# Power match vs. Oregon pro bars?



## bitzer (Apr 21, 2013)

Anyone who has run both see a difference in longevity and wear? I seem to be flyin through power match bars lately and was curious if there is any more to the pro bars than a higher price. Thanks!


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## cottonwood1 (Apr 22, 2013)

I have and do run both, the pro bar seems to last longer, but in my opinion not enough that I will get another one on the next buy. Again this is my opinion only.


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## HuskStihl (Apr 22, 2013)

Bar wear confuses me. I usually buy what's on clearance at baileys, which are generally rebranded power match solid bars. Some last 3 years, some 3 months. I guess it's a quality control issue. I only shelled out the money for an expensive bar once, pinched it to death with bad technique, and have been cheap n' solid ever since


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## lumberjack48 (Apr 22, 2013)

I had my best luck with Windsor/Sandvik, Carlton speed-tip bars. The main thing is do not grease it.


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## 056 kid (Apr 22, 2013)

I have an Oregon pro in the mail. It will be my first so I will be interesting to compare. For what I payed it better be nice! Last bar purchased was a stihl es, and I'm rather disappointed with it. I hear a lot of negative stuff about the power match bars but the last few I have had where excellent. I like them over the stihl bars.. After I get some miles on the pro il Share my feelings.


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## forestryworks (Apr 22, 2013)

The last power match I had was junk, rails wore quick and tips got sloppy - even with regular maintenance. But that was a while ago, around the same time California Bob and a few others spoke ill of them. Was gonna buy a Pro but got a Stihl lightweight instead. Never looked back.


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## jrcat (Apr 22, 2013)

I know some guys that use those "forestry pro" bars and the "laser pro" bars. I Use husqvarna bars on my husqvarna's and I just dug out an old sthil 041 for my brother to use around home and put a stihl es bar on that.


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## bitzer (Apr 22, 2013)

My saw shop owner told me that Oregon was making Stihl bars as well as their own for a while. The increased demand sent production overseas leading to the decline in quality. Sounds possible to me. It just seems that bars and tips have been hit and miss for a while now. I ran my last tip off the bar way too early. I know if I want real quality I'd have to spring for a Cannon, but 250 bucks is a lot to swallow for a 32" bar. 

Ted that'd be great if you let me know what you think. 

Thanks for the replys!


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## 056 kid (Apr 22, 2013)

250? I just got a 42 woodland pro,(cannon) for 200.


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## plasticweld (Apr 22, 2013)

We have been going through tips lately way to fast, I am going to try the Windsor bars with the Carlton tip next time, we are currently using the Forestry Specials and Oregon bars both I would call junk considering how little use we are getting before having to replace the tips. I thought that if I spent the extra money on the Oregon bars they would last longer, I see no difference between the two


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## hammerlogging (Apr 22, 2013)

Madsen's told me the Oregon Pro was the same as a powermatch, so, dissapointed, I never went with one. Good looking bar though. I'll be interested to see how the kid's runs. I seem to stick with cannon now but nowhere near $250, I'd say my 34" .063 is about $160 to $175. Always replace the tips with oregon on the cannons, once the first one runs through. I don't know what it is but the cannon tips eat their rivets. and yes, I know they take their own rivets, jees, sounds like chainsaw forum crap you wish you were already thinking...


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## Gologit (Apr 22, 2013)

forestryworks said:


> The last power match I had was junk, rails wore quick and tips got sloppy - even with regular maintenance. But that was a while ago, around the same time California Bob and a few others spoke ill of them. Was gonna buy a Pro but got a Stihl lightweight instead. Never looked back.



I _hope_ Oregon has solved the quality control problems on their bars. I don't know about the shorter bars but the last two 36s I bought were junk.
Like forestryworks said...the rails wore down way too soon. I even _bent_ one carrying the saw on my shoulder. I wrote to Oregon about it and never heard a word back.

I run Stihl bars now. They seem to hold up better. And the Stihl Lite bar is way tougher than the Oregon lite weight.


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## 056 kid (Apr 22, 2013)

Well chit. Only reason I got a pro was because they didn't seem to have any powermatch pluses in stock.. we'll see I guess..


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## 056 kid (Apr 22, 2013)

Gologit said:


> I _hope_ Oregon has solved the quality control problems on their bars. I don't know about the shorter bars but the last two 36s I bought were junk.
> Like forestryworks said...the rails wore down way too soon. I even _bent_ one carrying the saw on my shoulder. I wrote to Oregon about it and never heard a word back.
> 
> I run Stihl bars now. They seem to hold up better. And the Stihl Lite bar is way tougher than the Oregon lite weight.



