Where to buy a chainsaw

My wife and in-laws are going in on a gift this year for me for Christmas and we’ve decided that chainsaw would make a great addition to my list of ever growing tools/devices that can cause serious harm to my extremities.

A couple questions for you guys, is there any benefit in purchasing from one dealer or another? Should that dealer be as local as possible? My in-laws live in Winona and were thinking of buying from their local dealer, but I’m thinking it might make more sense to try and buy it from somewhere around here? Anyone have any good experiences with dealers in the NE metro?

In case you were wondering, I’m eyeing up the Stihl MS180 or MS180 C-BE. I will mainly using it for clearing brush around the house(we have A LOT), we get a fair amount of small/medium size trees(<16″ diameter) that have limbs fall throughout the year so I’ll be doing a bit of firewood cutting as well. Lots of buckthorn to clear out of hedges/trees as well.

Thanks for the input!

First off, given your needs, I strongly recommend you look at the new DeWalt cordless chainsaws. With the dual voltage 20/40 volt LI batteries, these saws are AMAZING. I tried one at a demo days and I was ASTONISHED at the power. It’s like a gas saw with almost no noise, no stinky fuel, and no storage issues. For the guy that’s going to be using his saw right by his house where power is readily available, these are worth a serious look IMO. 1 battery will last about as long as I want to cut in one session. I used the DeWalt trimmer for almost an hour on one battery and it was not dead yet.

I have NOT had good experiences with Stihl products or our local Stihl dealers lately. I have received less than warm treatment from Gruber’s Power Equipment when I bought a Stihl blower into them for warranty work when it was not purchased from them. After blaming me for the problem, they did finally fix it, but it took over 2 weeks.

LTG Power Equipment in White Bear Lake has been a little friendlier to work with, but they still left me disappointed when they handed me a $50 repair bill on my “in warranty” $900 Stihl brush cutter.

Be aware, that Stihl has how has NO warranty if the problem is deemed to be “fuel related”. Since almost any problem these days can be blamed on ethanol, the customer is left holding a repair bill even on a brand new, “in warranty” (whatever that means) Stihl product. This happened to me with a $900 brush saw that allegedly had a 5 year warranty and that had only been run on Stihl oil that alleged has fuel stabilizers in it.

Stihl is not what it used to be and IMO they are coasting on their reputation of 20 years ago. I just replaced the carb on my Stihl blower and was not really surprised to find the carb stamped Made in China right next to the Stihl logo. Kind of said it all, really.

Bottom line is I recommend Husqvarna or Echo. I bought a Husky 445 last year and it’s been a great saw ever since. It’s the same saw, weather you get it at Fleet Farm or a dealer, so take your pick.

In the class of saw that you are looking at, they are all “homeowner saws” that are made with Chinese parts to hit a price point. IMO that still means reasonable quality, but don’t expect anything special from Stihl just because of the name and the fact that you bought it from a local dealer.

Grouse

I have a MS180 with probably 15 hours on it. (1.5 years old) Never had an issue with it. I buy pretty much everything at Runnings but have never brought anything back into them for service.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I have NOT had good experiences with Stihl products or our local Stihl dealers lately. I have received less than warm treatment from Gruber’s Power Equipment when I bought a Stihl blower into them for warranty work when it was not purchased from them. After blaming me for the problem, they did finally fix it, but it took over 2 weeks.

Unfortunately I think this is common. Had the same issue on a Toro snow thrower that was purchased at a big box and given to me as a gift. Getting warranty repair at the local Toro service shop was a nightmare.

Don’t have the in-laws buy from their local dealer and expect to get good warranty service up here in the metro.

Thanks for the input so far guys. I know that there are pitfalls in the ‘homeowner’ category, but it seems that is pretty universal and not specific to Stihl. I’ll take a look at some of the Husqvarna/Echos as those are readily available at the big box stores.

I’ll check out the cordless saws too, although I’ve had terrible luck with battery powered lawn tools thus far :(.

Have had no issues with a factory refurb Husqvarna from Nothern Tool. Came out of the box looking brand spanking new for about have the price.

-J.

philtickelson wrote:

I’ll check out the cordless saws too, although I’ve had terrible luck with battery powered lawn tools thus far :(.

I totally agree, the original generation of cordless lawn and garden tools were disappointing, but let me assure you, the NEW high voltage LI stuff is NOT your father’s cordless tool.

The power of that DeWalt LI chainsaw was scary. I tried to push down on it hard enough to stall the chain when crosscutting an 8 inch popple log. No way. It just bit in harder and the wood chips kept flying.

IMO, for the average homeowner type uses, the advantages of the high voltage LI equipment are really huge. No gas, no starting issues, no storage issues, dramatically reduced noise, lightweight, and increased ease of use.

If you choose to go with gas-powered equipment, I’d say look at the Husqvarna 435 or 440. Plenty of power for your needs, without too much weight.

Husqvarna has their own LI battery powered tools, but I have not personally used them so I can’t comment on performance. Worth trying them if you can find them at a dealer.

Grouse

Beisswengers in New Brighton has been a good choice for me and my family in recent years. We’ve purchased quite a bit of big-ticket items there and have been very happy, service included. I bought a Stihl 291 last year and have used it quite a bit on my property (I know not the size you’re looking for) and have been very satisfied. I know this is only one testimonial, I’m sure there are those out there that have had different experiences.

I was never expecting there to be so many options! Just within the ‘homeowner saw’ category for Stihl there’s like ten.

Then you have Husqvarna with just as many if not more. Each having slightly different displacement, hp, weight, ‘features’, etc.

