New Topper, which model & petrol or electric?

[spudulike]

Agree on the term "Topper", many of my customers use the term and have taken it as an alternative to "Top Handled Chainsaw"

You could consider the MS194 or the MS151. Both use the 1/4" chain and offer a lighter saw. 

One guy I know rates the MS194 heavily!

[allseasons]

 
T525 and T540?

540 and 540i

[KWarb17]

4 minutes ago, spudulike said:

Agree on the term "Topper", many of my customers use the term and have taken it as an alternative to "Top Handled Chainsaw"

You could consider the MS194 or the MS151. Both use the 1/4" chain and offer a lighter saw. 

One guy I know rates the MS194 heavily!

Talking of the 151, haven't they had a load of problems recently?? A dealer round here says he's had more than 40 back in the last 12 months. Think they have paused production...anyone confirm this?

[spudulike]

Interesting, it was pretty much the same as the 150 from what I could see. Only done one 151 and found it pretty crap until I did the normal on it which transformed it as usual.

The 150 weaknesses were the flywheel spinning and the front engine mounts coming loose. The rest of it seems pretty good and reliable.

[Khriss]

58 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

'Stubby' - The man is 100% professional in all he does.

Just Like Mr Stubby, you can see yr face in the shine of his slippers of a morning ☺️ K

[Moose McAlpine]

27 minutes ago, allseasons said:

540 and 540i

 

How do you find the power and performance of the 540i?

[allseasons]

18 minutes ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

How do you find the power and performance of the 540i?

Power is amazing but the battery quickly drains and with the bigger battery it becomes quiet heavy but supplier told me that soon husky will be bringing out a battery that is really light and lasts a lot longer so we will see it brilliant for pruning jobs etc in peoples back gardens.

[adw]

2 hours ago, spudulike said:

From a repairers side, the MS200T is by far, the easiest to work on, the MS201t is fairly similar but the T540XP is one that I hate more than most.

I have been told the 540 has a nice clip allowing you to clip it to a strop but a second clip allows you to hook it on your belt - with a suitable clip. I am not a climber but this is cited by many as being orgasmic!

The 540 is damn difficult to strip...if any Husky techs want to argue the point, I will stick £100 down to be the first to strip and get the piston off a fully assembled MS200T against them doing the same on a 540 and no powered tools to be used either!

Can't say too much about their use but the 200 has a nice spread of power, no revving it up to full tilt then hitting the wood like some. 

If you do get a 200....make sure it is as original as possible, especially the top end and carb. I have yet to see a cheap aftermarket carb work well and unlike most, I prefer the accelerator pump carb as I find them much much more stable in adjustment!

Just seen the latest post.....did the MS200T have an OEM top end/carb and what compression did it pull? Was the same cutting gear used? Was it tuned correctly .........lots of things determine how a machine works and one test doesn't prove too much in my book!

 

Is it easier to strip because after a few hours most of it has fallen apart anyway ? have seen a few, mufflers either loose or cracked up, carburation is very strange, chain brake covers and bases melted, i know it is not the quickest to strip but i really think that is because it is so well built

[Paddy1000111]

1 hour ago, allseasons said:

Power is amazing but the battery quickly drains and with the bigger battery it becomes quiet heavy but supplier told me that soon husky will be bringing out a battery that is really light and lasts a lot longer so we will see it brilliant for pruning jobs etc in peoples back gardens.

It would be good if manufacturers updated their batteries. The motor tech doesn't really change so much but the battery chemistry seems to have a breakthrough weekly. Would be good if manufacturers came out with battery upgrades. Maybe even set up their kit so that you could update the firmware and get more performance out of a newer battery

Edited December 6, 2020 by Paddy1000111

[Dan Maynard]

I'm in the 201 camp, but if you've got a good 200 already I would suggest not a lot of point getting one. Now I have a 150 and two battery saws the 201 gets taken out on the later stage of bigger takedowns only.

I really like having a battery saw to get rid of pull starting, hot exhaust to manage, better communication when rigging. Things seem to flow just a bit smoother.

Also when I used a 150 topping conifer hedges I always found I didn't want to have the saw running all the time when I put it down, but also didn't want to stop/start all the time. Battery saw solves that - just click and cut then put it down.

I would seriously consider a battery saw. The choice is pruning saw or takedown saw though, bit like with the petrol ones.

Husky 540i is the fastest cutting but heavy, weight is similar to the 540T. Echo 2500T I think is probably the best pruning saw (although I haven't had one in my hand).

I went for the Makita system, it is far cheaper and nearly as good, in my opinion. They are the only people currently to make both types of saw that can share the same batteries.

Not sure about Echo but certainly the others do hedge cutters etc to share the batteries, that spreads the cost of the charger etc and helps it look better costwise.

In the end though
-if you do lots of takedowns 540i
-if you do lots of pruning and hedges then Echo 2500 if you're feeling rich, Makita DUC254 if you're feeling tight
- if you are out sub zero or in pouring rain a lot then petrol 2511

I reckon Makita 254 plus Echo 2511 together would cost about the same as the Echo 2500T plus batteries and charger.

I think there was a recent thread Josharb and he went 2511 in the end due to concerns about batteries in the snow, as he's in Sweden.

No one best saw for every job, that's the problem.