# What's The Best Tachometer?



## MacInAction (May 31, 2015)

I'm not a fan of the tachometer supplied by Stihl since it has slow refresh rates. What is a good one that is recommended for tuning?


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## Rockjock (Aug 19, 2015)

I have several Stihl ones, edt 7 and edt 8 they are plenty fast for tuning ones saw IMO


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## lone wolf (Aug 19, 2015)

MacInAction said:


> I'm not a fan of the tachometer supplied by Stihl since it has slow refresh rates. What is a good one that is recommended for tuning?


I have been using the Stihl one I bought over ten years ago still works fine.


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## Rockjock (Aug 19, 2015)

lone wolf said:


> I have been using the Stihl one I bought over ten years ago still works fine.


Which model is that LW?


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## MacInAction (Sep 15, 2015)

I was wrong! Unfortunately, I believed something I read a few years ago when reading online discussions about tachometers. Some of the posts suggested that the Stihl tach refresh rate was too slow, and there was a risk of overheating because it would take too long to actually see the current RPM number displayed when tuning chainsaws.


Because the factory settings for OEM carburetors are so precise, I spent little time learning the process of properly tuning a chainsaw. The other Stihl tools usually have ignition-based limiters or attachments that keep the RPMs from exceeding recommendations. I received an MS660 a few weeks ago, so I wanted to be sure that this rebuild worked precisely. I DO NOT want to tell my boss that I smoked a piston/cylinder kit that MSRPs for about $260, or have a customer return for warranty work due to faulty repairs!


Once I spoke to someone who's done this for many years, he explained how to use WOT bursts to tune the high end. He also recommended going slightly lower than factory specs before setting the limiter caps. Since I bought the EDT 7 instead of the EDT 8 for my tool set, my tachometer has a high speed save feature that makes it more convenient to tune. Before tuning, I decided to open the high circuit 1/8 just to be safe.


The low end was within manual specs. The high end took four small adjustments to lean it up to my desired rate. It repeated the same rate on the next burst. A follow-up inspection through the exhaust port looked great. After this rebuild and a very happy customer, I can't see why the Stihl tachs would receive any criticism.


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## Thomas Lilli (Feb 11, 2020)

Ok fellas, it is February 2020 and there’s new tech out there regarding tachs. I see a new Stihl EDT 9 but there’s no description about how it works. I know mostly how tachs work but I’ve heard the smart saws with their computerized carburetor is not compatible with certain older tach-“nology”. Anyone have any experience with this tach or any other for that matter? I like buying quality stuff so price won’t scare me as long as I get what I’m paying for.


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## KingBeee (Feb 11, 2020)

from Stihl


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