Chainsaw

Anyone have any recommendations on a chainsaw?

Looking at either an 18″ or 20″ Stihl. Not sure if $130 more is worth it for the 20″.

Already have a 16″ Dewalt 60 volt and an 18″ Husky that’s on it’s last legs..

I love my 20 inch stihl it’s about the most versatile saw I own.

It really comes down to how much wood you are going to cut. Are you dead set on stihl. When I bought my last saw a few years ago I had it in my head I was going to get a stihl. I went in to a place that carried stihl, huskvarna and echo. I walked out with a new husky and have been totally happy with it.

I have 3 stihls. Never had an issue. Use non oxy and good oil.

Agree with M.K.. Stihl is good stuff if you heat with wood or use it a lot. If you need one for once in a while Most of the other ones will do. I cut all the wood that heated my Grampas old house for 5 years with a Poulan he gave less than $100 for. I bought Stihl then because I used it 30 or more days a year. Cutting his firewood, and working on my property and rentals. Now I’d buy a cheaper saw. If you buy it from a small engine shop. They can recommend one to suit your needs. And keep it going. Mind your toes and fingers!

Husqvarna is top notch no matter what. My 48 inch bar and saw is Husqvarna. But thats completely in a league of its own

Don’t have experience with them all but when I was looking lots of reviews and forums said the Echo CS-590 Timber Wolf was the best bang for the buck so I went with that. Haven’t cut a ton of fire wood with it yet but have done some and it’s a beast.

What are on planning on using it for?

Jeremy wrote:

What are on planning on using it for?

I’ve got 10 acres. Dead trees all over.

Husqvarna and stihl are both great saws but I’m sure there are other good competitors for the same or a little less $. 16” may be a little on the small side if there’s any real big stuff to cut, but overall they do more work than you’d think…

Get a Stihl and be done with it. Like EPG said run non-oxy and you’ll never have a problem. Either a 18 or 20 inch bar will be fine, really

Husqvarna guy here. 3 acres of woods at the house, 900 at the family cabin, and 250 more at another hunting/fishing camp. Everything gets trimmed every year. Miles upon miles of trails so I keep my saw busy keeping trails open. Between trails and cutting firewood, it does everything!

Husqvarna 450 rancher with a 20″ bar. It’s a one size does all saw. Felling big trees or limbing ones that are already down. I don’t want to carry 2 saws when I’m running trails so I went for the middle of the road. My cousin runs stihls. Nothing wrong with them, they run good, but size for size the husky cuts faster

Yes, non-oxygenated is what you’ll want to use for sure(should use it on all small engines/outboards really)

husqvarna here because its easier to buy than finding a special dealer. FF usually runs deals to save even more money. I’ve used both husqvarna and stihl and they are both fantastic. The stihl saws i have used are super heavy which is good and bad. on one end you have the weight to chew through big timber but harder on the body. I have a 20″ rancher and it is awesome. I’ve dropped some biggins on my property and that thing slices and dices no problems whatsoever. not sure on the stihl but my rancher has a anti shock absorbing handle too that is really neat. I dont cut wood to survive winters but mostly for chores and cleaning up fallen timber. you really can’t go wrong with a rancher. I also never use up enough gas to mix up in jugs so the pre mixed stuff in a can is the bees knees for what I do. no mix and fresh gas just crack the seal. going to saw up my neighbor’s trees tomorrow…..fun time running a badass chainsaw!

I run a mid-level Husky with an 18” bar, good overall saw. I’m now looking to get an Echo battery powered saw for small stuff around the house and no worries about gas and a carb…

I cut wood for the winter and used a husky 372xp with a 20 inch bar. I also have the 450 rancher with a 20 that works decent but it is a homeowner grade chainsaw

stout93 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jeremy wrote:</div>
What are on planning on using it for?

I’ve got 10 acres. Dead trees all over.

Most important consideration is power and weight. It doesn’t do any good to have a very powerful saw if it’s too heavy to use for an extended period of time. In my opinion The sweet spot for a property management saw is somewhere between 10 and 11 pounds for the powerhead imo. Saws in the 45 to 50 cc range will give you plenty of power and if you buy the right saw you will get it at a weight that won’t wear you out.

For property maintenance use, any of the major brands will serve you well. Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, they are all perfectly good and none is any better than the other.

All saws nowadays are price point saws. They are all made out of Chinese parts to hit a particular price point in the market. Don’t be fooled by brand reputation. It may have been true 25 years ago but now everybody is sourcing parts from the same place. China.

My latest saw is a Husky 445 and I love it. Great power to weight ratio. The rancher is also a terrific saw I just didn’t need that much power or the extra weight.

