Chainsaw advice

[Jeff Monson]

My not so old faithful Poulan finally took a dump last weekend, has no compression at this point. So I'm in the market for a new chainsaw. I want to stay in the low $300.00 range with an 18" bar. I have local vendors with Stihl and Husqvarna. So any pro's or con's on these 2, or other advice is appreciated.

[Izzy Camire]

I have 2 Huskys and I think they are great saws. They get lots of use at my place.

[daryl moses]

I have 2 Huskys and I think they are great saws. They get lots of use at my place.
Yep, I also have two Huskys. 455 Rancher and a 51. They are both great saws and see a LOT of use here on the farm.
The 455 is out of your price range Jeff, and probably larger than what you need, seems my old 51 was around $300 but i'm not sure they even make that model anymore. I'm sure they make one similar to it though and probably in your price range.
Although I've never owned a Stihl chainsaw I do own a Stihl leaf blower and string trimmer, both have been solid performers and don't think you would go wrong with one of their saws.

[Brian Elfert]

My Poulan chainsaw suffered the same fate as yours. I decided to get whatever the local hardware store had. I ended up with an Echo chainsaw. It seems to work just fine for occasional use. I'm sure Stihl is fine too as I have two other Stihl products that work good.

[Tom M King]

I'm loyal to Stihl because I've had them forever, and keep my old ones running. I also run a number of their small equipment pieces. Most of mine are several generations old in model number, as in 036, and 066, whereas new ones I haven't kept up with but the last I looked they were MS360, and MS660 for basically the same saw. Stihls are easy to work on-especially the Pro saws, but the Pro's are above your budget. Whatever the latest version of the 250 is would be worth looking at. It's a powerful light low-medium sized saw that will pull an 18" bar with no problem. It's the saw that powerline crews keep in their trucks around here for cutting trees that fall on powerlines. It's not a pro saw, but is a good little beast.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

Stihl, Husqvarna or Echo are all good saws.

Stihl are pricey, and only available at local dealers (no "big box" retailers) - but they are proven performers. $300 won't buy much in a Stihl saw with a 20" bar.

Husky 445 Rancher is close to your price range, and should be available with a 18" bar.

[Jim Koepke]

My Stihl has worked well over the years. My reasons for purchasing it were the number of dealers in town who carry and service Stihl equipment. Also one of my neighbors told me all the tree cutters in the area use Stihl. If it is good enough for someone who makes a living using a chainsaw, then it will likely be good enough for me.

jtk

[Tom M King]

I should have added: I also have a MS180, and it gets used a lot. It's a nice little saw with a 16" bar, and costs about $230. Depending on what you need to cut with it would tell a lot about what size saw you need. I also have an MS290 that someone gave me. Check the power and weight of any model saw you get. The 290 weighs a lot for the power that it puts out, and I wouldn't suggest buying one of those.

My Wife wanted me to cut down a three stemmed Hickory tree last week so more light could get to her garden. Each of the three stems was about 8" diameter. I just grabbed the 180, and made quick work out of dropping them, and cutting them up. If it had been cold weather, I would have used a bigger saw, but the 180 did fine, and I didn't even break much of a sweat.

If you can sharpen a chain, bigger is not always better.

[Peter Kelly]

The Efco MT 4400 (http://www.efcopower.com/products/chainsaws/mt-4400) is a pretty decent value for the money at $310. Power and handling is very similar to the MS 250 at 42.9 cc / 18" bar / 10 lbs.

http://www.chainsawsdirect.com/Efco-MT4400-18-Chain-Saw/p10568.html

[Charles Wiggins]

I had to give up on a Poulan as well. It never wanted to restart when it was warm.

Bought a Stihl MS290 about five years ago and have been very pleased. It was a bit more than your budget, but I think it's been worth it. I just clean it and change the spark plug and filters from time to time. Only ethanol-free gas.

Lots of folks swear by Husqvarna.
Jonsered is popular in other parts of the country. Tractor supply just dropped Husqvarna and replaced it with Jonsered last year sometime.

[Jeff Monson]

Jonsered is popular in other parts of the country. Tractor supply just dropped Husqvarna and replaced it with Jonsered last year sometime.

Thats funny, I was in TSC today and looked at the Jonsered, never heard of them so honestly I did not give a 2nd look.

[Tom M King]

I have a little Echo top handle saw that I used to use for climbing-now use the 180. Parts for it are a lot more expensive than for a Stihl. Back when a gas station here stopped selling non-ethanol gas without putting a sign up, I had to replace three carburetors on small Stihl stuff the next Spring. I bought the aftermarket carbs for no more than 20 bucks each on ebay, and every one of those is still running fine. I let the guys that work for me use the 036 for cutting firewood, and have since the late '90s when I bought that saw. For various reasons, it's on it's second aftermarket cylinder and piston kit. I think the cylinder/piston kits were about 45 bucks off ebay, and can be changed with one T27 T-wrench. It still runs like a new one.

[Peter Kelly]

Thats funny, I was in TSC today and looked at the Jonsered, never heard of them so honestly I did not give a 2nd look.Just fyi - Jonsereds is a brand of Husqvarna. The saws all come out of the same factories in either the US or Huskvarna Sweden. Differences between the two labels are pretty marginal.

[John Lanciani]

Either a Stihl MS250 if your budget is firm or an MS290 if you want to splurge a little. There is a reason that Stihl is dealer only, because they won't play the price before performance game with the box stores.

