The Holy grail?

[Dan Maynard]

1 hour ago, Trailoftears said:

a sizeable proportion of users,particularly casual users will just not bother.Given a 'nervous' filer may look at the stihl gubbin for £35 odd,then notice he/she can buy 2 rotatech 16" chains for say £25 you can see where its going.

Probably after "oh that's let the light in" and "doesn't it look a lot on the ground" the most common thing I get asked about is sharpening. When I show them a file and say not too tricky they tend to look at me like I'm doing black magic.

 

Some take them to dealer to get ground, some buy cheapest on eBay and bin when they really do stop cutting.

[Trailoftears]

I really dont mind sharpening a chain,but start avoiding the issue if I've allowed a backlog to build up.Also I find over 20" go on a bit!

[Mark_Skyland]

10 hours ago, pleasant said:

I sell oregon chain....all three versions of .325" the 95, 21 and 22.....so 1.3 1.5 and 1.6mm, and it is the width of the drive link in the bar that is the ONLY difference. The width of the kerf will be the same in the wood. It is the rolling resistance within the bar groove that MAY improve using a narrower drive link, but in the real world this is negligible. With respect, i think you have put yourself through a lot of stress and hassle for little or no benefit IMO

The kerf will be narrower, only by .3mm but it will be narrower. Just imagine if you scale that drive link up to 5mm thick the kerf will be far wider. I dont know if the cutters on the 3690 chain are the same as the cutters on the 3639 chain but I guess that they are.

 

[Bill C]

23 hours ago, Trailoftears said:

Good info.Ironically this rather tortuous tale all started with me deciding to replace my ageing 'chuck it in the roofbox' 181 c utility saw.So my first thought was to treat myself (after much head/arse-scratching)to the little ms 241 c-m saw.But given the price between that and the 261 is only £30,it seemed silly not to buy the bigger saw.It strikes me Stihl are overpricing the smaller saw by £75?Then they would sell in higher volumes I'm sure.Logically for me,it makes sense in that the 181 still totters along,and the 261 makes sense as a middle ground before getting my hefty ms441 out on  20"/25" bar.Hence the attraction of adding an 18"bar to the 261 for a tad more flexibility.However,in my heart of hearts I still totally want the 241 as well!Xmas is coming,but my good lady would 

A:leave me.B: savagely berate me at the v.least.So for now discretion is deffo the best part of valour.However,it has crossed my extremely nefarious mind that If I jolly up the 181-new bar/chain and just generously give it to her Dad as a really kind/out of the blue gesture-you never know....

 

Not being any sort of expert but ref your idea for a MS241, well I have a MS180 running a 3/8x0.043x14" bar/chain, used for almost everything it was designed for and things it wasn't as its light and runs on very little fuel and cuts(if sharpened correctly) way better than it has any right to.  I also bought a secondhand MS240, in a bit of a state and it came with a 15" bar and the most damaged chain I have ever seen,  I replaced that with a 325x0.063x16" Stihl bar/chain, serviced it and checked it over and it turned out a better buy that I hoped for. It's nice to use and well balanced and feels as light as the MS180 but with loads more power, but in Ash etc I felt a 16" bar/chain is the limit. The 15" bar I rechecked and cleaned up and then bought a new Stihl 325x0.063x15 chain, the 1" difference in length changes the saw completely, so much so that I used it to cut up a 24" long 38" diameter round into 8" lengths rather than get the 036 dirty, so if the MS241 is the improvement that people say it is, it must be a really impressive saw for its size.

[Stere]

Other options for 40cc are the very expensive new echo  4301 or the cheaper makita ea4300

 

Both  are near the  same as ms241  in power.

 

 

 

 

[Trailoftears]

I was looking at the ms211,or more of a like for like the 231 as a budget option,but I've had mixed results with the 'budget' stihls-the 180 has been used/abused and done things it should never have had to!On the other hand,the ms 250 was a bloody shocker!Also looking at a newish echo model 35cc,one version has autochoke,other dont-same saw tho.One of those brands I'm curious to try,heard quite good things about their entire range over the years.

[pleasant]

Ive personally run a couple as shelf queens over the years. A good saw. Well built and good power to weight ratio. Love it with a 14". Bar. They are all mtronic....was the first model saw stihl introduced it on. Mine were generally reliable but much prefer the simplicity, access and ease of repair of the previous 240/260 models to be honest......and parts are more plentiful and cheaper.

Edited November 21, 2022 by pleasant

[Trailoftears]

I really WANT to like the mntronic system,I grow tired of tamper- proof ever more arcane screwdriver sets etc.Not been a tech, I'm totally not getting into dismantling carbs into bits!Not so bad when you can pick up a chinese clone carb for say,the Honda gx family for £12-which are usually fine,but worryingly I notice you dont seem to find say a carb for my fs 240 b.cutter for less than £150 or summat crazy like that.Over the years I've tuned/re-tuned plenty of carbs to run fine.Part of me totally resents having that facility taken away from me/barriers put in my way.

[Dan Maynard]

I do think it's going to be like fuel injection on cars though, at first people hated it because it was unreliable and expensive but now it's totally taken for granted.

 

I have mtronic MS201T and it's great, absolutely no trouble with tuning, idle or starting and it's 4 or 5 years old now. The previous MS200 were great performers but tricky carbs.

[Trailoftears]

Fuel injection sounds fascinating-instant response I imagine.Carbs are just an effin pain.I was taught 2 strokes are reasonably simple in theory-spark/fuel and air delivered in appropriate quantities at the right time etc-put rather crudely!But then we get into-ooh  is it a stiff diaphragm,hairline split in me fuel line,is my jet worn,Gawd help us!