chainsaw recommendations

[seabast]

Never used the cheaper saw myself but I heard good things about Poulan.

[dutchhunter]

most guys buy way to big of a saw ,ask the pros go to a stihl dealer and check out the smaller saws ,,I run a 290 for most of my work and it is heavy after a full day of cutting and I could get away with a much smaller saw for 80 percent of what I cut ,I just needed a little bit bigger saw for dropping trees as we do get some good ones ,,My buddy has a 460 for the real big stumps ,but it is not needed that often ,,,Dutch

[flowerjohn]

You guys are right on. I use an echo 12" at work cutting small to medium limbs all day. It's about two I hundred. I mentioned the sthil before as well. They are both great machines and they will not let you down.

[Final Flight]

Buy a stihl. It will always start.

[gooseman]

Tried the cheap saws when I was starting out, constantly torn apart fixing carb or fuel lines or clutch etc. buy a stihl even a cheap one will give you yrs of quality service.

[Doug]

I had thought that a Stihl was out of my price range; but I was surprised to find one on sale, in my range, and in your range $199 plus taxes. The Stihl MS-171... Sorry, I just looked for the webpage so I could post the link; but bought mine June 30th during my lunch hour, seems the price has gone up $80 in a week.

I have no personal experience with them; but Husqvarna has a good name; Poulan, not so much around here.

http://www.husqvarna.com/ca/en/products/chainsaws/240/ but again its up to $279.00

One thing to keep in mind, you will get what you pay for. I had been looking at lower end units; but I know what that has done for me in the past. I just lucked out to fin them on a manufacturer's sale price.

[TPM]

Well, there's a lemon in every bunch and I had it. My Stihl 026 was nothing but trouble from the day I bought it. Had it in for service several times at at least three different shops and it still gave me grief. Got tired of fighting with it and ended up giving it to a buddy of mine.
Had another buddy bring his brand new Poulan up to the cabin to help cut fire wood. Right out of the box the chain was on backwards. Didn't give me much confidence in their quality control. It ran alright but was quite gutless for the size of saw it was. I picked up a smaller Husky last year. Cut a pile of firewood with it last fall and this spring without a hiccup.

[topher]

Well... looks like I'm going to get a sthil ms270 or an echo cs310. The sthil. Says it's "homeowner grade" the echo comes with a contractor warranty sthil does not... for the extra $40 (ASSUMING the dealer days sale still is going on) I'm leaning to echo... have good luck with my trimmer and blower... my uncles had an echo trimmer for 6 years.. starts in 5-8 pulls...

Reading reviews on the sthil a lot of people talk about carb issues on the smaller models. . Apparently the carbs are from China.

Info (reviews) on the echos are hard to find Which makes comparing them difficult.

Sthil has a 1 year warranty. Echo is 5 year consumer.. and 1 year contractor...
Odd my trimmer and blow were 2 year contractor. ..

[warningshot]

sthil, jonsered, husky but not husky from can tire, go for a nice light 16 bar, imo

[MikePal]

GW is right, the small Home owner Stihl's , the 170/180's, are your best bet. I put a 12" bar and chain on my 180 and it's a great saw for the small stuff. I picked mine up on Kijiji for $175 with the whole kit about 4 yrs ago and I haven't had any issues with it. ( I use 026/036 for the big stuff)

Poulan's are also a nice saw, my buddy has one and it cut's a whack of wood every year.

Nobody I know would admit to owning an Echo....LOL...