I experienced both issues you stated with the last 32" stihl I bought. The tip burrs up daily as well.
Well I take that back, the bending was from rolling the chain off and on. Still, that's weak...


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## Gologit (Apr 22, 2013)

056 kid said:


> Well chit. Only reason I got a pro was because they didn't seem to have any powermatch pluses in stock.. we'll see I guess..



Hey Ted....it's only money. :msp_biggrin:


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## hammerlogging (Apr 22, 2013)

056 kid said:


> Well chit. Only reason I got a pro was because they didn't seem to have any powermatch pluses in stock.. we'll see I guess..



I'm hoping its going to be great. it'll be fine at the very least, and plenty cool anyhow. which has approximately no value, but I'll pretend it does.

Now someone find me a tsumura or a sugihara 34" .063 stihl mount please?


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## 056 kid (Apr 22, 2013)

Id love to be able to keep some once in a while Bob.


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## Gologit (Apr 22, 2013)

056 kid said:


> I experienced both issues you stated with the last 32" stihl I bought. The tip burrs up daily as well.
> Well I take that back, the bending was from rolling the chain off and on. Still, that's weak...



Yup. When that brand new Oregon bar bent on me before I even cut a lick I couldn't believe it. I packed in quite a ways and on my first tree I was having trouble matching my cuts. I figured I was just clumsy and didn't pay much attention. Even us old guys miss one every now and then.  The 660 sounded like it was working a little hard too and it wasn't cutting like I was used to.

When I finished the face I shut it off and took a look at the bar. Bent. And bent pretty good too. And it was bent in the direction it would have been from the way I carried it. I usually pack with the power head back a little to keep the dawgs out of my neck but I have never ever had a bar bend just packing it on my shoulder.


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## Gologit (Apr 22, 2013)

056 kid said:


> Id love to be able to keep some once in a while Bob.



You do! You get to keep some...just enough to get you back to the woods the next day.:msp_biggrin:


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## 056 kid (Apr 22, 2013)

My cutting pard got pinched and I had to cut him out. His powermatch plus ended up bent 90degrees stuck in the butt. I cut it out and BOING it sprung back with only a few degrees of radius. He was able to bend on it and get it to work well enough to be a backup. that was a few months ago..
Are the scientists down at Oregon on the wine or what?


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## northmanlogging (Apr 22, 2013)

Never liked any of the oregon stuff... bars where always a little to floppy even when they didn't just bend, chains wore out fast, files wore out fast... 

Only ran one sandvik bar but that was on a firewood saw many many moons ago, although last time I was in Ma's woodshed its was still on that old homylight... 

The abuse I've given to stihl bars and never have permanently bent one... I'll stick with stihl...


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## Rounder (Apr 23, 2013)

hammerlogging said:


> I'm hoping its going to be great. it'll be fine at the very least, and plenty cool anyhow. which has approximately no value, but I'll pretend it does.
> 
> Now someone find me a tsumura or a sugihara 34" .063 stihl mount please?



If you'd just wise up and run huskyvarnas you could run techlites......problem solved. 




I know that I'm a pecker head................

Hope all's well Joe - Sam


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## bitzer (Apr 24, 2013)

I had to double check the pricing but Baileys does list the Cannons at $240. Woodland pros are in that $150 range. Maybe its a typo? Madsens has the cannons listed at $140 something. I get my Husky branded bars (power match) from my local saw shop for around a hundred bucks. If I ordered one from anywhere else it would be darn near that with the shipping so I figured support my local guy. That way he'll peel parts off of displays saws when I call in for a recoil or clutch cover or this or that right now! He can get Oregon stuff in to. I may just have to run a Pro for myself. They just look like they'll preform better! So they should right? 


I'm just glad this didn't get moved to the chainsaw forum. There'd be about 40 pages of himmin and hawin and not a word of it useful. 

Thanks again!


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## bitzer (Jun 12, 2013)

Just an update. Shortly after this thread I called my local shop and asked him if he could order an Oregon Pro bar. He hadn't heard of them, but said he would do some digging. I told him that I'm flying through his Powermatch bars and that I'm looking for something that's going to last longer. He said that sucks and really shouldn't be happening. He calls me back a few hours later and says that the Pro bars have a hardened rail, but otherwise are the same bar and the price was within a few bucks. So he ordered one to see what it was it all about. He then told me he called up Cannon and got set up as a dealer. A few days later I brought two of my powermatch bars into him that had the same amount of time on them as a comparison. One looked decent enough and the other had chipped and flaked rails. He was surprised to see how bad it was considering the amount of paint the bar had on it yet. He asked if he could hang onto the beat up bar to show it to his rep. Long story short they are going to warranty the powermatch bar and he put that toward the price of the Cannon which he gave to me at his cost just to see how they would hold up. I'm typically the guinea pig in these kind of situations because I put so much more time on the saw than anyone he knows. The Cannon has a wide-three rivet tip and is a superbar plus. He sold it to me for $225 which I thought was steep considering Madsens has them at $175 or so, but Madsen's also has the one rivet Oregon tip on them. My wife picked up the bar and I haven't been in the shop since, but I plan to let him know about Madsen's price and am wondering if Cannon makes different grades of their bars? I'm not normally one to complain, but things just kind of rolled on. Time will tell I guess. So the moral is- if you get a crappy Powermatch let your shop know right away and they might be able to help you out. I didn't think there was such a thing as warrantying a bar.








