Chainsaw Needed

[Ledgemere Farm]

I bought two a couple of years ago. One for my father and one for myself. Mine was the biggest piece of crap I ever owned. My father's works fine. My father also has two 25 year old Homelites. They are still going.
I now have a Homelite and a STIHL.

 

[webbmeister]

Hmmm ... I went pedestrian on my chainsaw - just don't use it enough to justify a Husky or Stihl. I bought an Echo from HD. I have to say that it starts right up even after long periods of disuse, and it really cuts well. It is now three years old and has been used for a total of maybe 50 hours. Chain is still good and sharp, runs like new. I'm happy with it.

Jim

 

[bgott]

Echo isn't pedestrian. They are a really good brand. They are also priced that way. I had a credit coming from my tractor dealer for a grill guard I returned. I went ahead and got an Echo off of them after doing a lot of research. A comparable Stihl went on sale for about $100 less three days later. The one think that ticked me off about the Echo was that a case was an extra cost option. I thought the dealer was pulling a fast one because there was a difference of opinion on what the credit was supposed to be but I checked with another place that handled Echo and they charged extra for the case also. I do know this Echo beats the he11 out of the POS "Craftsman" Poulan I have.

 

[rancar]

Gary,

<font color=blue>Anyone have any experience with Poulan chainsaws?</font color=blue>

I've also had Poulan. I had operational difficulties with these as well. Maybe good for small weekend projects but won't hold up well if you do a lot of everyday timber cutting and firewood. Go with one of the three favored by the timber guys...these are Stihl, Husky, and Jonsereed and you can't go wrong.

Bob

 

[Bird]

Gary, I've used McCullough, Stihl, Craftsman, Homelite, and Poulan saws; currently own my second Poulan (and the only reason I had to buy a second one is because I gave my first one away when we took off full time RVing for nearly 6 years). Now I do believe Stihl makes the best one, but too dadburned heavy and awkward for an old man like me. Give me a Poulan every time; starts easily, light weight, and has never failed me yet. And besides that the price is better./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[cstocks]

I have owned only one chainsaw in my life and it is a Stihl that I bought from a friend about twelve years ago. The saw was a couple of years old when I bought it. That saw has been the most dependable, trouble free gasoline powered piece of equipment I have ever owned. It has gotten used extensively but intermittenly over the past dozen years. I can let my chainsaw set up for a year with gas left in the tank and it will crank it on the third or fourth try when I break it out to use again.

I have owned lawn mowers, tillers, chipper-shreddered and string trimmers but none have been dependable as my Stihl chainsaw. They all have one thing in common. Let them set up for a spell and the carborator gets crapped out from disuse. I don't know what is different about my chainsaw but I can always count on it working for me when I need it. Since I have never owned any other brand chainsaw I cannot say if other brands are as dependable.

I do know this. When I get ready to shop for another chainsaw Stihl will be a the top of my list.

Chris

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I sure appreciate all the input here. As I said, I'm probably going to use this hot and heavy for a few days this summer and then won't do much more than the average homeowner after that. With that in mind (and because my cash outgo has been rather extensive lately /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif ) I bought a Poulan tonight. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

It's a 54cc, 20" model and was on sale as a 'Manager's Special' at a brand new TSC in a neighboring town. I heard about it being on sale just this afternoon from a customer who lives there. He'd bought one yesterday and showed me his. It looked like it would do the job so I decided I'd just drive over there tonight and get one.

By the time I got there it was almost closing time for them and all of the boxed ones were gone (of course). As I was lamenting not having called before I made the drive they offered me the display model at an additional discount. Since the store had only been open about a month and they even had the box and manual, I jumped at the deal. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I will, however, disassemble it back down to it's shipping state and reassemble it myself just to make sure everythings put together properly. All I can think is that this was assembled by someone who knew they were never going to use it, just to hang on a wall. [roll] Maybe I'm overly cautious, but I'm hard pressed to think of another tool around which I'd want to exercise more care and caution than a chainsaw. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[smilingreen]

I have 3 Stihl chainsaws. The first one is a 290 model with a 20" bar, the second one is a 390 with a 28" bar and the third one is a Ht 75 extendable up to 11.5' pole pruner with a 12" bar. I use all three saws extensively in my landscape maintenance business and cannot say enough good about them. They start up every time, plenty of power and are very well designed machines. The 390 gets a little heavy after a few hours of cutting big diameter trees, but that is expected. The 290 and the HT 75 are easy on gas. The 390 drinks the gas pretty hard. If you have quite a few trees to prune back on your property, the HT 75 is the cats meow!!! You can stand on the ground and reach braches up to 15' feet in the air. We did a job three weeks ago that had to have about 2.5 miles of tree line trimed up 12' off the ground. We did 40 hours of tree trimming (water oak, cedar & sweet gum) on one chain, the factory original. It has a 12" micro chain on it and it zips very quickly through branches up to 10" in diameter.
well, thats my 2 cents worth!!