rotatec chains?

[Rob D]

3 hours ago, lurch_917 said:

this has proberbly been asked a million times but what are your thoughts on them as i can get 2 for the price of 1 oregon chain .

thanks in advance .

 

The best way to answer this question is by yourself.

 

Get an Oregon chain. Get x2 of the Rotatech chains. Use them side by side and decide if it's worth paying more for the Oregon.

 

It's very similar to the question of what chainsaws you run - some folks buy a saw off ebay for £120 and others buy a Husky 560 or Stihl 400 C-M for up to £900. So who made the 'right' choice?

 

Why would you buy a chainsaw that is almost 9 times the price? Is it worth it? It does the same thing - you put fuel in and cut wood. You can buy 7 or 8 of the cheaper version...

 

For some it is and for some it isn't. But the only way to find out is to do it yourself as it's more about you than the chainsaw or the chain. It sounds profound and wise but it really isn't. People will give you conflicting advice - don't listen to them - work it out yourself.

 

It changes over time and 'where you are at'  - when I started I bought second hand gear - these days I only sell second hand gear.

 

So is it best to buy second hand gear - or new every time? There is no right or wrong. It depends on your circumstances.

 

I remember doing my training [and this is going back 20 years at Sparshalt, Winchester]. I was skint and mainly doing gardening but wanting to get into treework. They were selling helmets at one of the open days. They had the climbing helmet with chinstrap for £5-00 extra than the ground helmet with peaked cap without the chinstrap. I figured I could buy the cheaper helmet and grind the peak off and add some elasto to make a climbing helmet. I was told 'don't be a twat' so I had to take it back and swap it over! I don't know why I'm typing that but it's the same sort of dilemma. And no I'm not saying you're a twat if you buy Rotatech chains as they are good chains for the price - I'm just putting it out there.

 

In summary - try both - think about how you find them, make some vids and youtube them - what works for you - stick to that. Rinse and repeat a year later to see if anything has changed.

 

If you have a considered approach what works for you is the right way to go and others can go forth and multiply

 

 

 

[peatff]

13 hours ago, 5thelement said:

If your buying them pre made just check them before use. I have had two people turn up for training with them on their saws. One had a mix of chisel and semi chisel cutters on the same chain, they other had some cutters on backwards.

They do the job, don’t use them myself personally.

 

I have half a dozen for my 135 and I sharpen them with my Lidl grinder. I have to say they are as good as any other chain I've used which is limited to  the original Husky chain, an Oregon and a cheap Wartech which didn't last long at all. These chains are used on arb waste dumped in the muck down at the farm. I'd like to see evidence of the mixed and backwards cutters before I passed judgement, I would definitely have taken pictures of that.

I have seen chains where every single cutter was on backwards, so were the drive links but that's another story 🙃

[5thelement]

15 minutes ago, peatff said:

 

I have half a dozen for my 135 and I sharpen them with my Lidl grinder. I have to say they are as good as any other chain I've used which is limited to  the original Husky chain, an Oregon and a cheap Wartech which didn't last long at all. These chains are used on arb waste dumped in the muck down at the farm. I'd like to see evidence of the mixed and backwards cutters before I passed judgement, I would definitely have taken pictures of that.

I have seen chains where every single cutter was on backwards, so were the drive links but that's another story 🙃

There you go. The other thing that I picked up on was that some loops had very low depth gauge settings from the start, making them aggressive in the cut and some had one or two spectacularly hard cutters which where a bugger to sharpen.

[Stubby]

3 minutes ago, 5thelement said:

There you go. The other thing that I picked up on was that some loops had very low depth gauge settings from the start, making them aggressive in the cut and some had one or two spectacularly hard cutters which where a bugger to sharpen.

Thast's an April the 1st chain for sure 😁

[5thelement]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

Thast's an April the 1st chain for sure 😁

The mixed profile cutter is a new universal design for cutting hard and soft wood.

[Stere]

New fool proof chain you can't put the chain on backwards.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Stere

[lurch_917]

5 hours ago, Stubby said:

Thast's an April the 1st chain for sure 😁

and there i was thinking it was a skip tooth what do i know.....;. dont you dare .

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

I use them for 3 years, on the ground, no problem, agree that they are harder to sharpen, never had any other issues, mentioned in another comments, Stihl or Oregon will outperform them in cutting speed easy, so if you cut clean wood go for Oregon, if you cutting something dodgee, hafe some rotatech on hand. 

[Brushcutter]

Never used worse chains than rotatec chains. Maybe the 3/8 is better than the .325 I haven't tried. I got some full and semi chisel. Took ages to arrive and cut like crap and the vibration want great. 

 

I'm currently using husky chain as I got deal on lot of boxed chains. I normally use 21bpx and id rather pay the extra than use a rotatec.

[lurch_917]

well on a update to this post after trying one for about 10 min's and having to retighten my chain about 3 times i eventualy threw it in the scrap pile after it came off the bar whilst in some wood . went back to my well used ( on its 3rd sharpen ) H25 and it still cuts like its cutting butter . think ill stick with the H25 just because it's not only safer but better ,