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## mdavlee (Jun 12, 2013)

That super bar plus is the Stihl tip on it. The regular Oregon style tips are cheaper.


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## Eccentric (Jun 12, 2013)

mdavlee said:


> That super bar plus is the Stihl tip on it. The regular Oregon style tips are cheaper.



That makes more sense. For some reason Bitzer's bar pic didn't show up for me. He described it as a three-rivet Oregon tip. I envisioned the OLD three-rivet Oregon tips that Cannon used decades ago. Didn't make sense on a new Cannon bar. I didn't know that Cannon ever used Stihl tips (which look like a GB tip). I've only seen the current Oregon single-rivet tips on recent Cannons....


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## bitzer (Jun 12, 2013)

Eccentric said:


> That makes more sense. For some reason Bitzer's bar pic didn't show up for me. He described it as a three-rivet Oregon tip. I envisioned the OLD three-rivet Oregon tips that Cannon used decades ago. Didn't make sense on a new Cannon bar. I didn't know that Cannon ever used Stihl tips (which look like a GB tip). I've only seen the current Oregon single-rivet tips on recent Cannons....



The pic should work this time. I meant the Cannons Madsens sells have the Oregon style single rivet. My guess is when my shop guy called them he told them I'm looking for a bar that is going to outlast everything. Probably why they went with the wide tip and three rivet. I thought they only came in the single rivet myself.


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## mdavlee (Jun 12, 2013)

Here's what you got on baileys. 
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail_mobi.asp?item=CSBP+H132633&catID=12708


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## paccity (Jun 12, 2013)

Gologit. if those powermatches i sent you don't work i'll send you some stihl bars.


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## roberte (Jun 19, 2013)

hammerlogging said:


> I'm hoping its going to be great. it'll be fine at the very least, and plenty cool anyhow. which has approximately no value, but I'll pretend it does.
> 
> Now someone find me a tsumura or a sugihara 34" .063 stihl mount please?



Hev.com for the sugiharas


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## Jacob J. (Jun 19, 2013)

056 kid said:


> Well chit. Only reason I got a pro was because they didn't seem to have any powermatch pluses in stock.. we'll see I guess..



The Powermatch and Oregon Pro bars are not the same and the Pro bar is not a polished version of the Powermatch. There's a difference in quality and you should be able to get quite a bit more life out of the Pro bar.


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## mdavlee (Jun 28, 2013)

How's the new cannon bar holding up?


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## Trx250r180 (Jun 28, 2013)

i just picked up 2 new oregons ,a lightweight and a powermatch plus ,they have red lettering on them now


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## Rounder (Jun 28, 2013)

mdavlee said:


> How's the new cannon bar holding up?



Just fine I'll bet.....but his arms are a couple inches longer now.


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## mdavlee (Jun 28, 2013)

You're probably right about that Sam. I've got a 32" Tsumura on the way.


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## bitzer (Jun 29, 2013)

mdavlee said:


> How's the new cannon bar holding up?



Well I was knocking the burrs off of my Oregon bar twice a week. I haven't had to file the Cannon yet. I did open up the oil holes on it. I am just not happy with the tiny oil holes they put on bars now. The chain was just not getting enough oil. Other than that I like it. It cuts differently. I like how it bucks.


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## bitzer (Jun 29, 2013)

Rounder said:


> Just fine I'll bet.....but his arms are a couple inches longer now.



Well the first 20 minutes or so suck, then the next few hours I don't even notice. The last hour is a real killer though. At night when I'm putting the saw back together with a sharp chain, it feels really heavy. For some damn reason that bar has kind of screwed with my mind. I can make a decent looking stump to save my life. They're getting better, but I just can't level the bastard out. Either under or over compensating. Just weird.


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## Trx250r180 (Jun 29, 2013)

was just looking at the new oregons ,says lubra-dam / lubra jet ,did they change the oil passages ?

