Is anyone familiar with this chainsaw?

[nailshooter41]

Jack - would you mind posting where you bought the saw?

Robert

[nailshooter41]

Thanks, Ross. It is valuable info coming from someone that uses chainsaws professionally. I would never use a saw as much as someone that does it for a living, so if it works well for you it might be one that would last me as long as I would need a chainsaw.

Robert

[Mike Marlow]

Ho-oly Cow! Over a grand - even in Canadian money, for a chainsaw! That thing better have come with a nude brunette to do all of the bending over work, for that price...

[Mike Marlow]

I'll weigh in on the Stihl side as well. I've had a few over the years. None of them ever wore out. One was stolen, one suffered the misfortune of an errant tree and I'm still cutting with the third. I'm in upstate NY and

99% of my cutting is hardwoods - mostly maple, cherry, beach. Friends who log for a living have long been mixed between Stihl, Jonserd, and Huskvarna. All equal tools in my opinion, as long as you stay in class. I got started with a Stihl decades ago, having somewhat grown up with them, and have just stuck with them.

Echo.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

24 inch, the largest Husky recommends for the 455. I bought it at Alaimi in Colorado, same place I bought the Honda generators. Great service

[Just Wondering]

[Robatoy]

A bent-over nude brunette.... yup, that'll be conducive to getting some work done.

[Robatoy]

thought..no I don't.

[John DeBoo]

[Robatoy]

I would buy a tool like that, not so much based on brand but on the reputation of their service in the user's area. That 'discount' from the likes of Sears and to a lesser extent Lowe's, is quickly forgotten when their service departments won't come through for you.

Deal with a specialist.

I bought a Weber BBQ from a propane dealer who sold nothing but fine BBQ's. Not cheap, but by the time I added up the little extras, like proper stainless grating instead of that ceramic coated cast-crap, and the free Weber cover, I was spending the same as the 'cheaper' version at HD. And he delivered for free. He also told me that if I ever had an extra large party, he'd lend me an additional BBQ to help out. Since then, he's filled my tank a few times for free, because I told other people how happy I was with their service ( that they consequently bought their Webers there.) He also gave me a new igniter (after 6 years of flawless use) for his cost.

That is VERY different from HD who sold me a sander with 'LIFETIME' warranty and then tried to sell be an EXTENDED warranty at the cash...WTF???? and on top of that, the idiots have yet to stock 6"- 6 hole paper for the damned thing. (That doesn't matter much to me as I converted to a Mirka pad anyway.)...

..somebody stop me...

[Taunt]

Robert,

I picked it up at the local Lowe's store for $374.00 plus $35.00 for the powerbox case.

It was hard to find a chainsaw in our Oklahoma city during the ice storm. I had got the 18" poulan (they were out of Husqvarnas). I took it back the next day with a broken starter rope. Lucky for me they had just gotten in one 455Rancher, which I grabbed quickly.

Jack

[nailshooter41]

For that price, I would want the brunette DOING the work, not just leaning over.

It is a lot of dough, and closer calculations are letting me see that I will be in at the $500 mark for the saw, a couple of extra chains, a carry bag and shipping. I never in my life thought I would be spending $500 on a chainsaw, and that is probably why I am laboring so hard over this decision. I was likewise surprised to find that it takes about $250 just to get a bottom of the list (12" bar, small engine arborist model) saw that is considered a "pro" grade saw.

I noticed in a later post that you are a proponent of Stihl. I would be too, except that the 24" bar 60cc model they sell is at the $1050 to $1100 mark from our local dealer, PLUS 8% state and local. And that is for the saw only. Plus, I am still pissed off at the fact that I would have to buy a Stihl saw and any OEM parts from a certified dealer. I don't know how the parts costs compare to the cost of parts on other saws, but if their dealer protected part pricing is similar to their dealer protected saw pricing, it will be pretty high.

Sitll, if I honestly used it hard every day, or used it as my method of making a living, I might consider the Stihl. But as far as having an expensive piece of equipment like that, I would be sick every time I looked at is sitting, knowing that I spent $1100 to $1200 on a saw that I didn't use that much.

Robert

[nailshooter41]

Thanks!

Robert

[l.vanderloo]

Hi Robert

Just got home again, been gone for better than a week, so a little late with this reply. My opinion is the professional saws are good, names are not really important on those. I have used a poulan for a number of years, still have it as a backup saw, by the way, poulan and a number of saw makers where owned by electralux, and Husqvarna bought all those up a year or two ago. ( it seems to be easier to buy out the competition than to compete, and not just in the saw market) As for dealers selling and servicing the Stihl saws, that should strike you as a good thing, just stop and think here for a moment, if you where unable to service this saw yourself, and you had not a dealer, but lets say Home Depot or Walmart had sold this saw to you, who's going to service it for you there ??? Saws are expensive ?, yes they are, but they are not lawnmowers or other low tech implement. I just bought a Stihl MS361 last august, it's capable of handling a

36" bar, don't need it that big at present, so I got it with a 18" and a 24" bar and chains, I got some change back from a $1000.-- bill, but there is just no comparing these saws with the small home owner saws, Quality hurts only once ;-))) Got a good dealer around ?? get what he sells, if having a choice I would prefer a Stihl.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

[nailshooter41]

with this reply.

Always good to hear from you, Leo. I was hoping you would chime in as I know you cut a more than your share of large hardwood bowl blanks every year.

prefer a Stihl.

