ning
Elite Member
Yesterday I was cutting some wood - I have a lot of oak that's semi-dry to well-seasoned already down and was just cutting it up
and my "cut most things around here saw" - a 20-year-old Echo CS-305 - wasn't idling well.
When the heat had gotten too much for me I retreated to shade to see if I could adjust it and make it happier, and I made a complete hash of it.
Before I knew it I couldn't get it to stay running below 5000RPM
I'm pretty sure there's a clog in the idle jet or something else; I found a lot of crud/dust/dirt in the carb area when I swapped in a new air filter so it wouldn't be a surprise.
I had a spare carb - they're super cheap online and I hate to say but $12 for a new carb vs the time tearing one apart makes it a no-brainer for a quick fix.
Swapped that in and found a couple fuel lines really need replacement; the one going to the purge bulb just won't stay attached any more.
Overall, super frustrating. Last time I had issues with this saw I'd come >this close< to going battery, but had done the hail-mary with the new carb and got it running better than ever.
I really like the saw, except the air intake system is just begging to ingest crud, and filters never fit quite right on it so the carb area is always getting crap in it.
Probably the biggest turn-off for me with the CS-305 is that the carb is stuff in this little plastic box and it's really tough to make sure that the gasket is in the right place and get the throttle cable & fuel lines set up right... plus the whole "gets really dirty real quick" thing.
I'm thinking at this point of putting it on a shelf for "later" (fix it on a rainy winter day maybe) and get a battery unit for my smaller stuff (lots of 3-6" oak branches) and use my "bigger saw" (what many around here probably call a small saw) - Echo CS-590 (60cc class) to cut the bigger stuff.
The vast majority of my cuts are the smaller stuff; I use anything 3" up for firewood (and smaller than that I usually cut with loppers to use as kindling & grilling wood). I cut a lot more branches down than cutting trees, and then when I do cut trees down, there's probably 10 times more cuts in small stuff than in trunk wood
We have a Greenworks 80V blower and while the blower itself works great, I haven't been impressed by the batteries - the initial (?2-2.5Ah) battery that came with the unit either wouldn't charge to 100% or one of the charge level LEDs was defective; the company sent us a replacement and didn't want the old one back - so good service - but both batteries really don't last very long, never have and a few years later definitely are maybe at 50% of what they used to be - and then the charger suddenly started flashing red after a while of charging either pack -- which is a good indication that the charger isn't working right either now.
I mention all this to say "I'm not doing Greenworks 80V".
The rest of my current battery stuff is Ryobi 18V. In general I'm pretty satisfied with their stuff. Unless some huge recommendation comes for something else, I'm likely to stick with it.
I don't want a saw that's any heavier than the CS-305, which is a pretty light small saw; it's powerhead weight is 7.5 pounds which probably puts it at about 9.5-10# filled up and ready to go.
This rules out Ryobi's 40V saws -- including a reasonable battery it looks like about 12# weight.
Another thread on here mentioned liking the small "pruning chainsaw" type thing. They seem pretty ideal for the small stuff, and Ryobi's 8" brushless unit sounds really great - except there's no oiler. They expect you to oil the chain separately? I see this working if you're using it for actual pruning; for one thing you're cutting green/wet wood, and you're probably not making cut after cut after cut. I have piles of dry oak branches just waiting for me to feel like bending over to deal with them; they're dry, hard, and I could easily do a hundred cuts in 15 minutes. Sounds like recipe for torching chains.
I'm considering the Ryobi 18V 10" brushless chainsaw; it's claimed to be 6.4 pounds without battery and even with a 6Ah battery that would be under 8.5 pounds (call it 9 pounds with oil).
So that would be the same or slightly lighter than my echo; I don't doubt that the echo would still be a bit stronger (assuming it's running) but not having to $#!@ with the CS305 any more would be a blessing at this point.
I do have concerns though about these battery saws in general; I doubt I'll still be able to use any battery saw bought today 20 years from now.
I also have to admit I'm tempted by the CS-2511 -- it's even lighter than the 305, slighter more powerful in stock tune - and a new one is undoubtedly more powerful than my old 305 - and apparently a muffler mod is easy and really makes it scream. Not that I need that. The air filter setup seems much better, and access to the carb is way cleaner. Yeah, it's not cheap, but it's a damn nice useful tool that will last... so... yeah I'm tempted. Not sure about "T" top handle vs "P" rear handle; I'm reasonably experienced with chain saws (>40 years using them as homeowner on acreage, not a pro) so I understand the concerns about one-handed use but I'm tempted by the idea of using a light saw off to the side when cutting up the little stuff, holding and moving the branch with left hand and cutting right.