[Larry Frank]

I love my Stihl chainsaw and several others of their. You can not go wrong with either a Stihl or Husqvarna.

[Charles Wiggins]

Thats funny, I was in TSC today and looked at the Jonsered, never heard of them so honestly I did not give a 2nd look.

Yes, as Peter points out it is basically a Husqvarna, at least since the late 1970s. Dolmar is another brand that is popular among enthusiasts, but I think they are more along the pro line.

[julian abram]

Can't go wrong with Stihl or Husqvarna. I have a 029 Stihl purchased in the 1990's, still runs great, cuts a couple cords of firewood every year. I would lean heavily choosing between the two on which on has a local dealer giving good service. Chainsaws do require maintenance.

[Jeff Monson]

I would lean heavily choosing between the two on which on has a local dealer giving good service.

Agree, I looked at a Stihl Ms251 at my ACE store this afternoon, its a little over budget but it appears to be a nice saw with nice features. Leaning pretty heavy that way as they are very nice people there also.

[Larry Edgerton]

I recently bought a Husky 357XP. Its my new favorite saw ever, but a bit pricey.

Jeff, I look at the tool section of craigslist regularly and it is not uncommon to see low hour pro saws on there that are for sale for about half. There was a Husky 346XP last week with obviously no wear for $350 for example.

Larry

[Justin Ludwig]

I'd look for a used Stihl. They're such good saws if they were taken care of in a mediocre manner, they'll stihl last a long time.

[Rod Sheridan]

I Have a Stihl saw and it works great........Regards, Rod.

[Phillip Gregory]

I'm loyal to Stihl because I've had them forever, and keep my old ones running. I also run a number of their small equipment pieces. Most of mine are several generations old in model number, as in 036, and 066, whereas new ones I haven't kept up with but the last I looked they were MS360, and MS660 for basically the same saw. Stihls are easy to work on-especially the Pro saws, but the Pro's are above your budget. Whatever the latest version of the 250 is would be worth looking at. It's a powerful light low-medium sized saw that will pull an 18" bar with no problem. It's the saw that powerline crews keep in their trucks around here for cutting trees that fall on powerlines. It's not a pro saw, but is a good little beast.

I recently got a Stihl MS251 with the 18 inch bar, it is a nice saw. I recently cleared off about 3/4 acre worth of trees ranging from 2' diameter blackjack and chinkapin oaks and invasive cedars to couple inch diameter scrubby brush, the saw did very well. My Dad has an MS182C and an MS290. The 182C is a handy little saw for limbing trees and taking out scrubby crap but definitely not recommended for felling any tree larger than about 8" in trunk diameter- it just doesn't have the grunt. His 290 is very similar to my 251, maybe a little heavier.

[Bert Kemp]

Their both good saws

[Jim Becker]

My not so old faithful Poulan finally took a dump last weekend, has no compression at this point. So I'm in the market for a new chainsaw. I want to stay in the low $300.00 range with an 18" bar. I have local vendors with Stihl and Husqvarna. So any pro's or con's on these 2, or other advice is appreciated.
Both brands are great choices. I'm in the Stihl camp, myself. I have an .029 Farm Boss (MS290 in other nomenclature, I believe) with an 18" bar attached. (standard was 16") it's served me well now since about 2001 and starts up easily, even after long periods of disuse. I've gone through bars, but the machine, itself, has stood up over time for my purposes. Were I buying today, I'd probably go up a size to better deal with the more mature trees that mother nature brings down on the property these days, however.

[Mike Lassiter]

Both brands are great choices. I'm in the Stihl camp, myself. I have an .029 Farm Boss (MS290 in other nomenclature, I believe) with an 18" bar attached. (standard was 16") it's served me well now since about 2001 and starts up easily, even after long periods of disuse. I've gone through bars, but the machine, itself, has stood up over time for my purposes. Were I buying today, I'd probably go up a size to better deal with the more mature trees that mother nature brings down on the property these days, however.

I have this same saw myself, and it has been problem free since I bought it new in 1996. I got a 20" bar when I bought it to help with cutting limbs and not having to stoop quite as much. It has the original bar still on it, in fact it is still all original other than I got an extra chain some years back when we had a lot of storm damage around the area and spent a couple of days helping clear trees out of the roads and some yards around us. As Jim says it starts even after sitting months idle. I have always used Stihl's gas mixture for the gas additive as I understand it has fuel stabilizer in it to help with fuel issues. I assume it does, as the saw has sat for nearly a year with gas in it and started in short order the next time needed. I have cut hundreds of trees with my saw and cut up most of them. I've had a tractor with frontend loader for several years now, so when clearing around our property I can cut the tree into logs instead of man sized chucks and move them with the tractor.

I also have a Stihl FS90 handlebar style weed eater, and the extendable pole saw Stihl makes having had all of them several years all the only thing required of them all was I replaced the carburetor on the weed eater this year. It cost $30 something dollars. The weed eater was very hard to start, and when I got it running it was obvious it was running lean. Tried to clean it but to no avail. Once the carb was one, it started on the second pull of the rope and ran great. All together about $1300 worth of Stihl equipment and replaced one carburetor on one item for the total repair cost in 19 years for the chain saw and over 6 years on the pole saw and weed eater.

I highly recommend Stihl products personally I have had great service and use with mine.