Chainsaw recommendation

[niftysteve]

Hi, I was wondering if I could pick your brains.

 

I have 8 acres, half of which is woodland (ash, oak, alder, hazel mainly), which I cut and stack for central heating and hot water. The wood stove is our only source of heat (apart from an electrical immersion heater).

 

- I think I use about 4 cords of wood per season.

 

Because I haven't used a chainsaw before, when I started a couple of years back, I got a ryobi 3540c - my brother calls it a toy chainsaw, and people laugh at it. It is pretty rubbish.

 

I have decided to trade in a ride-on mower that was left when I bought the place, for a chainsaw more suitable.

 

The local garden machinery place has offered me "£200 - £250" for my husqvarna lt120 ride-on, and are asking £150 on top of the part-ex for a new Husqvarna 440e (they sell it for £386). It is a 41cc, with 18" bar. The ryobi is 35cc with 16" bar, although I'm not sure I get full power from it - seems a bit underpowered when compared to my brother's Stihl 230.

 

They will sell pretty much any Stihl or Husky, but in stock the biggest they had was the 440e.

 

Is the 440e a good choice for a weekends in the winter chainsaw user?

 

The "deal" is aimed to be done by this Friday.

 

Thanks for any recommendations!

 

id sell the ride on on ebay you will prob get more money there, I have as ms250 that i was given recently that seems pretty good for fire wood nice and light reasonably powerful

[josharb87]

DONT PAY THE RRP!!!!!!

 

id instantly ask them to do you a deal, not £50 either, bit cheeky but everything is negotiable! id be expecting to pay around %25 less than the rrp

 

stihl ms361 is a fantastic saw

 

but if i were you id be looking at the stihl ms260-its what most colleges use to teach students to do exactly what youre doing

 

sod letting someone else make a profit, and sell youre mower privatly, ebay maybe

[Martin Jenkins]

DONT PAY THE RRP!!!!!!

 

id instantly ask them to do you a deal, not £50 either, bit cheeky but everything is negotiable! id be expecting to pay around %25 less than the rrp

 

stihl ms361 is a fantastic saw

 

but if i were you id be looking at the stihl ms260-its what most colleges use to teach students to do exactly what youre doing

 

sod letting someone else make a profit, and sell youre mower privatly, ebay maybe

 

MS260 does look good.

 

I'm averse to ebay because of all the extra hassle involved - whereas with the local garden machinery maintenance place, they'll just come along and take the thing away. I suppose I might try seeing what I can get, "buyer collects" or something.

 

And don't you have to buy a stihl from a dealer anyway? I see words on internet sites saying you can't buy a stihl off the internet.

[josharb87]

very true but the dealer should still give you a good discount, if he dosent go elsewhere, or say 'so and so quoted me x ammount, but id rather give you my custom'

 

stick it on ebay, buyer collects, cash on collection within a week, something like that

[Mozza]

My local stihl dealer gives 25% off RRP as soon as you walk threw the door

[samarb]

I think a trip to justins show should be on the cards you'll be able to get everones opinion and get a decent saw at a good price.

[MattyF]

yeah speak to justin when you find out what saw you want you wont get a better deal!you can pick a 346xp a mean little saw for around 400 husky equivelent to the 260 and a lot more of a saw for the money.

[Rob D]

Never pay RRP on a chainsaw - you should always get 25% off.

 

If you have a small wood what you need is a chainsaw mill.... Never mind the firewood think of the beautiful planks you could turn out!

 

Go for a 60cc saw in my opinion - light but powerful.

[gensetsteve]

I have a 45cc ryobi saw . I thought it was rubbish no where near as good as my tiny ms180 . I use this for alot of my fire wood up to about 10" diameter. I think a small stihl will be better than a larger ryobi

[Khriss]

So any saw with a '3' on the beginning of its number then.....seems to be the consensus

 

K

( Who has 4...)