Your thoughts, prayers, or flames are welcome.
and my "cut most things around here saw" - a 20-year-old Echo CS-305 - wasn't idling well.
When the heat had gotten too much for me I retreated to shade to see if I could adjust it and make it happier, and I made a complete hash of it.
Before I knew it I couldn't get it to stay running below 5000RPM
I'm pretty sure there's a clog in the idle jet or something else; I found a lot of crud/dust/dirt in the carb area when I swapped in a new air filter so it wouldn't be a surprise.
I had a spare carb - they're super cheap online and I hate to say but $12 for a new carb vs the time tearing one apart makes it a no-brainer for a quick fix.
Swapped that in and found a couple fuel lines really need replacement; the one going to the purge bulb just won't stay attached any more.
Overall, super frustrating. Last time I had issues with this saw I'd come >this close< to going battery, but had done the hail-mary with the new carb and got it running better than ever.
I really like the saw, except the air intake system is just begging to ingest crud, and filters never fit quite right on it so the carb area is always getting crap in it.
Probably the biggest turn-off for me with the CS-305 is that the carb is stuff in this little plastic box and it's really tough to make sure that the gasket is in the right place and get the throttle cable & fuel lines set up right... plus the whole "gets really dirty real quick" thing.
I'm thinking at this point of putting it on a shelf for "later" (fix it on a rainy winter day maybe) and get a battery unit for my smaller stuff (lots of 3-6" oak branches) and use my "bigger saw" (what many around here probably call a small saw) - Echo CS-590 (60cc class) to cut the bigger stuff.
The vast majority of my cuts are the smaller stuff; I use anything 3" up for firewood (and smaller than that I usually cut with loppers to use as kindling & grilling wood). I cut a lot more branches down than cutting trees, and then when I do cut trees down, there's probably 10 times more cuts in small stuff than in trunk wood
We have a Greenworks 80V blower and while the blower itself works great, I haven't been impressed by the batteries - the initial (?2-2.5Ah) battery that came with the unit either wouldn't charge to 100% or one of the charge level LEDs was defective; the company sent us a replacement and didn't want the old one back - so good service - but both batteries really don't last very long, never have and a few years later definitely are maybe at 50% of what they used to be - and then the charger suddenly started flashing red after a while of charging either pack -- which is a good indication that the charger isn't working right either now.
I mention all this to say "I'm not doing Greenworks 80V".
The rest of my current battery stuff is Ryobi 18V. In general I'm pretty satisfied with their stuff. Unless some huge recommendation comes for something else, I'm likely to stick with it.
I don't want a saw that's any heavier than the CS-305, which is a pretty light small saw; it's powerhead weight is 7.5 pounds which probably puts it at about 9.5-10# filled up and ready to go.
This rules out Ryobi's 40V saws -- including a reasonable battery it looks like about 12# weight.
Another thread on here mentioned liking the small "pruning chainsaw" type thing. They seem pretty ideal for the small stuff, and Ryobi's 8" brushless unit sounds really great - except there's no oiler. They expect you to oil the chain separately? I see this working if you're using it for actual pruning; for one thing you're cutting green/wet wood, and you're probably not making cut after cut after cut. I have piles of dry oak branches just waiting for me to feel like bending over to deal with them; they're dry, hard, and I could easily do a hundred cuts in 15 minutes. Sounds like recipe for torching chains.
I'm considering the Ryobi 18V 10" brushless chainsaw; it's claimed to be 6.4 pounds without battery and even with a 6Ah battery that would be under 8.5 pounds (call it 9 pounds with oil).
So that would be the same or slightly lighter than my echo; I don't doubt that the echo would still be a bit stronger (assuming it's running) but not having to $#!@ with the CS305 any more would be a blessing at this point.
I do have concerns though about these battery saws in general; I doubt I'll still be able to use any battery saw bought today 20 years from now.
I also have to admit I'm tempted by the CS-2511 -- it's even lighter than the 305, slighter more powerful in stock tune - and a new one is undoubtedly more powerful than my old 305 - and apparently a muffler mod is easy and really makes it scream. Not that I need that. The air filter setup seems much better, and access to the carb is way cleaner. Yeah, it's not cheap, but it's a damn nice useful tool that will last... so... yeah I'm tempted. Not sure about "T" top handle vs "P" rear handle; I'm reasonably experienced with chain saws (>40 years using them as homeowner on acreage, not a pro) so I understand the concerns about one-handed use but I'm tempted by the idea of using a light saw off to the side when cutting up the little stuff, holding and moving the branch with left hand and cutting right.
Your thoughts, prayers, or flames are welcome.
