Makita 6401
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The 6401 is sweet with a 20 inch bar. Never put a 24 on mine. Unless you are in big wood, the 20 will do fine. If you find the need for a 24 inch bar on occassion, I still do not think you need the big bore kit. Now want is a whole different cup of tea....
LD1
Epic Contributor
I agree that he doesnt "need" the kit. I only suggested it IF something were to go wrong with the top end in the near future.
As to bar length, I perfer a 24" bar. That it what I have on most of my saws. And it is NOT because we cut big wood all the time. The reason I like the 24" is because I dont have to bend over. For me, a 20" bar is harder on my back and tires me out quicker because of this.
crazyal
Super Member
I think I would go with the Makita as well. I've toyed with the idea of getting one and the big bore kit, a pretty cheap option for some real power in a saw.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I've never seen or even heard of Makita Chainsaws. Makita is my favorite power tool company, so I'm a big fan of their stuff already. What makes me nervous is where will you get service if you need it? if you have a place to get it worked on, then it might be worth buying. If not, walk away.
Echo is my favorite chain saw. I have to Stihl's and one Echo right now. I also have an Echo weed eater. The Echo is just night and day easier to start compared to the Stihl's that I own. When they die, I will only buy Echo for now on.
Eddie
Echo is my favorite chain saw. I have to Stihl's and one Echo right now. I also have an Echo weed eater. The Echo is just night and day easier to start compared to the Stihl's that I own. When they die, I will only buy Echo for now on.
Eddie
LD1
Epic Contributor
Makita bought Dolmar. Which used to be Sachs-Dolmar until the mid 90's. They have been around forever. Dolmar really does make a good saw, and they are made in germany. The makitas model #'s all start with DCS. For example, DCS6401. That stands for Dolmar Chain Saw.
As far a service, at least around here, saw shops will work on ANY make of saw. They are basically all the same. Knowing how to rebuild, tune, etc is pretty much the same for all of them. Warrenty work is a different story though. I am not sure where you would go. But I dont own any makitas, all of mine are orange dolmars. And we do happen to have an excellent dealer in our neck of the woods.
crazyal
Super Member
Makita saws are made by Dolmar so any Dolmar dealer should be able to help you out. I would also expect that any Makita repair center would also be able to order any parts you need or do warranty work. Makita also makes a gas powered cut off saw. If I'm not mistaken one of them also has a 64cc engine.
Which is a Dolmar, too.
We have had a Dolmar 120 si as the first saw at the VFD and it was a bunch of junk, lot of carb probs, guess they had a kind of variable nozzles, that was not working correctly. But that is 20 years ago. Coworker owns a PS 34, to make repair on it is not as convinient as on a Stihl of same size, but that doesnｴt really matter.
But Iｴm not sure, if it makes sense to compare used vs. new.
On the other side, the 290 is not the best piece of german engineering. We own a 290 beside of all the other Stihls (181 to 064), VFD has received 2 of them, too and I have to agree: Itｴs to heavy for itｴs size and the Performance also could be better.
LD1
Epic Contributor
The 120SI is one of the BEST saws dolmar ever made.
The carb is just like any other chainsaw. The only difference is in the choke. It does NOT have a choke butterfly, rather it has an enrichening jet/port that is opened to increase the amount of fuel @ start-up. But once the saw is started and is running, and the "choke" si shut off, the carb runs just like any other.
It is possible that the carb got mis-adjusted or out of whack. But it doesent matter what brand or what model of saw, if the carb is not set properly, it is going to seem like a peice of junk.