I think I would too, for no other reason than all the tree cutters around here use them. No other reason, actually. Like I said farther up the thread, the same saw in Stihl brand would be roughly twice as much, and I would be captured (even for minor parts) by the dealer and their markup.

The deciding factor may indeed be my local dealers. One is 40 miles away, and the closest one is someone that is a real jerk. I have a couple of Husqvarna dealers here, and I can buy minor parts all over on the net to perform minor repairs or maintenance myself.

I would still take it to a certified dealer for heavy duty repairs, but to replace a choke knob or a drive cog, that seems a bit much. Dealers around here have a $65 bench fee, whether they do the work or not (applied to the work if they do it), so that is certainly a consideration for me.

Some of the protected dealers scare me. I was contacted by someone that replaced the top handle on his "dealer saw" after dropping it. It was something like $140 for the aluminum bar with "installation" of the four bolts. He only paid $320 for the saw...

When calling one of the larger Husky dealers, even the guy at the sales desk warned me off the "homeowner" or "homepro" line of saws they sell for both the Stihl and Husqvarna lines of saws they have. He told me, "we just don't want to see a saw back in here in 30 days."

The saw I am looking at is the bottom third of their "pro" line, and has some really great features. 24" bar, 60cc engine, depressuring for easier start, side chain tension adjustment, etc. With all the good feedback here, I am just about ready to go. Seems like pretty much all agree with you, and that is once you get past the homeowner line you are probably going to get a pretty good saw in the pro lines.

Thanks for the input.

Are you guys beginning to thaw out up there in the great white north?

Robert

[Mike Marlow]

Well - so would I Robert. I don't remember what I paid for my Stihl now, but it was probably in the $300-$400 range 15 years or so ago. List price was something else, but like cars nobody sold at list. There certainly were other saws that would have served my needs at the time, but I could afford what I was accustomed to and what I had come to consider the best of the best, so I bought it. I've never regretted being a Stihl owner and highly recommend their saws, but there really are some pretty good alternatives out there for less. I just don't recommend big box stores for them. Local dealers need the business.

[Robatoy]

On Mar 20, 8:38 am, "Mike Marlow" wrote: [snipped for brevity]

They deserve our business. They're professionals, so are we. They know what they're talking about (with a few exceptions of course.)

I have stopped asking questions at big box stores...all I get is this vacuous look and I get to see the back of their heads through the FRONT of their eyes. Again, there are exceptions.

IF the brick-and-mortar guy charges a wee bit more, he: a) needs it to stay in business b) deserves it for his knowledge c) keeps an expensive inventory of readily-available spare parts d) will often do trade-ins e) will often sell your saw for you f) will often have a good refurbished used one for sale.

On a tool of that class, you make 500 dollar decisions, not 50 dollar decisions.

I have a couple of 'Bigger' box stores as clients, and a nice group of smaller guys.. I get up in the morning looking forward to that cup of coffee with one of my small dealers, discussing a project; he's all 'up' because he sold a kitchen, I'm all 'up' because he's happy with my service....the big box? Not so much. Just a stack of forms. And 60 to 90 days to get my money. (Again, one huge exception, but it is privately owned.)

It is time we took back our way of life. Train the kids in school to be craftsmen. To be small engine repair specialists. Etc.

But I digress

r

[nailshooter41]

dealers need the business.

Our local Husky dealers seem OK. But chainsaws are a ver,very small part of their normal sales; they concentrate on all kinds of lawn equipment to the pro and semi pro group. Leaf blowers to tractors is their baliwick.

To be a certified dealer (for just about any product these days this is true), they have to be a certain size physically (no selling out of the garage) and buy a certain amount of parts and new equipment to maintain that standing. So they do indeed have a good parts supply and they have factory trained repair guys. There is however, no pot bellied stove in the corner of the store with the old men playing dominoes to chat with while "Phil gets you fixed up". One has a

10,000 sq ft showroom (tractors inside) and the 3 Husky chainsaws are on a shelf.

The other is much smaller, more friendly, but also 45 minutes away. He has one factory tech trained guy, and carries as little inventory as possible since he sells several kinds of lawn equipment as well. For any major work, I would suppose a Husky purchase would go there.

However, both guys sell the same saw I am looking at all over the 'net for about $115 more than I can buy it all day long. That means they are about 20% higher than their on line competitors, and they won't budge an inch. They would rather hang onto the saws they have or get more for a "special order" than to leave the $115 on the table.

However, both cheerfully told me they would take care of any warranty issues.

Not available here.

And a local dealer is something that is a big consideration. One thing to definitely keep me from doubling my investment by purchasing Stihl is that the ONLY local dealer we have is someone that is most commonly referred to by his genital configuration. And that ain't Richard.

You said it. I think I may have this thing figured out. I can buy from a monster dealer in Oregon and get the saw down here with a couple of chains and a box for a little under $600. (Stihl set factory price on their equivalent saw is $1100 for saw only). If I buy with my AMEX card, AMEX will automatically double the manufacturer's warranty. So the warranty goes from 2 to 4 years.

For any warranty repairs I can ship it back to Oregon for $25, or take a drive and go see the guys in the country.

That could be a whole thread, right? I would love to see it, but....

I am signed up to be a guest demonstrator (probably woodturning) at one of our local high schools - for free of course! That should be an interesting morning. Just trying to do my part on that. Should be interesting.

Robert

[Barry N. Turner]

I laid out $600+ for a Stihl 361 with a 20" bar a couple of years ago. I'll never go near a Poulan/Homelite/Craftsman/McCulloch/etc. again. There is no comparison. You get what you pay for. Sometimes. :-) Barry