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

[Catbuster]

Worst: Geez, tough call. I’m saying a Husqvarna 136 with a dull chain.
Best: Husqvarna 372XPW OE that had been ported by Tree Sling’r. Wow. Just wow. Blew through wood with a square ground skip chain with a 32” bar. Nice and light, ergonomically well done, still probably the best all rounder I’ve ever come across.
Most Surprising: Stihl’s MS 462. After running the 046/MS 460/ MS 461, Stihl took a very different direction and not really in a good way for the long bar community.

 

[Diesel Freak]

Most surprising and best was probably a 064 I owned for a while. It was surprising because the only 80cc+ saw I had to compare it to was my PM800. It was like a Ferrari vs a Fiero! Honorable mention for surprising would be Poulan 8500 and 3700. Never woulda known Poulan once made respectable saws. That 8500 sure did make me smile.

Worst was probably a Craftsman/Roper 3.7. My first real saw was a stihl 028s. I loved everything about that saw until I ran a husky 55. I still love the ergo of the 028s but the 55's ain't bad and it's just plain faster and way easier to work on.

 

[300DMMAG]

Mine favorite saw is a Jonsered 2253 and Husqvarna 390: running square ground chain. 325 on the 2253. Husky 3/8

 

[hseII]

Stihl’s MS 462.
After running the 046/MS 460/ MS 461, Stihl took a very different direction and not really in a good way for the long bar community.

I Agree.


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[TreeLife]

I Agree.


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The 462 never made me horny. It simply isn't an all purpose slayer like the ms461 and ms460 before it. Great firewood/tree service saw.

 

[hseII]

The 462 never made me horny. It simply isn't an all purpose slayer like the ms461 and ms460 before it. Great firewood/tree service saw.

This tree service runs 261s, 461s, & 660s currently.

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[dustinwilt68]

461 Definitely has more grunt, hard to beat a 461 for a logging saw imo, I loved my 462 but as you said, I was just cutting firewood. Filter on the 462 is nicer though.

 

[3browns]

My first saw was my worst saw

I don't remember what I wanted but what I ended up with was a "warranty return/refurbished" Poulan my wife ordered from Sportsman's Guide

She knew how much I wanted a saw and she also knew what we could afford at that time

I think it was $69 shipped free to the bush in Alaska

That thing was a nightmare from start to finish

My wife was a nurse and had to bring home stacks of absorbent pads from the maternity ward to sop up the bar oil that thing constantly leaked into the case

I finally got a rhythm down; I would put in enough bar oil to cut for 5 minutes, stop, refill and repeat so that at the end of a session I only had tablespoons of oil left in the tank to leak out

It was a *b-word to start and was a "Fonzie" saw, no one could start it but me so at least nobody ever borrowed it

As bad as it was I cut a *s-word load of wood with it and it certainly paved my way down the road to bigger, better, and more EXPENSIVE saws

I gave it to the school nurse (a guy) where I worked when we moved in from the bush and he used it for many more years

 

[Wood Duck]

Well, my personal worst experience was with a Stihl MS250. Bought it new, always started fine cold, but refused to restart hot at all from day one. Idle was erratic at best, no matter how it was tuned. Took it back to the store I bought it from. The kid with 10 thumbs in the back tinkered with it, and "got it going" a couple of times, but couldn't really tell me what he had done. (Nothing I suspect, because it never improved.) I gave up on them, bought a brand new OEM carb, same thing. Read about heat soak issues on the internet, so I fabricated some heat guards to try and shield the carb from heat better. Little if any help. Last time I ran it years ago, it died when I sat it down prior to cutting a whopping 6" dead pine tree in front of my house. 47 pulls later and no start, I did a perfect two-handed spinning Olympic hammer throw out towards the road. It sat there at the side of the road for over a week, and I couldn't even get anyone to steal it. I finally picked it up the next time I was mowing, only because it was in my way. Walked into the door of the shop, and hurled it like a bowling ball across the shop floor and up underneath one of the work benches. I guess it's still there; don't really care. The only good thing I can say about that saw is: It inspired me to educate myself about chainsaws, so I wouldn't make that mistake again. That's what led me to this forum, and a great bunch of people!
My current favorite is my MMWS 550MK2. It easily keeps up with my stock 572XP in anything under 12 inches, and weighs less. My MMWS 395XP: a.k.a. "Gorilla Balls" just got its first tank of gas this week, and my dad loves it. No saw that big will ever be an "everyday" saw for me though; I'm a wimp, I want the lightest saw I can get by with for the task at hand. Sometimes the job I'm doing requires a 90+cc saw, but not normally.