Why does the "Wild Thing" exist?

[EastTexFrank]

Not $700, but the MS200T is almost at $600. They do have a MS192T that is a lot less money than the MS200T. I don't sell a lot of top handle saws and most buying them are making a living with them. It seems that once a tree climber uses the 200T, that's all they will buy!

Yea, that's what the dealer told me but the price he quoted was over $600, heading towards $700. I know because I joked with him that I could almost get 18" saws for the price of that 12" one. For me, that's a lot of money for an occasional use saw, no matter how good. If I was making my living by using it then that would be something different. Generally though, I don't know why I didn't get a smaller, light saw years ago. They are almost a joy to use and all that is needed for most of the stuff I do around the house.

I've got a funny feeling though that I could kill off the Poulan this year clearing all the downed trees in the pasture if it ever stops rainng and the wind drops below 25 mph.

 

[BigE_]

Well, against my better judgment, I went ahead and bought the Remington 16" electric chainsaw. $89 for a "4 HP" motor (yeah, right). I was going to get the Poulan for $54, but the Remington had an auto oiler, which is way more convenient.

I used the Remington on Saturday for limbing and (re) cutting firewood to the proper length. The biggest piece I tried was some 15" diameter green maple, and it bogged down on that. For cutting limbs and whatnot, it worked great, though. It has an Oregon bar and chain on it, so at least on that part they didn't save the pennies.

It was *very* nice being able to just pick it up and pull the trigger to cut through a limb. Constant cutting, a gas saw would work better, but the stop and start cutting I was doing, this was definitely the tool for the job.

There were a few things I don't like about it that will probably make it go back to the store.

1.) No auto brake. Let go of the trigger, and it takes 10-15 seconds for the chain to stop moving. This also means if I get a kickback, it ain't stopping either.
2.) Holding it one-handed, the weight of the saw presses down on the trigger finger, making it hard to stop. Yeah, I know, you aren't supposed to hold a chainsaw one-handed, but sometimes you gotta. I don't make it a practice.
3.) The chain likes to bounce around on the cut before it starts, unless you start the cut with the gripping teeth up against the wood. Fine, if you are cross-cutting to length, but not so good if you are limbing. Regular gas saw doesn't do this. Maybe it needs to be sharpened? Chain not moving quite as fast as a gas saw?

The Stihl electric saw is $400. That's a big ouch on the wallet, but it might have to happen.


On the Homelite front, my father in law has had one of those going on 40 years, and it just won't die. This is a top handle saw, with the trigger in the middle, and since he is left handed, this works out great for him. He also has a 028 Stihl, but uses the Homelite for limbing.

I used a McCollough this weekend as well (borrowing it). Older model with a 14" blade. Starts easy thanks to the priming bulb. Supposed to be 32cc, but really started bogging down trying to get through some 13" diameter stuff. Worked great for limbing, sucked for cross-cutting. Would get you by if you only needed a saw occasionally.

My $0.03 (inflation adjusted)
-Steve

 

[BigE_]

You can generally pick up a Stihl 020 (older version of the MS200) for around $150 used around here. Watch Craigslist. A top handle saw is a nice thing to have....

 

[kenmac]

Why does the Wild Thing Exist ?? So, repair shops will have something to do !

I have to admit that I owned 1 once. It broke within 1 week That's when I bought a husky

 

[shinnlinger]

My father and a neighbor both have identical 30+ year old JOnsereds...they won't die!

I have a 10+year old Jonsered I bought used that keeps going also. I have have heard nothing but good things about Dolmar and my experience with Husky has not been good, even though they own Jonsered now.

Anywhoo, about the Wild THing, I understand that it is only engineered for 20 hours of use, so if you get more than that out of it you are lucky. Does that make it a good value?

You can spend less than 3x what you would blow on a wild thing (that will be lucky if it lasts the weekend) and have a saw that could last you literally the rest of your life.

My vote is for a name brand saw, used if you have to.

 

[bz1]

Never owned a Wild Thing but I have had two Poulan 18" saws that have lasted years. I bought the first one 20 years ago and it's still running. I cut about 4 cords of oak fire wood per year. The only thing I've ever replaced on my old saw is the sprocket. Still has the original bar. I bought a new one about 3 years ago. I kept the old one to use as backup. I've never had to use it since I bought the new one which is working well. I realize that these are not professional tools and they don't cut as fast but I've sure got my money's worth.

 

[shinnlinger]

I happen to have in my collection a Partner F-55 which was bought out by Poulan in the 70's and it happens to be a decent saw also, but dont confuse a modern "20 hour" Wild Thing (how could you with those graphics?) with the saws of 10-20 years ago!

 

[AL_Josh]

I have one, I like it. My father gave it to me when he bought another saw. I have had it 3.5 years and he had about 2 years before me. I used it to cut up the trees in my yard after Katrina. It ran for a week straight. Never takes more than a couple of pulls to fire it up. I sharpen the chain often with a round file.

 

[TT45]

Howdy Montanaman,
I see you are a chainsaw mech.

I have a usable Poulan 2025 and had someone replace all the fuel lines and now they are obviously not correct as when its choked it seems to suck raw fuel into the engine causing a hydrostatic lock. Revoved the plug and turn it over and lots of fuel comes out. Already replaced the carb, but she does same thing, so its not carb.

My question is do you have or can you tell me where to get a fuel line diagram for this Poulan 2025?

 

[TT45]

After talking with a local Tech whoi said that usually when one "pumps" fuel when trying to start, it is due to loss of compression.
Knowing the saw had instantly stopped and doing a fast "thumb over the spark plug hole" compression check, I figured the culprit may be the tiny port that lets the engine compression pulse the carb.

Took carb back off, blew out the tiny port, reassembled and WOW she started! Tweeked in the new carb and its again cutting like a champ.

As far a Poulan saws, this 2025 is a 1999 "throw-away" model that has cut maybe 20 cords of oak firewood and is still going strong, once this shadetree tech learned another trick.