New saw help

[Alun]

Hi all,

 

I am looking at buying my first saw and was hoping some of you on here would be willing to point me in the right direction, i've spent god knows how many days online looking at different saws and researching them to death! including going back through a few years worth of this forum which i have found very helpfull but having narrowed it down to a handfull of saws i find i am now just going round in circles trying to make the final decision🤔

 

I will only be using the saw for firewood a few times a year which will be mainly ash, so dont believe i need to go silly and spend big money on a pro saw, plus i am relatively new to chainsaws, have had a few lessons and a few days cutting so far but dont want anything too powerfull whilst i am still learning. I will be buying all the safety gear.

 

I have between £400 - £500 max to spend. The saws i had in mind are

stihl ms231

stihl ms251

husqvarna 445 (with 15" bar but only seem to come with 18")

echo cs420

echo esx390

 

Had my heart set on the makita ea4300 after reading all the good comments on here about them, there is a second hand one for sale locally for £250 with only a few hours use (supposedly!) but being discontinued the future parts availability is putting me off.

 

[Will C]

Pick your favourite/best service local dealer and go with what they sell. Stihl, Husky and echo will give you similar value for money, I would say pick the dealer as much as the saw. 

[AJStrees]

If you are only going to use it a few times a year why not go battery, I believe you can get dewalt, makita or even einhell for a small amount of money and then you can get other tools that are on the same battery platform. Otherwise just get a small saw like a husky 135 mkii or a Stihl ms180 or something. Unless you are going to be cutting up big wood. 

[Conner]

If going to go battery. I would go for makita. I’ve had the Dewalt and are slow. 
I have the Stihl 181. Been absolutely hammered and can’t kill it. 

[Stubby]

3 hours ago, Alun said:

Hi all,

 

I am looking at buying my first saw and was hoping some of you on here would be willing to point me in the right direction, i've spent god knows how many days online looking at different saws and researching them to death! including going back through a few years worth of this forum which i have found very helpfull but having narrowed it down to a handfull of saws i find i am now just going round in circles trying to make the final decision🤔

 

I will only be using the saw for firewood a few times a year which will be mainly ash, so dont believe i need to go silly and spend big money on a pro saw, plus i am relatively new to chainsaws, have had a few lessons and a few days cutting so far but dont want anything too powerfull whilst i am still learning. I will be buying all the safety gear.

 

I have between £400 - £500 max to spend. The saws i had in mind are

stihl ms231

stihl ms251

husqvarna 445 (with 15" bar but only seem to come with 18")

echo cs420

echo esx390

 

Had my heart set on the makita ea4300 after reading all the good comments on here about them, there is a second hand one for sale locally for £250 with only a few hours use (supposedly!) but being discontinued the future parts availability is putting me off.

 

Despite what you say , and at the moment it is seen as " sound reasoning " you will want a better saw than whatever it is you get ! So , get the best pro saw you can afford from your dealer and the rest will follow .......Its in the rules 🙂

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

First saw must be Ms261 or Husqy 550 ,end of story, easy resale good performance, decent price, good dealer support all other options is only as second saw!

[Jackalope]

Of your short list and for the budget & work you describe my personal choice would be the 445. 

Putting a 15" on it is the correct decision imo. 

[Mick Dempsey]

25 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Despite what you say , and at the moment it is seen as " sound reasoning " you will want a better saw than whatever it is you get ! So , get the best pro saw you can afford from your dealer and the rest will follow .......Its in the rules 🙂

True, them’s the rules.

[coppice cutter]

I've the 390 Echo and very happy with it.

 

Comfortable with a 15in bar in anything, but if you want something that will occasionally run an 18in then look elsewhere.

 

It is however a proper "pro" saw, aluminium handle, etc, and feels like it.

 

The one thing you can't appreciate from pictures though is how small it is, because it's made in proportion to a larger saw. It really is a very handy little article

 

Doesn't seem to be imported by the new importer though so you'll probably need to find somewhere with one in stock.

 

They also now seem to insist on dealer servicing for extended warranty which wasn't the case under the old importer so that may need to be considered as well.

 

The new 40v XGT battery range from Makita may be worth a look as any comparisons tests seem to suggest that they are a match for the Husky/Stihl offerings without the bulk of two batteries that was necessary with the 18v. But the XGT batteries are still pretty expensive and you'll probably just be able to afford one of them within your budget (same with Stihl and Husky to be fair) and that means limited cut time.

 

Good luck whichever way you decide to go.

[Peter 1955]

The difference between the 251 and the 261 is night and day. Sadly, the price differential reflects this, and blows his budget out of the water. If you were to handle both, you might reassess the budget. A few years ago, I bought a 251. Two months ago, I bought a 261. 'nuff said. 

As much as I'm a battery fan, you need multiple batteries to get reasonable run times, and by the time you've bought those, the budget's shot to pieces. Also I wouldn't really like to cut 6" plus stems constantly with my Makita. It's a lopping saw, not a felling and logging one. I believe the Stihl with the really big batteries are said to be good, but some folk on here don't rate them, having used them.