It’s a total mess, I’m hoping this is one of those ‘Get something in your budget and it will be just fine’ situations, because I can get a Husqvarna 435 for a bit more money than the Stihl 180 C-BE, the Husqvarna has more power, but the Stihl maybe has a few ‘ease of use’ features, but do I really need the extra power? Probably not. But maybe there might be a time that I do! And are those extra features really features? Or are they just headaches waiting to happen.

I’ll have to check out Beisswengers!

With a chainsaw, I would put zero stock in local brand service… anybody can fix a chainsaw and they rarely break. I have our 2 ECHOS from when I was in junior high yet… which was early 80’s… both fire right up and they have cut ALOT of wood !!!

I’ll second or third Echo’s, great saw for the money. Own two Echo’s and two husky’s. Sthil are good saws, but some of the dealers are itchy.

Cordless stuff is unbelievable now.

I bought a back pack blower at Super X Power in Milaca and just saw they were advertising 20% off Husqvarna chainsaws.

I would keep an eye on craigslist for older models. I’m set for chainsaws but last year I was in bind and I had to rent a new chainsaw and boy with that safety stuff they have on them now scares me as future problems that I see coming forward as they get older.
This was a stihl and the rental shop hated them.

It’s a total mess, I’m hoping this is one of those ‘Get something in your budget and it will be just fine’ situations, because I can get a Husqvarna 435 for a bit more money than the Stihl 180 C-BE, the Husqvarna has more power, but the Stihl maybe has a few ‘ease of use’ features, but do I really need the extra power? Probably not. But maybe there might be a time that I do!

Best advice I was told 40 years ago about buying a chain saw. If you are only going to own one “You can use a big saw like a small saw But you can’t use a little saw like a big saw.”

We have many saws at work… Dolmar and Echo are great saws and yes we have Stihl and husky. DK.

philtickelson wrote:

I’m hoping this is one of those ‘Get something in your budget and it will be just fine’ situations…

Well, in a way it is.

For your needs, get one of the better LI cordless saws or if you really want to go with gas, get something between 36 and 40 CCs.

Husky, Echo, Dolmar, heck you could even slum it and go Stihl They’re all good saws these days.

I believe the Stihl 180 is 32 CCs, which IMO is smaller than I would recommend going for your needs. Fine for cutting small limbs and brush, but for cutting 4-8 inch wood, I think you would find it too slow if you did very much of it.

IMO a longer bar like a 16 or 18 inch is very handy when cutting brush and limbing downed trees because you have to bend over less than with a 14 inch. Problem is a 32 CC saw will struggle with a 16 inch bar and won’t run an 18 inch at all.

Fancy “easy start” gimmicks are not necessary in this CC size. They just are not hard enough to start to justify this added complication. I’m also not a fan of any “self-tuning” carb features, again just something to go wrong. If properly set up, a saw should only rarely need to be retuned.

Having multiple sharp chains and a means to sharpen them is an absolute necessity. Any touch to the dirt with a running saw and the chain is instantly dull. Personally, I use a system that attaches to a Dremel tool to sharpen chains, it is a little slow at about 5 minutes per chain, but it works well.

Grouse

I’m actually a husqvarna dealer in isanti, look up Federated Co ops country store with the husky if you get 3 bottles of their pre mix fuel it bumps your two year up to a four year warranty which the saw will certainly out live that since I have a old 1996 saw that is still cutting like new personally I’d go with the 455 or 450 for more bang for your buck but if you are looking to use a 20″ bar go with the 460 rancher ask for Sam and I’ll throw in a chain for ya

so how much does this dewalt battery one run?

I used the 60 volt DeWalt Max model and at Demo Days it was $359 with one 3ahr battery from a main DeWalt dealer. I stongly suspect it can be had for less on the interweb.

Grouse

I have 3 stihl saws a ms 170 a ms180 and a ms 290 I used these saws daily for 15 years and never had a problem with any of them I bought them in 2001 for my business

i have run stihl and echo and would recommend either. if you buy the stihl oil at the same time as buying the saw, they double your warranty and will deal with even fuel related issues.

hnd wrote:

if you buy the stihl oil at the same time as buying the saw, they double your warranty and will deal with even fuel related issues.

Incorrect. Stihl’s warranty now EXCLUDES any issue the dealer deems to be fuel related.

I bought the oil, got the extended waeranty, snd still got handed a bill because the dealer thought that my hard starting issue was caused by gas that “smelled like it was bad”. Ahhh the old smell test…

Grouse

your wallet smelled ripe….

big_g wrote:

your wallet smelled ripe….

Lol, I’m stealing that line.

Tractor supply has a 18″ Poulan Pro for $99 for a Black Friday deal.

All I can add here is that between me, a good friend of mine, and my dad we have 12+ pieces of Stihl equipment purchased in the past 8-10 years. The only one that had given any issues is my dads blower/vac, and the dealer has fixed the issue both times he brought it in.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I used the 60 volt DeWalt Max model and at Demo Days it was $359 with one 3ahr battery from a main DeWalt dealer. I stongly suspect it can be had for less on the interweb.

You’ve got my interest piqued on these! I am seeing them for $329.

Unfortunately for me, those DeWalt’s are too pricey. My FIL is a big Stihl guy, he’s of the ‘Well I’ve personally never had a problem with the one Stihl chainsaw I’ve owned therefore they are the best and will never let you down and any other brand is complete garbage even though I’ve never used them’ mentality.

I did go out to a Stihl dealer and picked up a few of the saws and found some Husqvarna’s to do the same. Both felt nice in the hands, I’m sure whatever I get will serve it’s purpose well.

Northern Tool has refurbished Husqvarna 440’s for $199 on Black Friday, that’s a pretty solid deal for anyone looking!

OK, this may be my next toy: Echo CCS-58V4AH

These lithium ones interest me. Has anyone used them cutting down oak trees?