Best entry level chainsaw under £200?

[Zombosis]

On 11/03/2025 at 00:05, kram said:

No, dont buy the german rubbish. Ms151tc would be the Stigl equivalent, louder expensive and heavier, less good.

 

The 2511 is a great saw, but get the TES top handle version. Not enough power, in my opinion, to need a bulky heavier rear handle. I love how compact it is.

 

Have you considered a finger chopper for the smaller work?

 

Ok thanks Kram, now I have another whole rabbit hole to go down. The finger chopper looks suitably dangerous to pique my interest 😁

 

I actually watched those two goofy bloke on Machinery Nation (YouTube) test a load of these things, and although they were cutting through broom handles etc with them, I kind of thought they were a bit of a gimmick. You know the kind of shite that JBL make and have a demonstration video on loop at the end of an aisle in The Range or B &M bargains. 🤣

 

Knowing that you use one in a professional capacity and rate it gives me confidence in their usefulness and ability. I think it’s certainly on the shopping list, perhaps as an ‘as well as’ rather than an ‘instead of’.

 

I’m still keen on the idea of another lightweight chainsaw though. And I’m leaning towards  Echo as a brand, because they seem to have a good balance of price and quality. Since I’m not going to be climbing with it, using it professionally day in day out, I wondered if the Echo CS3510 would be a good compromise as it’d save me over £100 vs the 2511, and is only about 1kg heavier at 3.7kg dry. I know it lacks the panache and cool mini form factor of the 2511, but it’d probably do what I need right?

 

They also offer an autochoke version which as far as I can tell just has the automatic choke feature and some kind of solenoid on the carburettor to adjust it according to temperature. It’s more expensive and seems like it could just be more to go wrong, so I’d appreciate your views people?

 

Back to the finger choppers, I found one for about £30 on Aliexpress that is a bare unit, but takes the 18v Makita batteries. Haven’t done much research yet, but thanks for the suggestion. 
 

[kram]

1 hour ago, Zombosis said:

and is only about 1kg heavier at 3.7kg dry

The 2511 is 2.6kg with bar, chain with the fuel and oil brimmed, if I remember correctly, so nearer 2kg difference or double the weight.

 

I dont see any advantage to buying a cs3510 when you already have the DCS4301, they are practically the same size, close enough in weight and power.