Lightweight / homeowner chainsaw

[Skidia]

Hello all,

 

I am looking for recommendations for a small/medium saw for occasional use. Will be used for de-limbing, crosscutting, small felling (<10"dia) and general firewood production.

 

My family has around 20 acres of woodland to managae, for general enjoyment, wildlife benefit and producing firewood for my elderly grandparents.

 

We have the help of tamed tree surgeons (we exchange yard space for labour) who deal with the big and difficult bits (there are lots of windblown trees this year), but we process quite a bit of it ourselves, and have to get it small enough to fit in the the woodburner. A petrol saw (we have an electric already) will speed this up no end and help with things like coppicing.

 

I work for a wildlife organisation and got my tickets (CS30 & 31) at the beginning of this year. Haven't been out quite as much as I wanted over the summer, but there're more opportunities now and I've downed a good number of snarled up hawthorn and willows.

 

At work I use a Stihl MS260, which is what I did my tickets on. They're ok but a bit chunky for me (5'7" 27yr old woman) really. I'm after something lighter, and I don't mind loosing a bit of power. I have also used a MS200 with a rear handle which was great, but hard to find it seems?

 

I've been told Huskies are better designed for female users, and the 140,345 and 435 all look good.

 

My uncle has a Echo, not a brand I'm familiar with?

 

Oh and rest assured PPE etc is covered, and I'm not going to be handling anything outside my ticket and abilities. I've worked alongside the chain crew for long enough to know when something looks iffy and have no desire to loose my head!

[Eddy_t]

Stihl stopped doing ms200 replaced with 201, small saw suitable for that would be ms211 or husqy 135, echo are good. Hope this helps

[Tractor62]

I had a husqvarna 435 a while ago and it was a great little saw, for what you say you want to do with it id say it would be spot on the only reason I changed mine was I needed a bigger saw (husqvarna 353) as I was doing more work with it and wanted more power. There are also some good reviews around for the echo and makita/dolmar saws so I'd have a look at those as well as the usual stihl/husky

Hope this helps