Jd44027

Also worth posting feedback on the 261 for anyone interested,

Mostly cut ash and oak so far, about 10-12 medium sized trailer loads.

It's plenty powerful enough for this level of use and with the stock 15" bar gives an excellent balance and cutting speed, has cut everything from 3-4" up to a 22" ish thick ash tree trunk, even with bar buried and leaning on the saw it still pulls well.

Well balanced also, guess would be pretty similar to the 241 in this respect + features like the captive bar nuts and simplified starting make it even better to use....would definitely recommend 👍

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

Wait till you try the Husqvarna equivalent ! ?

Nice try ??

Already thinking about a ms462 ?....absolutely no use for one but hey...would be fun

.

On 07/09/2020 at 19:06, shavey said:

 

no you won’t regret buying that model  well liked by many

Ok so have had the 261 with 15" bar for a couple of weeks now, been trying it out briefly - couple of batches of logs and 2 fallen trees.

It feels like a brilliant saw and build quality looks good, to be fair I have only been cutting mostly pine but is plenty powerful enough - I was sectioning up some tough old ash and oak pieces and wasnt struggling at all even with the bar buried. 

Anti vibration is perfect - very very smooth accelerating/cutting- with this and the low weight, I'd be happy to use all day.

Also the simple starting process is great, once warm will start 1st or 2nd pull.

Absolutely worth the extra money..

Thanks all again for the advice ?

.

1 hour ago, shavey said:

 If  you  where thinking of going away from the stihl / husky option I would opt for the Makita ea-4300 or Dolmar ps-420 hands down 

the ea-550 and ps-550 are nice saws and develop a lot of power and are physically 

bigger than the 40cc saws 

 

the ea-4300 has been a great value for money saw and has plenty of power 

and there’s plenty in reserve if you want too dig deeper

Ok thanks Shavey, that's interesting - definitely worth bearing in mind should I ever require another saw.

Don't make me regret buying the 261..........

Thanks everyone for the advice, 

Have bitten the bullet and ordered the ms261, price gap between that and the 241 was minimal so thougt id go for it for the added power.

It ain't cheap but hopefully will last me the next 20 years ?

Thanks again all ?

Has anyone had experience with husky 545ii as a firewood saw?

50cc, lightweight while slightly less power than 261 - but can pick up for 500 so a fair bit less.

My only hesitation with this is that I cant easily fix if autotune packs up/doesn't like being used semi infrequently....not sure if this makes sense

Thanks everyone for your input,

I can pick up 241 with 16" bar for £560, @doobin suggested swapping out to picco bar & chain for extra cut speed so will contact dm chainsaws to see what they can do.

Alternatively ms261 15"  at £585...not much in it...

8 minutes ago, Fatboy2017 said:

I see you stated you had a preference of Stihl and Husky, but I would seriously consider a Makita / Dolmar saw, much cheaper and light, powerful and very reliable, great saws built to a high quality, ask Shavey ( Andrew at AJ axes and saws)

That interesting, did have a brief look at the makita EA5600 

Makita EA5600F45DN Petrol Chainsaw 18″

WWW.RADMORETUCKER.CO.UK

Obvs this is a bit higher again in terms of power/cc - anyone been using this & have some feedback @shavey I guess you've had a lot of experience with the makita/dolmar range - would there be any particular models youd recommend based on what I was looking for?

@Ratman thanks for that. I've checked out a number of different stihl models at a few local sellers and definitely helps. A 16" bar would cover 99% of anything I ever come across so that's great.

@Ty Korrigan thts helpful, definitely leaning towards the 241. Guess there have been a few dud ones as mentioned earlier on this thread but on the whole seems to be pretty reliable.

Thanks all,

Am seriously tempted by ms261 but guess it's a bit overkill....

Will the 241 pull a 16 or 18" bar if required?

Ok that's helpful, not ideal. 

Will avoid the ms271.

Thanks all, appreciate the help.

@doobin out of interest how old/new were the MS241s you had issues with, do you know if these bugs will have been ironed out?

What is parts availability like on the Echo? Looks like a nice saw, hadn't thought of checking out echo tbh. Are they up there with stihl/husky quality generally (I know both makes have made some dud saws but in general seems they last a long time, my main consideration is getting a saw that will go the distance).

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately probs wont work out currently - appreciated anyway!

@drinksloe thanks, will check it out.

Is the ms271 worth considering or best left alone? Is a 50cc but doesn't seem to be overly popular?

Hello all,

New chainsaw time, I'm looking to upgrade my ms170.

I'm mainly cutting firewood, anything from 6" up to 16-18" in mostly ash oak or pine.

Ideally would like to get a pro level saw for the better build quality, however not sure if I can justify the additional spend. The main saws I'm looking at are,

- ms241 - will this be powerful enough for what I'm doing 

- ms261 - can't really justify the cost unless this will be a massive improvement in quality and usability over cheaper equivalents

- ms271 - decent power and price but cheaper build quality

- 545ii - within budget however have heard that repairs on the AT system can be pretty expensive - would rather stick with something I can fix myself or repair at lower cost

I'm not massively brand fussy although would prefer stihl as have used them in the past, my local dealer sells/repairs stihl, husqvarna and makita so should have good backup

Thanks for your help ?