Small, low vibration chainsaw?

[sandspider]

Thanks folks, more food for thought. Hmm.

[Paul in the woods]

A few more crumbs of thought for you. I have an Echo 352ES and use it as my main saw for firewood for 7/8 years. The ES makes it very easy to start and I've never had a problem starting it. I've not had a problem with vibes on the saw but it is sold with a VXL chain which I find can be a bit catchy and adds vibration.

 

It did have a 5 year warranty but then I needed to pay £100 for a 2 year service which I could have done myself. The main downside is getting hold of parts online and the lack of a good local dealer.

[sandspider]

Thanks Paul. I'm getting more confused, too much choice!

[coppice cutter]

1 hour ago, Paul in the woods said:

It did have a 5 year warranty but then I needed to pay £100 for a 2 year service which I could have done myself. The main downside is getting hold of parts online and the lack of a good local dealer.

I got the five year warranty with my 390esx no questions asked and no service requirements stipulated.

 

But I'll agree, dealer network and indeed even UK distribution is patchy.

 

No doubt because they are trying to operate in a market so totally dominated by the big two.

 

That having been said, so far I've had no issues whatsoever that have needed anything, and have two dealers who I do other business with that have access to Echo parts should there be a problem.

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by coppice cutter

[Paul in the woods]

10 minutes ago, coppice cutter said:

I got the five year warranty with my 390esx no questions asked and no service requirements stipulated.

If a 5 year warranty is important to a new purchaser I'd check, it still says "Registration of ECHO products and servicing are necessary to validate the warranty" on Echo UKs site.

[coppice cutter]

7 minutes ago, Paul in the woods said:

If a 5 year warranty is important to a new purchaser I'd check, it still says "Registration of ECHO products and servicing are necessary to validate the warranty" on Echo UKs site.

Echo have a new importer in the UK and that is a new website, but that does indeed now seem to be the case.

 

However I'd want to check whether or not it needs to be done by an Echo dealer as that can be a fairly grey area.

 

 

[Dan Maynard]

I was going to say that checking the chain speed is probably less important than power output anyway, if it hasn't the power it will slow down so the rated chain speed is a bit irrelevant.

[Joe Newton]

Chain speed is irrelevant. They all show down in the cut, right?

 

What size bar are you looking to run. 

 

The 181 is great value for money and handles 12" nicely.

 

The husky 135 is wank.

[sandspider]

Good point. All the options I'm looking at seem to be around the 1.1 - 1.5kw mark, so maybe not that much in it. I'd be looking to run a 14" bar, but could settle for 12" and wouldn't mind 16" if necessary - my old saw was a 16" bar and it was occasionally used to cut the full length.

 

What's wrong with the 135?! (Mark II if that makes a difference). Bearing in mind I'm not professional at all, domestic use only, mainly logging and a bit of small ish felling...

[richyrich]

Stihl ms 241. Low vibes. Bit pricey. What's your budget?