ChainsawDR

Cheers Peter, thank you for the info.

Don't know second hand ones, the best price and service I know of a new one is £342.44, it's the Stihl HS81R.

cheers Steve, the guy I spoke to was also American and said he was making a fortune from work on golf courses, as they wouldn't allow the normal heavy machines on the courses. Thank you for your time Steve.

By the sounds of it then there aren't many people favouring the Echo. I think your right MattyF when you say that parts could be a problem, I've don't think Echo even have price lists for their spare bar and chains, and I go through chains quickly enough. I think I might just stick with Husqvarna after all, they've never let me down. I agree with you Steve the tree on the blowers and hedgetrimmers - at work we probably sell 15 stihl blowers to every one of the husqvarna's and we get roughly the same amount back with problems. And we have nothing but problems with the Huskie hedgetrimmers, mainly bending in the blades and a few handles snapping off, but thats the first problem I've heard about the Echo pole pruners, the telegraph did a test against Stihl and four other brands and it came out on top by a country mile. Cheers for the feedback guys, I think I'm leaning towards the 346xp becos its got the 50cc engine and same weight as the 350, but its from the professional range so you know its going to be good and last a long time. Treemonster I think the MS200 was probably the best saw that I ever had, doesn't look great on paper but its got a really good balance to it - i would get another but the models getting on a bit now, and the new updated version doesn't have the same feel as the old one. Cheers for the feedback guys, oh and Steve Bullman I loved the website btw, really slick intro - sorry to post another subject on the same thread, but I noticed you do stump grinding work - have you ever heard anything about or used an "Alpine Magnum" stump grinder? I'd never heard of it until recently but a guy I was talking to picked one up in America and brought it back here, supposed to attach the grinder to the engine of a Huskie 3120xp and is really portable. We were thinking of getting one in but I haven't heard much about them apart from the usual sales talk and the feedback from one guy - if you or anyone else has heard anything about them or if you come across them in the future I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mind sending me a post and letting me know if they're any good. Cheers guys, really good forum.

I only do general logging work and small trees mostly, however I do get a good few hours done every week so I like to use good saws rather than cheapo ones. I'm shipping my Huskie 350 to my old man and going get myself a new model and fancy giving the Echo a try, possibly the Echo CS4400. I thought it might be interesting to hear peoples opinions on their preferred brand of Chain Saws. I personally rate Stihl as the best saws, but think them to be a little pricey so I tend to opt for Husqvarna, however I've been hearing good things about Echo chainsaws recently and I am contemplating going down that route, especially with the 5 year warranty. Thanks for your time, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.