Homeowner chainsaw rec.

[4570Man]

A pro saw is not just an expensive saw. Depends is certainly applicable. Full chisel vs semi. skip vs full ... Heavy vs light. 16 inch bar vs 18 inch vs 20 inch vs light saber length ...That "PRO" saw is not always the best for a user. Though many sales have been made on that premise.

So is that a yes or no? I can’t imagine cutting your yearly firewood with a poulan if you have.

 

[goeduck]

I had considered that since Stihl is about 33% of the market, so should amount to about 1 out of every three saws that I work on. In reality I see about 50-60% of my repairs to be Stihl.

Yeah right. Uh huh.

 

[dragoneggs]

I had considered that since Stihl is about 33% of the market, so should amount to about 1 out of every three saws that I work on. In reality I see about 50-60% of my repairs to be Stihl.

Curious, what is the typical repair you frequently see with the Stihl, and it is generally the same as other model repairs?

 

[RandyT]

Do you think the Dolmar owners are more professionals? They are a highly rated saw but not well known. Stihl on the other hand is very well known and, as somebody said, sold in lots of hardware and farm fleet type stores as well as Stihl dealers. i.e much more available. Husqavarna are the same - sold in lots of places just not as big a name as Stihl.

Actually you are not the first person to talk about the cutters coming off the chain with the Stihl pica chain when it gets into hard cutting. Is there not another brand of chain that does better in this regard?

Dolmar owners more professional no, but I will add that a lot of my customers have run saws for 30-40 years. Most of my sales are to farmers that use them to clear downed trees around fields, and and some of those farmers cut and sell firewood in the winter. One of my biggest saw customers runs an excavating company, and uses his saws to cut the root wad off of the tree after he digs them up, and also does some logging on the side. Those are the guys I see several times a year or winter, and usually have 4 or 5 chains per saw that need sharpened. Nothing like having a 13 year old kid walk in and plunk down the cash for a new $500 saw. That saw now has over 500 pickup loads of wood under its belt.

As far as the pica chain, basically there really isn't any chain options. You have the occasional china import chain, and you have Oregon, and Carlton which is made by Oregon, and then everybody likes to talk about their Stihl brand chain, which is actually made by Oregon also. Actually the best chain that I have ever found, which went out of business a few years back was made by Excel.

 

[RandyT]

Curious, what is the typical repair you frequently see with the Stihl, and it is generally the same as other model repairs?

With Stihl I see carb and fuel line issues which either cause the saw to not run, or in some cases if the owner pushes their luck, scored cylinders. Husqvarna/poulan is dirty carb issues and scored cylinders from running too lean, especially Poulan, The Husqvarna brand is too lean scored cylinders on the lower end saws, and pitting of the cylinder lining on the pro saws.

Most of the Stihl saws that I see are in the 30-50 cc range. Most of the Husqvarna saws are the 42-60 cc range, and the Dolmar are the 42-80 cc range. So I see more small Stihls than other brands. My customers don't run big Stihls. I see several of my customers that own Stihl for their small saw actually run either Husqvarna, Echo or Dolmar for their big saw.

 

[Turbys_1700]

I use my fathers old Echo CS4600 when needed here on the farm.

Stihl has the most market penetration due to sales and support. My personal choice would be Dolmar but the nearest servicing dealer is 30 miles away.

Nothing at all wrong with home owner saws if you are not going to run them often. I may get chastised but those factory refurbished units from Northern Tool may be an option.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I went on Facebook last night to verify what I suspected, that Stihl just flat out out-sells any other brand by an extremely huge margin, at least in the Eastern Ohio / Western Pa area.

In just over 12 hours:
23 on Stihl, 2 on Husqvarna, and 0 on echo.

Stihl has pretty hard core market saturation over here.

 

[RandyT]

There are other brands that are just as good or better than Stihl, but their in your face advertising is what makes them move.

 

[MossRoad]

Youæ±*e not the only pro Poulan person here. How many of you have ever got your hands on a pro saw?

My in-laws bought a very nice large Stihl many years ago. They paid close to $500 for it. I operated it a few days with them, and yes, it was very nice. And heavy. It was way too much saw for firewood cutting. And my brother-in-law borrowed it for a day and it never returned to their home again. So, I had my hands on it... shortly. :laughing:

In all seriousness, almost to a T, everything I cut is telephone-pole-sized locust trees or smaller. That's what I heat my house with, about 6 cords per year. The little 42cc Poulan Pro starts easily, is light to carry, and works just fine for limbing the tops of these trees. And it was factory reconditioned for about $99. It's fine for my needs. When it comes time to replace it, I'll consider a larger more professional brand saw, but I'm not going to pay 3X the price just to have a name.

 

[MossRoad]

So is that a yes or no? I can’t imagine cutting your yearly firewood with a poulan if you have.

Again, it ain't that hard. I spend a day selecting, dropping, and limbing 40-50 locust trees in my woods. Then another day dragging them all out with the machine and stacking them at the landing. Then I go back and cut off the 16" pieces and toss them onto my trailer and drive them home. One trailer load per day is about all my aching back can take of locust wood.

Yes, a larger saw with a different chain would cut faster. And that might save me some time. But if I damage that saw by dropping a log on it, or running it over, or it gets stolen, etc... I'm out way more money than my $99 recon Poulan. It's reverse insurance. It does the job I need it to do satisfactorily. I also have an old Craftman 18" saw that I got for free from a neighbor. It uses the same bars and chains as the Poulan. No chain brake, though. So it's only used if I might pinch the Poulan in a cut. And I have my father's 18" Craftsman that also had no chain brake. I used the bar and chains from that, too.

I guess its all in how you look at it. In the end, if we both go out into my woods, and you use a pro grade saw and I use my little Poulan, I'm still gonna end up with 50-60 telephone poles on the ground that day. It might take you less time, but I'm fine with that.