chainsaw review

[Dexter's Shed]

ok, so back at the beginning of last year I posted under another name about an imported chainsaw I had bought, rather than a named brand, the post received lots of replies, mainly slagging off the imports as widow makers, and I, not having any hands on experience, let them sway my normal way of thinking, so bought a small Husky too.
but then seeing them side by side, with the same safety features in both, decided to keep the import, a tree feller inspected it for me, and in his words, could not find a bad thing to say about it, at £80 its a good buy, I'm not worried about leaving it at our woods, and although I bought two spare chains for £20 at the same time of purchase, I've yet to use them, I sharpen the chain by hand after each use and its still going strong
I would say that I've used it at least once a week for different jobs alongside the husky, the husky being 14" compared to the 20" import, kick back has happened once when I hit a log behind another, but the brake kicked in perfectly and did what it is supposed to do, bringing the chain to an instant stop.

so although I know only too well that imported chainsaws do not have a high level of followers, and everyone is entitled to a different opinion, I would always recommend them to a competent person, as a cheaper alternative to a branded item, here's our heating bill sorted for another couple of months, the import had cut up this ASH tree that needed removing, and then quite a large dead standing OAK,

[Rod Taylor]

In a similar case to your "import" my first chainsaw was a McCulloch and considered inferior. It was purchased before owning a wood to clear a windblown Apple tree, but gave good reliable service and ended up felling and logging numerous large trees after I bought the wood. It was replaced by a Sthil chainsaw costing six times as much, which is admittedly far more robust and about reached the six times as much work as the McCulloch and still going. The McCulloch on the other hand (only) needs a new brake band to make it safe to use, but the cost of a spare is ridiculous so has been unused since failure. If McCulloch had a better policy of standardising their models and a decent spares availability, from my experience they would be a more financially economical bet for a small woodland owner. AND if anyone from the Sthil design team reads this, the McCulloch filler caps are far better at keeping debris out when topping up with fuel and oil.
So I agree with your comments on keeping an open mind on different makes and using any of them within their ability.

[Binz]

£80! that's cheaper than a service. Could buy those and replace them instead of getting them serviced

[oldclaypaws]

I've also recently acquired an imported 'superior cheapy' brushcutter, which is German designed but Chinky made. I couldn't stretch to the £600 a 43cc equivalent Stihl or Echo would have cost, so I plumbed for a £150 Einhell, bought on Amazon. It appears very sturdy and nicely finished, like the Einhell drill and electric hedgetrimmer I've had (which just died after several years hard use). It demolishes thick bramble effortlessly, yesterday in about an hour I made a 6 feet wide path 100 feet long, that would have taken me a couple of days by hand. The auto Choke works well and it fires up very reliably. Its under warranty and spares are available in the UK via Einhell. If it lasts 5 years I'll consider it a good buy.

The only criticism is the instructions appear to have been translated from German to Chinese and then English, leading to some entertaining and head scratching nonsenses. The section that should presumably read 'Instructions for use' appears as 'Using the home Waterworks'. Surely that comes after several beers?

[Wendelspanswick]

The problem I find with cheap imported tools is spares availability. I have a Husky chainsaw I bought new in 1991 and last year the choke lever snapped, the first fault I have had with it apart from replacing the pull cord a few times. I popped into the local Husky dealer and had a new choke lever for £14 in 48 hrs.
My father in law on the other hand bought a Homelite chainsaw from a DIY chain last year and the chain brake failed this year. The brake stays on all the time unless you hold the lever back. He asked me to have a look and the whole plastic assembly has distorted to the point where it will no longer work.
After the hassle of many fruitless calls and emails to the DIY chain and Homelite themselves (now just box shifters) I have had to tell my father in law to right it off and bin it which he refuses to do and still cuts timber with it by using one hand to hold the brake handle back in use!
He paid around £100 for the saw, Mole Valley Farmers are doing the Stihl 12" saw, with all the spares and technical backup, for a £150.

[Dexter's Shed]

The problem I find with cheap imported tools is spares availability. I have a Husky chainsaw I bought new in 1991 and last year the choke lever snapped, the first fault I have had with it apart from replacing the pull cord a few times. I popped into the local Husky dealer and had a new choke lever for £14 in 48 hrs.
My father in law on the other hand bought a Homelite chainsaw from a DIY chain last year and the chain brake failed this year. The brake stays on all the time unless you hold the lever back. He asked me to have a look and the whole plastic assembly has distorted to the point where it will no longer work.
After the hassle of many fruitless calls and emails to the DIY chain and Homelite themselves (now just box shifters) I have had to tell my father in law to right it off and bin it which he refuses to do and still cuts timber with it by using one hand to hold the brake handle back in use!
He paid around £100 for the saw, Mole Valley Farmers are doing the Stihl 12" saw, with all the spares and technical backup, for a £150.

I fully agree with you on that, if its broke, bin it, I too have a husky that only cost double what the import did, so I have the best of both worlds, although I found my husky online and ordered it no problems, a lot of shops will not sell a decent chainsaw unless you have the appropriate certification, now for using in your own home/garden/woodland, you don't need to have this, so that may sway people down the import route, and accidents can then happen, but still say that's user error rather than an inferior machine, as someone else said, its the loose nuts between their ears

[Zenith]

My old McCullough needs replacing and I'm looking at the Stihl ms 181, basically because we have a local Stihl agent and it is always useful to have somewhere to pop into should problems occur. I'd be interested to read other people's views of this chainsaw before I make a decision. I don't envisage having to do a lot of chainsaw work in the wood, just managing fallen trees/branches and occasional selective thinning.

Many thanks

[oldclaypaws]

A Stihl 181 is a budget entry model intended for small jobs around the garden, they recommend it for 'property maintenance'. With a 30cc motor it doesn't have much 'uumph' and only has a 12" bar. It would struggle with a big hardwood branch. For a woodland, you really need something meatier.

If you want a reliable respected middleweight Stihl, but not too heavy or OTT price, have a look at a MS 261. Its quite powerful but popular among professional foresters for medium to lighter work as its powerful but well built, light and easy to manoeuvre. You get what you pay for, its an important bit of kit and an investment, best not to economise at the cost of under-performance.

[Dexter's Shed]

we have a local Stihl agent
Many thanks

out of interest, when your next in there can you find out the price of a yearly service, will be nice to see how much money Im saving

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-58cc-Petr ... 4ac6fb6441

[Zenith]

Many thanks for your advice. I wondered if I would need a more powerful one. The one I've been using is an old one I used for occasional garden work and I reckon the guy was looking at a replacement for that, rather than the increased work I would need to do in a wood. Having only recently purchased the woodland and sunk all our money into that, I reckon I'll have to make do with the old one for a bit longer and then get the one you suggest next year. As you say, there is no point buying something that will be working beyond its limit.

The 261 looks a nice piece of kit, so I reckon it will be worth the wait.

I'll try and find out how much an annual service will cost, but I'm hoping to be able to do most of it myself. I must also look out for a training course. I've got all the protective gear, so at least I look the part.