a stick" that is super. It has about a 10 foot pole and is really great for pruinig limbs etc. If I need more height, I stand in the bucket of my FEL fo get another couple of feet off the ground. The bonus is that the power unit separates from the attachments. I have the mini-cultivator that snaps on, the pruning saw attachment, and I will probably buy the weed wacker attachment next spring. Echo is definitely good stuff!

 

[gbirky]

You've got lots of good advice here. All I can say is that 10 years ago I bought a 14" Craftsman chainsaw, built by Poulan, for $100. It's light, and does most of what I need it for. In its first 8 years I probably cut 30 or 40 cords of firewood including downing two poplar trees that were 28" in diameter at the base. It never failed to start easily, and I've never even changed the spark plug. Recently I began cutting more firewood and decided to get a saw with the vibration isolating system. Since I had such good luck with my 14" Craftsman, I found Sears had their 16" saw with the vibration isolation, made by Poulan, on sale for $120. I bought it and it has also performed flawlessly. So in the last 10 years, Craftsman has stuck to Poulan. By the way, when I bought my 16" Craftsman saw, Home Depot had the same saw labeled as a Poulan for about $20 more.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I made the mistake of purchasing one of the supposedly rugged "homeowner" type saws from the big box store when we first bought this property. Two trees and three months were all it lasted. I now have a Stihl Farmboss .029 with an 18" bar. It was only $100 more than the other saw and is about 10 times the machine. No question...it was worth the investment.

 

[dkchandler]

My 2 cents. I am on my 4th chainsaw. I have an old 1980's McCullough MAC 10-10 20" which always had carburetor problems, a Poulan "Wild Thing" 18", which is a good saw just no power, a Craftsman 18" which is the worst chainsaw ever, I gave it away; every time it heated up it would not crank until it completely cooled down. My wife finally purchased the great saw I have now which is a Stihl 029 20", yes it is a little heavy but it will cut oak like butter. Always cranks, always runs great!

 

[Soundguy]

At work we have a nice sthil.. but mainly we use homelight and poulan.. they aren't as heavy duty and don't hold up like the sthil.. but you get 2-3 for the price...

Soundguy

 

[IRTEXN]

Thanks everyone for your help. I went ahead and bought a Stihl today. It's a small one a 017 w/16" chain but I think it will handle all I have to do. I found a dealer in Cut-N-Shoot Tx who gave me a good price so I ended up getting the Stihl for about $40 more than I could get a poulan or craftsman. Tomorrow it's "Trees Beware" Thanks again

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

I have had a McCullough and a Poulan both of which run O.K., once you get them started! My next one will be a Stihl also!

 

[RobertN]

I have not seen the pro's using Echo's here in the States. I wonder if you are getting a different model there. If you go out in the field around here, you see Husky and Stihl.

If you look in the compartments of any apparatus in our fire district, you'll find a Husky or Stihl almost every time. I think there is an older Echo on our stations water tender, but the chances of it getting used are pretty small.

It is very hard to beat a Husky or Stihl, but that's not to say it can't be done. Interestingly, around these parts, one of the "other" pro models are Shindawa's.

I guess the market is like you get a Holden, we get a Chevy...

 

[mrcaptainbob]

I have a Stihl 031AV. It's an old timer. Bought it new arround 20 years ago or so. Wouldn't trade it for the world. For the abuse it's taken and the work it's done...best investment I've made......