I planned to clear a road at my camp down to my pond (about 1000ft or so.), then clear a section of woods next to the pond to make a picnic spot. I decided to leave my 036 Pro at home and use my new Chinese 52cc saw ($125) for the task.
Most of the road section was pre-existing but overgrown, so clearing was just removing saplings, with a few bigger trees thrown in - everything pretty much under 4-6". The area that I wanted to clear was a typical dense stand of woods - bigger stuff, mostly pine. I cut for about 5 hours - cleared the road and cut/limbed most of the clearing area. I dropped probably 100 or so trees total (200 if you count the lil' guys), and stopped primarily because I couldn't navigate the clearing through the debris - need a big bonfire before I can finish.
I'll tell you - swinging 15 pounds around for the better part of a day, on top of climbing around on downed tree debris and brush is a brutal workout. I'm sore all over. I don't know how you pros do it every day.
I was quite impressed with my generic 52cc Chi-com saw. It runs and cuts far better than the last cheap saw I bought (42cc Crapsman) - and that one still cost more than the Chi-com saw. Power felt about right (~3HP), and it ran/cut great the whole time. It performed flawlessly with the exception of a couple of chain tension issues - my fault though - I forgot to bring my wrench/screwdriver tool with me, so the chain got a little overly loose before I was willing to hike back to the camp, where I had to use a jury-rigged pliers/vice-grips/driver trick to get the bar retainer bolts off and adjust the chain since an adjustable wrench wouldn't fit in the side case depressions - PITA. I ran about 5 tanks (~1/2 gallon of mix) through the saw - it used about 2/3 tank of bar oil to each tank of gas, which seems about right. The saw was running for just about the entire time I was out there - probably about 4 hours of actual run time - not bad for 1/2 gallon of gas. Something did start clanking around in the exhaust at about tank 3 or 4 - I think a baffle came loose in the exhaust can - doesn't seem to affect anything, so whatever it is can't be all that important. I have a spare saw body with exhaust can if I need to swap it out. At any rate, all things considered and at a $125 price point, I'm quite happy with it so far.
JayC
Most of the road section was pre-existing but overgrown, so clearing was just removing saplings, with a few bigger trees thrown in - everything pretty much under 4-6". The area that I wanted to clear was a typical dense stand of woods - bigger stuff, mostly pine. I cut for about 5 hours - cleared the road and cut/limbed most of the clearing area. I dropped probably 100 or so trees total (200 if you count the lil' guys), and stopped primarily because I couldn't navigate the clearing through the debris - need a big bonfire before I can finish.
I'll tell you - swinging 15 pounds around for the better part of a day, on top of climbing around on downed tree debris and brush is a brutal workout. I'm sore all over. I don't know how you pros do it every day.
I was quite impressed with my generic 52cc Chi-com saw. It runs and cuts far better than the last cheap saw I bought (42cc Crapsman) - and that one still cost more than the Chi-com saw. Power felt about right (~3HP), and it ran/cut great the whole time. It performed flawlessly with the exception of a couple of chain tension issues - my fault though - I forgot to bring my wrench/screwdriver tool with me, so the chain got a little overly loose before I was willing to hike back to the camp, where I had to use a jury-rigged pliers/vice-grips/driver trick to get the bar retainer bolts off and adjust the chain since an adjustable wrench wouldn't fit in the side case depressions - PITA. I ran about 5 tanks (~1/2 gallon of mix) through the saw - it used about 2/3 tank of bar oil to each tank of gas, which seems about right. The saw was running for just about the entire time I was out there - probably about 4 hours of actual run time - not bad for 1/2 gallon of gas. Something did start clanking around in the exhaust at about tank 3 or 4 - I think a baffle came loose in the exhaust can - doesn't seem to affect anything, so whatever it is can't be all that important. I have a spare saw body with exhaust can if I need to swap it out. At any rate, all things considered and at a $125 price point, I'm quite happy with it so far.
JayC
