Chainsaws revisited and a few questions

JimR · Jan 4, 2005

I need to buy a small trimming saw. I have a Husky 55 Rancher for the big stuff. It is not the lightest saw for doing trim work. Does anyone own one of the small Poulan 14" saws that Lowes and a few others sell for around $100.00? Are they reliable? I only need this for trimming as the Husky is my main saw. I know that I should buy a more expensive saw. Right now the funds are short as I am not working and spending a lot of money on the farm project. So I need to cut costs wherever possible in the tool buying. I can always upgrade to a better saw when I go back to a real job in the future.

TIA

JDGREEN4ME · Jan 5, 2005

I had a Poulan "Wild Thing" model for several years and did not have a problem with it. My brother is still using it...

PhilNH5 · Jan 5, 2005

I had a 16 inch Poulan Woodsman that I got at Walmart. Served me well for 4 years. When I realized it had no safety features I traded up to a Stihl. The Poulan is still in use by a freind. It always started and never gave me any trouble. If it had a chain brake I would still be using it.

Phil

soarkrebel · Jan 5, 2005

I have a poulan 1800 that i have had since around 1991. it still run great. i just finished doing some work on it to keep it going longer. now it has a 12" oregon bar on it and i like the small bar for trimming.
the thing has never been pampered and has been very well used and yes i would buy another if they still were made to it's quality.

But if i was buying ( which i am considering) i would get a stihl ms180c. for $100 bucks more you get alot more saw that will flat out work the poulan.
I would really look at one it's better to spend a little more for a saw that will last and out work the poulan. in the long run it may well be worth it the additional cost.

JimR · Jan 5, 2005

( I have a poulan 1800 that i have had since around 1991. it still run great. i just finished doing some work on it to keep it going longer. now it has a 12" oregon bar on it and i like the small bar for trimming.
the thing has never been pampered and has been very well used and yes i would buy another if they still were made to it's quality.

But if i was buying ( which i am considering) i would get a stihl ms180c. for $100 bucks more you get alot more saw that will flat out work the poulan.
I would really look at one it's better to spend a little more for a saw that will last and out work the poulan. in the long run it may well be worth it the additional cost. )

Thanks for the replies on the Poulan's. I would as I mentiuoned spend more money for a good saw. Buy right now it is not feasable as the wife is paying all the bills while I try to save a small fortune on repairs (contractors prices) to the farm my daughter will be moving into soon.

btolle · Jan 5, 2005

( I had a Poulan "Wild Thing" model for several years and did not have a problem with it. My brother is still using it... )

Same here. I used the Poulan Wild Thing for about 3 years and beat it pretty hard and it was still good.

Replaced it with a $350 Stihl that has a little more power, etc. but would recommend the Poulan to anyone who is on a budget.

Bill Tolle

SPIKER · Jan 5, 2005

I have one of the 14" and one of the 18" saws, (wood shark and wild thing respectivly) the wood shark 14: is a great running machine in fact I used it yesterday after 2 months setting unstarted. it took a few pumps of the primer and the choak setting on to 3/4 and the 3rd pull she was running. it is 3~5 yrs old now. it was a Kmart close out when the store was going out of buisness I paid $47 for it, and should have bought both of them that was seting there! I LOVE it. it starts & runs like a champ cuts well and is light enough to cut using 1 hand at arms reach. (ya shouldn't do that I know but works wonders for limbing stuff out!.) I used it to clean up some ICE damage we had (today after wook I have 3 or 4 more big limbs down to deal with (poor pines are taking a beating) and it was very early on in this current ICE STORM. I imigine I'll have some POLES before this is all over! so far 3 of the 5 have the north sides compleatly broken away! little more than a few straggly branches left /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

anyhow I figured they were talking about this ice storm comming so I figured I better clean up SOME of the limbs ust in case the trees got hammered more and they are... I can't do much with the damaged fall out as the yard is more of a swamp than tractor supporting clay...

anyhow the 18" wild thing has nearly same engine as the woodshark 14" so I'm not as impressed with it, (wallyworld special of 139.00 I think with case & extra chain. chains and bars are easy to find for the 18" but the saw tooth design on it is poor (has an odd number of teeth so you have two right hand cutters next to each other. which is bad unless you like cutting circels out!) it is still light enough to use for limbing and trimming and the added blade lenght is good for less bending. I use BOTH as they are only saws I have. I've been looking for used STHILS but the price is too high and NEW is very high in my low money budget.

mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

soarkrebel · Jan 12, 2005

I will always defend my old poulan's cause they have been very good tools. now i used to burn wood for my primary heat and i mean ......well only heat and used these two poulans to keep my wood pile looking good. i mean i didnt cut in cords or ricks heck i didnt measure. i just kept the wood coming.

Honestly if one was going to use a saw for small jobs why spend the money on a high end stihl. yeah they are good machines and yeah i am going to have a stihl but i intend on using it alot.
For my purposes i would spend the $300 for a stihl ms250 or $199 for a ms180c but really if your budget and intended use is not that much buy a cheaper saw and use it . by the time it wears out you may be in a position to get a higher quality saw.
But if you get some like i did that may a long time! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

slowzuki · Jan 12, 2005

I won't be too hard on the Poulans as a lot of guys here seem to like them but check out Husquvarna 136's. There are some online places with excellent pricing.

I got a Stihl MS260 and love it but you wouldn't drop that kind of cash for occasional use!

Ken

link
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTEprodprint?productId=200005074&prnbr=1980&langId=-1&storeId=6970&catalogId=4006970&CMID=osclrp8033

JWE · Jan 12, 2005

Another option would be the Shindaiwa. A friend of mine has back problems and wanted a light and easy to start chainsaw. After months of looking he ended up with a Shindaiwa with a 12 inch blade. He loves it.

I also have a Shindaiwa but it is a much heaver model (model 488). I have had it for a couple of years and I am very satisfied with it.