Chinese made 44's

[TimberMcPherson]

Found this on a local auction site, bear in mind the stihl 44 is about 2k here new. Be interesting to see what they are like

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Farming/Forestry/auction-63548487.htm

 

[KMB]

Found this on a local auction site, bear in mind the stihl 44 is about 2k here new. Be interesting to see what they are like

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Farming/Forestry/auction-63548487.htm

Someone might have to correct me, but the saw looks like a 038 with new style gas and oil caps. 72cc sounds like the size of a 038 Magnum.

Kevin

 

[Nicholas]

Those saws look like knock off's of a Stihl MS380 or 038. I would save your $$$ and buy a genuine Stihl. That way you'll have something to be proud of, and have something resale value.

-Nick

 

[wagonwheeler]

Yeah, $790 buy it now is a joke.

I'll support my local Stihl dealer thank you very much!

Chaser

 

[wagonwheeler]

bear in mind the stihl 44 is about 2k here new. Be interesting to see what they are like

Timber, is the whole economy there different or are saws just that expensive? If saws are just that far out of proportion I'd be looking at ebay...

Chaser

 

[Lakeside53]

Yes, that's the MS380 knock off.

 

[Lakeside53]

Timber, is the whole economy there different or are saws just that expensive? If saws are just that far out of proportion I'd be looking at ebay...

Chaser

$2k (I assume) is in $NZ.

The economy is different... Being small (Less than 4 million) prices tend to be higher because volumes aren't there.

There is also 1) exchange rate... (and on the 044 it would be Germany<> NZ exchange) 2) prices in NZ generally include the local equivalent of sales taxes 3) it's a long way to send stuff...

The USA has some of the cheapest goods in the world... In Switzerland the MS180C sells for about $700... The 044 in Germany is almost double of that here, and it's made there.

Maybe some of our European members could let us know their local market prices?

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Timber, is the whole economy there different or are saws just that expensive?

Been that way for looong time.


Back about 25 years ago (or so) I worked in a small motorcycle shop. We did mostly motocross stuff. PErformance add ons, tires, fun stuff. One day a couple of New Zealanders came in with their bikes and dropped some long green on some high end stuff, and paid to have it all installed. Just about rebuilt their bikes. They also asked us to do some tacky spray painting, and wanted to know where they could go to get their bikes dirty.

Why? Why did they spend the money to fly to the U.S., spend MORE money to ship their bikes with them, spend full retail on a LOT of aftermarket performance parts, then deliberatly get those nice shiny parts poorly spray painted and dirty? THEN spend more money to ship those same bikes back to New Zealand, leaving the original parts in our dumpster?

It was cheaper for them to do all that, than to buy the parts in New Zealand. The spray paint & dirt was to conceal the fact that they had bought new parts in the U.S.

Import duties. They were smuggling.

 

[Big feller]

Maybe some of our European members could let us know their local market prices?


Trythis link:

http://www.mower-magic.co.uk/acatalog/Stihl_Power_Pro_Saws.html

There are plenty of internet shops over here that sell Stihl. Usually very slightly cheaper than retail when P&P has been added, but I am lucky enough to have a good dealer and reckon it it worth the extra to keep them going.

Big feller.

 

[t_andersen]

Maybe some of our European members could let us know their local market prices?

Seen with European eyes, prices in the US are low. Many things cost 50 % more here than in the US. I don't know whether this is due to Bush being succesful by promoting commerce and trading, or whether the spending in Iraq leads to a low-low dollar (I will let you guys in the US judge ).

You can see European e-bay prices at e-bay Germany: http://www.ebay.de. One Euro equals 1.258 dollar.

 

[infomet]

Retail Prices

Most of the "free" world outside the us has astronomical taxes and low salaries, to support varying levels of socialized medicine and sometimes decent public transport. They also have remnants of various totaliarian governments and old boy networks you wouldn't believe. The result is it's hard to get into business and hard to stay in business, thus a poor competitive environment, from the consumer point of view.

I'm NOT bashing our friends here. Many countries have laudable things about them we would do well to emulate, BUT our competition and bigger market do work to our advantage. If Stihl got too expensive here, we'd just start making good saws again, which we could easily do. Does anyone realize the VAST amount of Caterpillar construction equipment that we sell right into the teeth of fine stuff from Japan?

My personal experience in the business world is limited to Japan, Australia, Maylaysia (I'm always misspelling that one), Norway, Sweden, France, and Germany, but that's a fair sample.

We may be fat and we are certainly lazy, but watch out if we get mad!

How 'bout that shuttle (yep, it's fat too but it's also the only one up there!

 

[cord arrow]

...well put wilson, well put.

you gotta feel a little outta place here........

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Of course its an 380! My bad!

Gear is expensive here, but its expensive for eveyone so it doesnt matter as we are all in the same boat. $2k nz which would be about $1300 US dollars. Heck a saw lasts a long time (it bloody well has to), and its good motivation to take care of it.

The import duty thing is less severe than it used to be, you used to have to have off shore funds to buy a new car in NZ a few decades back! Things thankfully have changed.

On the bright side medical is mostly free, cops dont carry and you cant get sued.

 

[TopJimmy]

These saws scare me. Slap a couple of Stihl stickers on them and list them on Ebay. I could be easily fooled. Saws on ebay that look like brand new are going to get a much closer look.

Jim