Best/Worst/Most Suprising Chainsaw You’ve Bought or Ran

[Frank bierce]

My favorite saw to run...mmws 288 that just feels nasty. Have raised a few eyebrows cutting near others!!
Most impressive...I must say...for 54cc’s the Mac 10-10 is one impressive little bigger!! However it weighs like a current 70cc saw. Lol.
Biggest dog of a saw...have to agree with some others on the 660....it cuts, but needs work to make it somewhat enjoyable.

 

[Lightning Performance]

If you guys were talking stock I'd pick and 066 every time for general saw that does it all stock. The others but maybe the 288 need something more than a muffler mod imo.

My favorite is a Stihl 460 I bought brand new in 2005. Been one hell of a saw. Worst would be Dolmar 5105. It a good saw when you get it started but it might take 15 pulls

Have you fixed the choke yet?

I’ve got a 2253 that has such severe auto tune issues it’s almost useless. Can’t even use it as a door stop because it just falls over and skids across the floor on the clutch cover.

Seals maybe? Did you do them?

 

[Wood Doctor]

I have to say that my Stihl MS361 is the best that I own, primarily because I keep using other 60cc saws while trying to preserve the 361. Yes, that's ridiculous but here it was when new in 2008 after Bush sent me a stimulus check to help pay for it:

I've since added an outside bumper spike. It always starts, always runs, and the only part I ever replaced was the fuel filter and a bunch of chains that I wore out after a dozen sharpenings. I keep it stored in a case. In 2021, I promise to use it once again because I'm not getting any younger.

 

[stretch5881]

My favorite "Holy Crap" saw, was my ported Echo 600p with an unlimited coil. The only con was too small of a fuel tank. A very thirsty saw. I say "was" because someone made a really good offer for it.

 

[furb]

Ms270. Everyone said they suck. I got one that ate a case bolt from behind the flywheel that I fixed. That ugly beat to death saw did everything I needed. I was a volunteer to do trail clean up so if it got smashed or stolen it didn’t matter. Ended up getting using my 550 primarily so it’s been hanging now for years. That 550 is the most disappointing saw I’ve bought new. It has an issue where is has to sit and idle on cold starts or it wont rev. Have a 2252 that does the same thing but worse. Drug my feet until the warranty was over.

 

[stihl_head1982]

Worst saw was a crapsman from Sears and Rareback. Actually gave it away.
Surprising saw was a Stihl 036. Bought it off a guy who inherited it. It ran amazingly well after it was gone over.
Wish I had never sold it -- oh well, don't we all have stories like that.

 

[Nathan lassley]

Best saw my tanaka labeled zenoah g5000 and a close second zenoah g450 avs.

One that was surprisingly impressive was my Zomax 6010 until it sucked on bad mix at work.... somebody dosed the mix I made while I was off. Nearly scorched the 044 I was running too.

Absolute worst was the husqvarna 445 I had, the chain always stopped when cutting over 14 diameter wood, I tried to do some timed cuts against my old 40cc redmax and it stalled, it would not restart no matter what I did. The next day it fired right up. I hated that saw enough that I traded it for a mcculloch eager beaver 2016...which actually could out cut that 445.

 

[Funky sawman]

Best saw I've ran is one that starts and idles without a hiccup, accelerates with no bogging and screams loudly enough to piss off neighbors.

 

[Orangeinthebarn]

best saws are 2149/53 and 044 10mm and ne346. Ive only had 1 saw I absolutely hated that was a 261c early mtronic. also had a ms260 I didnt care for. The saw that surprised me the most was a ported 2159

 

[Al Smith]

In-stock form the 038 Magnum proves that CC's means nothing it's all about rated horsepower 72 CC's of 260 speed.
It is a turd ......

It's an opinion ,nothing more .They tell me in the day it was the go to saw in the PNW for secondary smaller timber after the days of old growth .
That said they take mods real well and can still hold their own although because of it's age isn't used much any more .On the other hand if somebody had never seen a well tuned version they could label them as a turd I suppose .--it's a Ford Chevy thing ---

 

[Maintenance Chief]

It's an opinion ,nothing more .They tell me in the day it was the go to saw in the PNW for secondary smaller timber after the days of old growth .
That said they take mods real well and can still hold their own although because of it's age isn't used much any more .On the other hand if somebody had never seen a well tuned version they could label them as a turd I suppose .--it's a Ford Chevy thing ---

I agree with you Al , I own a 038 Super and it's not a bad saw? Honestly I was a little confused about all the negative comments about them in Magnum trim it must be about the tune.
The old forestry and logging pics thread sure shows alot of them being used back in the day.

 

[Kerfed]

That 550 is the most disappointing saw I’ve bought new. It has an issue where is has to sit and idle on cold starts or it wont rev

Mk1? My saw shop owner says to flip the choke up and down before a start when still cold and it will set the saw to higher idle. Same issue here, first start of the day it fires up full choke then I bump it a few times which speeds up the warm up. Thereafter do the up and down switch and it’ll save some swearing. Usually cold in Maine but not today, 50’s, gusts to 65mph, and pouring rain.

