Is efco chainsaw any good?

[Stubby]

I had one several years ago as a stop gap whilst Spud was porting my 346XP . It was around the 45-50cc mark and I was surprized at how good it was .  Plastic cases I think . Sold it a week later for a bit more than I paid .

[TIMON]

I took that stem in my avatar down in Spain with a 40cc oleo mac. (Not by choice but by necessity as big saws aren’t readily available in southern Spain!) surprisingly good little saw. Would have preferred to use something a lot bigger, of course.

[Baldbloke]

Still have an Efco 147 45cc saw kept as a spare. Bought new for £270 about 10 years ago. Then about half the price of a Stihl. Still going strong but needed a plate repair to the plastic where the top handle goes underneath the saw towards the fuel tank.

Did perhaps 90+ tons of firewood until I could afford a 70cc Husky and a smaller Stihl.

 

One criticism is that the plastics are not the same quality as a Stihl/Husky, otherwise it has done extremely well for a smallish saw with a 16" bar. It even took down some 150 year old spruces that had stump rot, and were too near the house.

They were a relatively cheap saw 10 years ago. Now they are nearly double that price and I think I'd now go for a new Husky or Stihl for the smaller difference in price.

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by Baldbloke
spelling!

[dan494]

3 hours ago, Baldbloke said:

 

Did perhaps 90+ tons of firewood until I could afford a 70cc Husky and a smaller Stihl.

 

 

Should have charged more for the logs 

[Baldbloke]

2 hours ago, dan494 said:

Should have charged more for the logs 

Just cut for our own use these days. Do about 30 - 40 cubes for a biomass heater. Unfortunately missed out on any subsidy payments as went in too early and was foiled by a retrospective consultation. Boiler supposedly being too large for domestic use and therefore payments........

 

Otherwise I would have had 15 saws rather than 3

[spudulike]

Personally I would look at buying something like a Stihl MS260 in relatively decent shape. They are pretty robust and spares are also easy to find and lots of aftermarket kit if you need to keep the costs down. You liked the MS362, why go down several levels and realise that you have made a mistake when you find the Efco a bit "Home owner" rather than pro arb!

[Baldbloke]

13 hours ago, spudulike said:

Personally I would look at buying something like a Stihl MS260 in relatively decent shape. They are pretty robust and spares are also easy to find and lots of aftermarket kit if you need to keep the costs down. You liked the MS362, why go down several levels and realise that you have made a mistake when you find the Efco a bit "Home owner" rather than pro arb!

Which is exactly why I replaced Efco 147 with a MS 260 for regular use. Lighter and more maneuverable than my 365 XP  

Edited March 12, 2018 by Baldbloke

[drinksloe]

Must admit i bought a wee 37cc efco 18 months or so ago and to be honest really quite impressed with it.

Yes its not a top end pro husky or stihl  but for a 37cc engine handles a 15" bar fairly well and was a lot cheaper than a similar sized 'brand saw'

 

My 1 complaint as someone else mentioned is a bit of flex inthe plastics/handle so if ur just about to 'nip' the bar and are slightly too late pulling it out sometimes the  throttle attachment/trigger gets jammed. All u have to do is tap the side of the handle and it pops back into place

 

I have been told by a few folk (including the dealer who sold me the efco) that ur cheap bottom end/hobby models of stihl/husky really are quite poor and nothing like there pro saws

 

But like everything it depends on the useage and the maintance

So far very happy with it and its got me out a hole a few times when other 'better' saws/chains/bars have packed in and it was the spare in the van and done wot was needed

[SamHulston]

I’ve got a efco saw now and it does the job just fine for logs but I’d not rate it for Fellini’s anything. But I’ve only just started out in the arb world.