With 10 acres to maintain don’t be talked into overspending for a so-called pro grade saw. You simply don’t need it and will never benefit from the extra spend. All standard grade saws are perfectly adequate for property maintenance use.

I’m a Husky guy too. Fleet does not sell the ones with automatic chain tightened. Don’t buy a saw without one, they’re great!

I used to cut for the state and county, Stihl and Dolmar were my first choice, I have a little Stihl 180 great little saw for putzing around. DK.

if you buy a new stihl saw or anything stihl buy a 6 pack of the small stihl oil bottles and they will double the warranty length. (thats what they do at northern tool anyway) always run non oxy gas in all small engines. also a longer bar means less bending over when cutting on the ground

I bought Rancher 450 from Northern Tool & Equipment. I went with a reconditioned one. Saved about 100$ and it’s essentially brand new!

Coletrain27 wrote:

if you buy a new stihl saw or anything stihl buy a 6 pack of the small stihl oil bottles and they will double the warranty length. (thats what they do at northern tool anyway) always run non oxy gas in all small engines. also a longer bar means less bending over when cutting on the ground

I got suckered into this BS Stihl warranty thing. Don’t fall for it, it’s just a way to sell overpriced oil.

Stihl has NO warranty on anything they deem to be “fuel-related”. Since basically everything that will go wrong with a saw can be blamed on fuel, there is no warranty on Stihl except for physical parts breaking which is very, very rare. If it doesn’t start or runs poorly, Stihl will blame it bad fuel no matter what.

So even though I bought Stihl oil with stabilizer and ran non-ox, they still blamed my brushcutter issue on “bad fuel” and handed me the bill for a $900 brush saw that was “under warranty”.

My Husqvarna chainsaw ran just great on that “bad fuel” until it was all used up. Draw your own conclusions.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Coletrain27 wrote:</div>
if you buy a new stihl saw or anything stihl buy a 6 pack of the small stihl oil bottles and they will double the warranty length. (thats what they do at northern tool anyway) always run non oxy gas in all small engines. also a longer bar means less bending over when cutting on the ground

I got suckered into this BS Stihl warranty thing. Don’t fall for it, it’s just a way to sell overpriced oil.

Stihl has NO warranty on anything they deem to be “fuel-related”. Since basically everything that will go wrong with a saw can be blamed on fuel, there is no warranty on Stihl except for physical parts breaking which is very, very rare. If it doesn’t start or runs poorly, Stihl will blame it bad fuel no matter what.

So even though I bought Stihl oil with stabilizer and ran non-ox, they still blamed my brushcutter issue on “bad fuel” and handed me the bill for a $900 brush saw that was “under warranty”.

My Husqvarna chainsaw ran just great on that “bad fuel” until it was all used up. Draw your own conclusions.

ive never had to use the warranty so i cant say. but i will say that after i bought a new trimmer and blower last year and used the oil that my equipment does run alot better with the stihl oil. i was using amsoil before that for all my small engine stuff. plus the convenience of the small bottles is great when mixing gas when you go through alot of it.

I have been running a Stihl MS271 for about 5 years with an 18″ bar. It has been a solid saw for me and have no complaints. I use it for land maintenance on our 60 acres and for firewood. There has only been a few times so far that I wished I had a longer bar for it.

To answer questions logged and built log homes for 12 +years and I would without a doubt go with a 20″bar it is less bending over when cutting libs and cutting wood 🪵 use the saw you like and get parts for when you need them

The current Stihl’s are not the same as your father’s Stihl. As mentioned above, the parts are now sourced from China like every other manufacturer and they are no longer the clear pack leader in terms of reliability and longevity like they used to be. The rest of the pack caught up to them, or perhaps the right phrasing would be that they fell back to the rest of the pack.

I by no means cut a lot of wood so I dont have ton of experience but I picked up a used 18″ stihl farm boss from my buddy who works for a tree service company. All they use is stihl so the one I got had plenty of use already on it. I have had zero issues with it so far.

Been running 2 EVL550 Echo’s that dad bought around 1983. Used heavily for 17 years, we only burned wood back then… used sparingly around the house and cabin since 2000, only bars and chains and 1 recoil rope.

I used to heat my home with wood and cut 12-15 cords annually. I ran stihl and echo. In my opinion the echo cs 590 Timberwolf cannot be beat by any other sub $500 saw.

If you want more power with any brand do a muffler mod. Also carb tune for different temperatures and touch up the chain with a file every couple hours as it makes a huge difference. Lots of YouTube vids out there on it.

A 20”+ bar is nice If you have the power to back it, otherwise 16-18” will get the job done.