Thoughts on chainsaw brands

[gchidest]

While I don't use a chainsaw very often, my 15 yr old Jonsered has been absolutely flawless as far as cold/warm/hot starting. .02

At one time, Jonsered was the saw to have. Not sure if thats still the case.

 

[Crazy 4 grass]

I don’t even own a 260. I’ve been using it for comparison since the other saws were Stihl. The .2 hp more isn’t significant but the 13 pounds vs 10 pounds is a significant difference. The 390 saw is a lot more CCs than a 261 but it definitely looks like a better option vs a 290. It’s almost the same weight with quite a bit more power.

Weight is important. You keyed in on it. Its not just about power. Its about power to weight ratio. Another consideration is standard carb vs electronically controlled carb. If that is the sort of thing your interested in, husqvarna and stihl offer it.

On that note stihl actually offers an efi saw now. Granted, that is a way larger and way more expensive option, but interesting tech nonetheless.

 

[rippinryno]

With a chainsaw, weight is not as important as say a trimmer for me. I dont do tree removal for a living. I may run it for a couple hours at most. I also mostly cut firewood so im not carrying it around. For trimmers and backpacka weight matters a lot. If it was a dirt bike or a motorcycle or a car power to weight would also matter. With saws is almost not a consideration.

 

[Mowing monkey.]

With a chainsaw, weight is not as important as say a trimmer for me. With saws is almost not a consideration.

Thats got to be up there with the worst chainsaw buying advice I’ve heard. In that case why even bother with 50-60 cc crap. Get a 90 cc or more saw and be done with it. I can assure you that even after an hour of limbing trees you’ll very much notice the weight between my 353 and 372xp. Enough so that I bought the 6100 Dolmar to have an in between saw.

 

[rippinryno]

If im limbing trees i use my 171 or pole saw.
Theres no need to get so worked up . Also i am not referring to extremes. Id put a car motor on it if it truly didnt matter. The point is that it doesnt matter like it does on other handhelds. Power to weight on a firewood saw is not my biggest sales point.

 

[Mowing monkey.]

Well I use my 372 for cutting firewood 99.9 percent of the time. A 50 cc saw just isn’t big enough. But power to weight on a saw is just as important as anything. Especially when you’re working in the woods and limbing logs and stuff.

 

[Crazy 4 grass]

There are many variables to consider.
Are you trying to do everything with one saw or do you have several different sizes of saws? If you can only have one, 50 or 60cc is probably the range to be in.
What is the average trunk size of the trees you are felling and processing ? That right there will help determine how big your saw needs to be.


If you are mobile and doing tons of limbing, then lighter will matter more. If you are relatively stationary and more or less in the cut in bigger stuff most of the time, then weight won't matter as much, because the weight is supported by the cutting bar during the cut.

Yep many considerations for sure.

 

[RobotAttack]

You definitely want a professional saw.

The homeowner saws aren’t even close: plastic crank cases instead of magnesium and much lower revving. And way heavier for the same performance. Been there, done that.

Last saw I bought was a Husqvarna 550xp for my brother. It was about 600 dollars. If you are only going to have one saw, it is the one.

Keep using the toy saw until you have saved up another $200.

 

[Redmaxmann01]

You definitely want a professional saw.

The homeowner saws aren’t even close: plastic crank cases instead of magnesium and much lower revving. And way heavier for the same performance. Been there, done that.

Last saw I bought was a Husqvarna 550xp for my brother. It was about 600 dollars. If you are only going to have one saw, it is the one.

Keep using the toy saw until you have saved up another $200.

Sounds good to me

 

[Freaky Fido]

You definitely want a professional saw.

The homeowner saws aren’t even close: plastic crank cases instead of magnesium and much lower revving. And way heavier for the same performance. Been there, done that.

Last saw I bought was a Husqvarna 550xp for my brother. It was about 600 dollars. If you are only going to have one saw, it is the one.

Keep using the toy saw until you have saved up another $200.

I bought a 550xp recently and love it. It handles so much better than my old 55 Rancher. It cuts faster too, of course.