Echo 590 with 24 inch bar

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Bobosocky

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My old 026 is feeling old.

Looking at bang for the buck, and seems this is the way to go. Want a 24 inch bar because plunge cutting leaners is really irritating, sometimes borderline unsafe, going from both sides. Mostly cutting ash these days and burying the 18" bar on my backup ms250 is absolute torture.

I am just a homeowner doing a couple cords a year. May be dropping quite a few ash before they turn into Widowmakers though.

I could stretch budget to 700 for a ms262 but I think the 590 combo'd with ms250 for limbs may actually be better.

Opinions?
 
My old 026 is feeling old.

Looking at bang for the buck, and seems this is the way to go. Want a 24 inch bar because plunge cutting leaners is really irritating, sometimes borderline unsafe, going from both sides. Mostly cutting ash these days and burying the 18" bar on my backup ms250 is absolute torture.

I am just a homeowner doing a couple cords a year. May be dropping quite a few ash before they turn into Widowmakers though.

I could stretch budget to 700 for a ms262 but I think the 590 combo'd with ms250 for limbs may actually be better.

Opinions?
Uh, you need a large 60cc or better, a 70 for what you describe.
for Echo, just go up a notch or so from the 590
 
Fix your 026, it's a better saw then a ms250 could ever be. Since you're on a budget and don't plan to run a 24" bar often, just get full skip chain for it. From personal experience with my neighbors 620p it's pretty well tanked out with a 20" bar in hardwood. A 24" bar would be un imaginably slow.
 
They sell the 590 with a 24 inch bar, wouldn't have thought they would pair it with something it can't handle. I can't find much on the difference between it and the 620p other than nicer handle bar.

Unfortunately don't have time to work on the 026. Too busy with kids and all that these days. I just want a new saw.
 
Possibly I should put it like this, my neighbor has about 20 acres of woods, and for the last 10 years I've been helping him manage and harvest wood for winter. He's had a 620p for the majority of those years. It sucks running a 24" bar. After years of running a 562xp next to him then switching to a ms400c he finally gave in and bought a bigger saw and left the 20" bar on his 620p. I don't have all day to screw around in the woods with a slow saw. It did great with the 20" bar on it.
Having said that, you've said you're not going to be normal with the 24" bar, so grab a full skip chain and just be prepared for slow going. It's a great saw that comes in at a good price point.
 
Thanks for all the feedback.

Would it run the 20" bar better even on, say, a 16" cut?

The 20" bar is enough almost all the time.

I just recently cut down an a damaged ash with a heavy lean. I had to plunge cut and it made it take so much longer having to go from both sides, and honestly I hate going on the 'bad' side of the tree in those situations. Would have been so much faster and safer with a longer bar.

And as Sean said, I also don't have all day. I get a few hours here and there.
 
The 620p does well with a 20" on it. Really a 50cc does darn good with a 16" on it. Most of us around here run 20" bars on 60-70cc saws. We're mostly hard wood with mixed soft wood here.
 
The question of bar length is always a matter of opinion, how sharp you keep your chain, and the kind of work you're doing. I have a cs-590 with some of the cs-620 parts on it, and a small muffler modification. It has a 24" bar with 3/8 chain, no skip. If I am falling a 24" tree, it is nice to use. Speed of cut is not paramount - sometimes nicer to cut a little slower and deliberately. Balance, double set of spikes, etc. is good for this. Bucking, depending on species, is great up to 20". After that, cuts fine, just not like a 70cc saw. I live in Illinois. Mostly hardwoods and spruce. If you cut a lot of trees 24" and up, try to move up to the 70cc class. The saw will last longer, and you will work faster. All of this assumes a sharp chain and the saw is broken in. (I believe a lot of people don't know what either means) good luck
 
The 590 is perfectly fine to run a 24 inch bar. I ran one on mine all the time with zero issues. Now when I put on a skip chain it was slow. Full house. No issues. However I was cutting Douglass Fir and occasionally maple.
 

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