I just had my buddy fabricate me a case guard/bumper spike at his shop. I just use the 3/8lp x .043” x 12” chain so I can use the same chains my pole saw & the 2511t.
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I actually backed-off on my dogs (made them smaller, have DIY 3-point West Coast dogs) on their size, and honestly am finding (on Live Oak) that the spikes are hardly helping (they're helping me line-up, but if a cut begins w/ the spike in the wood it's like a 50/50 the chain will bog pretty quick..)
LOVE the diesel look & function of that plate and want one, however -- in making my own dogs -- I realized that, even if large ones were desirable,
I couldn't actually put huge dogs on if I wanted because the dog-mounts are ONLY for minimal-dogs, by that I mean that it's just (2) screw-holes into the plastic body which is also the outer walls of your gas & oil tanks, that is holding the dogs (or dogs + shield, in your case), so I wouldn't want to torque/hurt those two mountting points by leveraging them w/ a 5"+ long plate (despite how awesome that looks...but for all I know it's got other reinforcements, I can think of a million ways it
could be "done very firmly&safely" if one had the fiberglass, hardware & time ;D )
Been in trees the past few days, post oak and hickory, and am pleased with the 2511T. Had it humming at 16,200 rpm, but thought that might be a tad lean.
Fattened it up, turning 13,400, but that was a bit too fat in the wood. Eased it leaner, and it purred right along. Didn't check the rpms after that, 'cause I was in the tree.
Since it is stated by Echo that it is "For use by tree service professionals only," it definitely should have come with a better chain, at a minimum, and the optimum would be for it to come with 1/4" and that eight-tooth spur, as well as the different shaped bar. Makes for a much better working combo, in my opinion. Engineers, marketing, and liability issues aside, it's the "tree service professionals" who put it to work, and I've noted that many have opined the same regarding the set-up. Perhaps Echo will take heed? Eh, probably not.
For me, though, the handle angle is a bit off, making it more difficult to rotate and push the bar down in use, especially when not cutting near the butt of the bar. Also, cutting up close like that, the saw cuts much better by digging in the tiny dog, rotating, and putting some pressure on the cut. The thing is so light that there's not enough weight to load it, and you'll wear yourself out doing tricep presses, trying to force the cut, especially when reaching.
Generally, I'm likin' this saw.
Loving mine "in general" as you say, honestly just loving it as my gripes are almost-entirely superficial, the biggest is simply how chintzy it feels in the hand (not entire unit, per se, but really the main Operator-grip/handle area, trigger / controls etc, have already done several modifications to this area on mine and will be going to "spring-load On button" soon as I get the time!)
Did you ever warm-up to the bar-angle? When my zenoah g2500 clone died, one of the things I knew I'd miss most was the steep bar-angle, as you say it is detrimental to force generation on the outer ends of the bar's
bottom, but you mustve noticed by now just how much more leverage you have on the top of the bar and - in-practice, IMO - this is much more important, we don't really 'need' help w/ the end of a 12" bar's bottom, but the top of bar cuts so much better w/ steeper angle IMO/IME!!) The 2511 isn't as steep as the g2500 but is nice!
Missing the palm rest on the grip (like my 355t came with, actually came w/ multiple sized ones), honestly I thought other companies would begin ripping-off the idea of back-palm/upper/wrist supports because it just lets you exert SO much more control especially when 1-handing and especially on the top of the bar (or when needing rightward force on the bar)
Went and made my own grip, taped it on real tight w/ elec tape so I could simultaneously firm-up the entire upper-handle area, used a razor to cut around the triggers (and sanded/burr'd the trigger base in such a way that it actually has grip / is no longer a slick, flat plastic surface
)
5.2lbs and 1.45BHP off the shelf with that insanely tight exhaust system, just incredible, power tends to correlate pretty linearly to displacement yet this 25cc beats the 355t (or 201t if that's more your speed) which is insanely impressive considering it seems to respond
better to basic muff & timing mods (will say it's a MASSIVE blow that Echo is pushing them, at least in this market, with 50gauge 3/8 pitch setups, lol mine's still brand new / for-sale, but having to go buy an entire retro-fit kit to go 1/4 pitch is just insane....especially when it seems overseas OEM models come w/ 1/4 and dime-nose setups...)
(I'll note, re durability, that this thing took a great tumble out of my truck probably from ~5' and just
SMACK!'d the pavement, was so sure I'd be replacing *something(s)*, only got some plastic-gouging on the chainbrake handle and the plug-cover casing--- NOTE that, at least on mine, the spark plug casing does NOT swing clearly of the spark plug, you gotta remove it real quick and just grind a groove/recession on the inside edging so that it opens/closes w/o making any contact w/ your spark plug's boot!)
That’s why there is also more focus nowadays on the thumb-rests on the top handle (see DCS-2500T as an example).