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reduced weight version


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## Trx250r180 (Jun 29, 2013)

reg powermatch plus View attachment 302404
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## treeslayer2003 (Jun 29, 2013)

bitzer said:


> Well I was knocking the burrs off of my Oregon bar twice a week. I haven't had to file the Cannon yet. I did open up the oil holes on it. I am just not happy with the tiny oil holes they put on bars now. The chain was just not getting enough oil. Other than that I like it. It cuts differently. I like how it bucks.



bitz, can you give any more detail on "it cuts diff."? what were ya running? I agree none of these new bars oil right, not even stihl.


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## bitzer (Jun 29, 2013)

treeslayer2003 said:


> bitz, can you give any more detail on "it cuts diff."? what were ya running? I agree none of these new bars oil right, not even stihl.



The Cannon is at least 1/4" if not 3/8" wider. It also has the wide sprocket on it. Its smoother when finishing the buck. The chain runs different on the bar because it has a belly in it. It seems slower, but smoother if that makes sense. I was running power match bars with the narrow sprocket.


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## bitzer (Jun 29, 2013)

trx250r180 said:


> was just looking at the new oregons ,says lubra-dam / lubra jet ,did they change the oil passages ?
> 
> View attachment 302400
> View attachment 302401
> ...



They've had them for a while. Stihl changed over to that style of oiler hole a couple of years ago. I always open the holes up. I follow the same general pattern, but make it 3 to 4 times bigger. I like to see oil on the drivers at the bottom of the bar.


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## Trx250r180 (Jun 29, 2013)

bitzer said:


> They've had them for a while. Stihl changed over to that style of oiler hole a couple of years ago. I always open the holes up. I follow the same general pattern, but make it 3 to 4 times bigger. I like to see oil on the drivers at the bottom of the bar.



are you running .063 chain ?


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## treeslayer2003 (Jun 29, 2013)

I like the wide tip, stihl makes both but some dealers don't know it. so when ya guys drill out the oil hole, do ya stay with that angle or go straight?


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## bitzer (Jun 29, 2013)

treeslayer2003 said:


> I like the wide tip, stihl makes both but some dealers don't know it. so when ya guys drill out the oil hole, do ya stay with that angle or go straight?



Stay with the angle.


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## bitzer (Jun 29, 2013)

trx250r180 said:


> are you running .063 chain ?



I'm running .058. That's what my saw shop has always stocked in full skip. I haven't gotten around to changing that yet. Husky dealers like to run that 58 for some reason.


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## Bandit Man (Jul 17, 2013)

hammerlogging said:


> I'm hoping its going to be great. it'll be fine at the very least, and plenty cool anyhow. which has approximately no value, but I'll pretend it does.
> 
> Now someone find me a tsumura or a sugihara 34" .063 stihl mount please?



Are you still looking for Tsumura Stihl mount bar Hammer? 

I use a 36" Light & Tough on the 660 when I'm falling and climbing the hollers. Hard to beat Japanese steel and I have never had a problem with them. I know a dealer who carry's them.


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## dooby (Jul 17, 2013)

bitzer said:


> I'm running .058. That's what my saw shop has always stocked in full skip. I haven't gotten around to changing that yet. Husky dealers like to run that 58 for some reason.



I bet you can't even find .058 guage chain at any shop out here in Montana. The husky dealer out here won't even stock it. Weird how things very from region to region. I run .063 an .050 bars when i have to.


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## young bucker (Aug 5, 2013)

I like to use the tsumara if Im production falling ...light weight strong ...never had an issue with them even boring spring board notches..if I'm on a heli show I use the cannon bars made in Canada get months on them before redoing the tip and grinding the rails..


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## imagineero (Aug 5, 2013)

I'll put another vote in for stihl ES lite. I'd still fork out the $ if they lasted only just as long as other bars, but surprisingly they're tough as nails. I've put mine through some real punishment - they're used daily, and have been pinched more than once by 2 tonne sections during crane work. No damage. The rails are super hard, and seem to wear extremely well without burrs which is probably a good thing because the one time I filed them I pretty much ruined a file. 

I've had power match, which I think are awful, GB titanium pretty decent and good life but heavy, Stihl ES pretty good value, Tsumura was ok, maybe a little overrated. Never tried oregon.

Shaun


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## 056 kid (Aug 5, 2013)

I have had good luck with the oregon pro. Id like to try tsumara and sugihara light weights next.


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## mdavlee (Aug 5, 2013)

I've only had one GB titanium and it lasted good. I've never tried the Oregon pro but they're supposed to be better than the power match. Stihl light bars are as good as the regular es.


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## coastalfaller (Aug 5, 2013)

Didn't read all of the thread, but as most I have read have said....the Oregon's haven't been holding up. We've been using the Tsumara light weights or the Stihl light weights. Even the Husky guys use them, just need the adaptor.


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