 

[stihl_head1982]

I agree with you Al , I own a 038 Super and it's not a bad saw? Honestly I was a little confused about all the negative comments about them in Magnum trim it must be about the tune.
The old forestry and logging pics thread sure shows alot of them being used back in the day.

The 038 super are rare in this area. I've only ever seen one. Sounds like a treasure.

 

[Al Smith]

I've only seen about 2 038 supers in my life time .They made more mags than any which morphed into the 380 and 381 if memory serves .It's an older model you can still get parts for unlike the 042 and 048 .Which I also have several and just the other day found a complete set of gaskets and seals for I had forgotten all about .Just for reference it has been said the 048 model at the time had the highest HP per weight of any saw made in that time period .
Since I brought it up of note the 048 model is the very first Stihl I ever owned and came from a lawn and garden shop in Oregon .It had a spun main, clutch side .The seller was honest about it on flea bay .That was back when you could still get parts for that model at a dealer .The rings BTW are the same as the 038 mag .
The snag on these things is the clutch side bearing and seal which by design and typical of Stihl are strictly OEM ,---azz holes .I might delve into that because they might think they are cagey but they will never understand or defeat yankee ingenuity .Pshaw it was two eccentrics who owned a bicycle shop in Dayton Ohio over 100 years ago who figured out an airplane .It stands to reason an electrical savant further north in the state could out fox a bunch of Germans being part German myself .

 

[Lee H]

Most surprising saw, Mcculloch 101 power kart saws that i have built along
with the Sachs Dolmar 166 that is now 136cc's, Pulls like a freight train.

Most unimpressive saw. Stihl 032, I had 2 and they were the most underpowered
50cc saw i ever ran.

 

[rocketnorton]

I agree with you Al , I own a 038 Super and it's not a bad saw? Honestly I was a little confused about all the negative comments about them in Magnum trim it must be about the tune.
The old forestry and logging pics thread sure shows alot of them being used back in the day.

ive had couple supers, they werent far behind mag i have now.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

ive had couple supers, they werent far behind mag i have now.

I let a ranger at one of my parks use it during a spring storm clean up this year. He really loved it, but doesn't have alot of experience with any pro saws. Which is nice to get feed back from an unbiased perspective, (chainsaw obsessed person).
I run a 24" bar on it and its pretty happy with that, 28" was alittle too much in my opinion.
I bought the saw from a fellow in N.C. and at first was concerned that it didn't have an oem cylinder on it , but the bore measured correctly for the Super and replacement cylinders weren't really made by our Asian friends.

 

[brushwacker]

I must say from my limited experience the Stihl 660 was a mere shadow of the earlier 066 model .That modified 038 Mag I have mentioned will cut heads up with one and it's 20 cc's larger .Now that's just not right .

I had an 066 mag was impressed with it until it got smashed in an accident , got hooked up with an 038 mag and an ms 660 both stock except dual port exhaust on the 660 . The 038 mag felt about 3/4 the power, same weight didn't care to use it much. I always loved using the 660 and not 1 problem i can remember. It always starts even if it sits for months. Since i got an 064 i put a 32inch on the 660 and don't need it often, i use the 064 with a 28in for most my big stuff . The 660 feels a bit stonger then my 064 and i had an 395xp briefly. Never had it in real big wood, but what i did it didn't feel it had anything over the 660 so it was easy to give up when i got a chance to sell it. Personally i would feel short handed without at least 1 of an 064 or 066 or ms660 dual port muffler. The later ms660's were choked up on the exhaust end was all that bothered me.
All time most reliable and most useful to me has been the 034 supers i have used and been using for about 3 decades.
I like an 044 better for a bar bigger then 20in but over the years havent had 1 in the lineup most the time.
The 346xp NE impressed me for power the first time i run 1 but i don't feel very comfortable using them with short bars they are intended to be used with. I nicked many a pair of boot toes with those small huskys and rarely happens with similar equipped stihls which i mostly use. The way i use my saws and the angle of the handlebar i think is why.
Of all the saw's that get the extreme hype about the only 1 that impressed me is the ms200. The first 1 i ran felt like the 346xp in a trim package.

 

[Armbru84]

Overrated: stock 462...

Impressive: stock 550 mark 2 and older non decomp 066

 

[furb]

Mk1? My saw shop owner says to flip the choke up and down before a start when still cold and it will set the saw to higher idle. Same issue here, first start of the day it fires up full choke then I bump it a few times which speeds up the warm up. Thereafter do the up and down switch and it’ll save some swearing. Usually cold in Maine but not today, 50’s, gusts to 65mph, and pouring rain.

I don’t know what the deal with it is. I’ve tried what you said. I’ve had two 550s and the jred. The one 550 was beat to death by a nursery but was flawless running, both with at1 carbs. I sold the good runner. I don’t feel right selling the dumb one even telling someone before hand about the issue.