Firewood Showdown: MAC 10-10 A vs. STIHL MS290

[RandyMac]

Never said better, just faster. No doubt the old school saws were made to last. You missed that.l happen to like the old clunky 028's. Built to last. Heavy too.

Touchy are we? I wasn't going anywhere close to putting up names. I'm kinda direct, there would be no mistake if I felt the need to get personal.
Take a good 10-10 and a 290, put the longest spec'ed bars on them, go after a 48" piece of pine.

 

[Gologit]

I always get a chuckle out of these kinds of comparison threads. There are those who believe that anything new or a stihl has got to be better and will argue well beyond their scope of actual knowledge.
If you really want to roil the waters, put vintage stihls against North American saws of the same era.

Now, that would be interesting. If you have a run off I'll volunteer as a totally unbiased former user of both.

Well, maybe not totally unbiased.

 

[Eccentric]

I have had a few 10-10's until I tried the king daddy of the 10-10 world the SP81, and a newly acquired PM850. Now I only keep a few 10-10s for their electronics and side covers as spare parts for my 5 cube 10X saws. Be warned if you like the 10-10 do not run a PM850 you will never look at your 10-10 the same way again.

I felt the same way when I got my PM700 and SP-81. That last early 10-10A that I got going a while ago impressed the heck outa me however. Hoss is on to something. That little sucker was much stronger than the PM10-10 I had earlier (and that saw was also no slouch). I have renewed interest in the 10-10. Keep 'em bare bones, with the small clutch cover and a 16-18" bar so they're not so heavy for the displacement. A good loop of LGX makes 'em sing. I'll soon have another 10-10 (or 2-10 or 3-10) and will keep it bare bones, with a shorter bar and a good fresh loop of LGX. It'll have a place of honor next to my 70cc and 82cc 10-series Macs. It won't get ran as much as the 70cc saws however.....

Don't mean to gore oxes. Just pointing out the obvious. FYI, I sold my Mac, twas way too heavy and slow. 3 pounds is way too much extra weight for a 3.4 hp 54 cc saw, way too much. That would put it at about 18+ with bar/chain, oil and mix. I'll stick to my overweight 290's thanks.

I've ran 029/290 saws, and they sure didn't feel 3 pounds lighter than a bare bones 10-10. Now if you put the heavy later 'muffler guard' chainbrake type clutch cover and a later can muffler on the 10-10, then I can see it. The 029/290 Stihls I've ran were certainly not any stronger than a good running 10-10 either. No damn way those particular Stihl's are running over 9K in the cut. Put a tach to yours while it's loaded down in the cut if you still believe the google specs. The manufacturer's weight and power output specs are NEVER to be trusted.

Also, a McCulloch 7-10A doesn't weigh any more than (or look any different than) a 10-10. That's a STRONG 70cc saw. I'd put my PM700 or 7-10A (which are both bone stock, with no porting or muffler mods) against any stock 029-thru-MS390 Stihl. Put 24-28" bars and fresh chains on both contenders and stick 'em in big wood.....

 

[redneck51587]

Hey, fellas! First off, thanks for all the great responses I got on my last 2 posts. This one is just to brag about my MAC 10-10A, so I hope you enjoy what you read.

My buddy John and his wife came by earlier, and John decided to bring his own MS290 over (I do own one, as well). I have some firewood I'm cutting up between today and tomorrow, and he thought his 290 was the unltimate firewood saw. While I think it IS a great bucker, I knew my 10-10 was nothing to sneeze at, either. Mind you - my 10-10 is NOT a Super, or ProMac - it's just the 10-10 auto. So, long story short - after some bickering between friends, I said "OK, lets grab some logs and put it to the test, ***hole!" We both decided on a down/up cut on a couple logs of siver maple of about 10" in diameter. I wish I would have had a camera running, but my 10-10 was about 1/3 through the up-cut before the 290 even got through the down-cut. I finished about 3 seconds ahead of him. Not convinced - he decided to go one more time. Again - almost like dejavu - the MAC came out about 3 seconds ahead. I must admit - I really wasn't sure how the race would turn out - but it's just a testament to the old MACS, and how well these saws perform. Personally - I have yet to find a saw in the 55-ish cc category that can keep up with it. I'm a Stihl fan, for sure - but NOTHING beats a MAC, baby!!! (and I think John may start looking for his own MAC 10-10, as well - hahaha)

I live in just south of Sturgis, Michigan.... If you wanna race saws. I have two that i would bet would beat the 10-10. One... Is my poulan 3400 with a muff mod. The second is a bone stock homelite super ez automatic. I love the old macs too... I have a pm605, 610, and 650. And they are all brutes. Good job on putting that stihl to shame! Hail to the antique saws!!!

 

[RandyMac]

Now, that would be interesting. If you have a run off I'll volunteer as a totally unbiased former user of both.

Well, maybe not totally unbiased.

How are ya Boss?

You, me and 2dogs are some of the few who bought 'em and ran 'em new.

 

[Michigan Muscle]

Never said better, just faster. No doubt the old school saws were made to last. You missed that.l happen to like the old clunky 028's. Built to last. Heavy too.

I have an 028 AV S, and it HAS served me well. I really think the issue of torque is what this all comes down to. I think that's what got me the extra 3 seconds over my buddy's 290. Next time, I'll have to set up a camera and catch it on film - but even then, I'm sure the many, many "x" variables (dull chain, poor set up, he doesn't know how to cut, etc etc) would be thrown out there. I'm not "bashing" the fine saws Stihl has made over the years, and not to bring up another subject, but I DO believe Stihl makes some great chain. With the exception of 1 saw, I use Stihl saw chain on all of my runners (the other has a Woodland Pro chain). I know a lot of folks swear by Oregon chain, but I had some unusually quick dulling experiences with Oregon chisel chain (full comp). From my OWN experience, and for my own needs in the field - Stihl's chisel chains are hard to beat.

 

[Eccentric]

I always get a chuckle out of these kinds of comparison threads. There are those who believe that anything new or a stihl has got to be better and will argue well beyond their scope of actual knowledge.
If you really want to roil the waters, put vintage stihls against North American saws of the same era.

I'd put my PM700 or 7-10A against any stock 041 variant (even the 72cc models). I have a new 24" bar and a fresh loop of 72LGX for it. I could get a fresh lop of LGX for my 28" roller, then we could REALLY test the saws. Heck, I'd like to see a good running 10-10S or Poulan 306A run against a 61cc 041. I bet a healthy Homelite XL102 or other saw from that series would hand a 61cc 041 it's ass too, and that's a much lighter 57cc saw. I know JP's XL102 would do it, and that saw is BONE stock. NO muffler mods or other shenanegans....

 

[Gologit]

How are ya Boss?

You, me and 2dogs are some of the few who bought 'em and ran 'em new.

Yup. I'd like to see a race...not some silly cookie cutting crap but a real race with both saw bars completely buried in the wood. 48 inch wood...minimum. The little guys can cut from both sides.

Might be some fried plastic saws laying around afterwards.

 

[RandyMac]

I love the smell of fried plastic in the morning.

 

[mountainlake]

Don't mean to gore oxes. Just pointing out the obvious. FYI, I sold my Mac, twas way too heavy and slow. 3 pounds is way too much extra weight for a 3.4 hp 54 cc saw, way too much. That would put it at about 18+ with bar/chain, oil and mix. I'll stick to my overweight 290's thanks.

On a good scale your 290 will wiegh 17-3/4 # ready to cut, I'd guess the 1010 would be 20# or so. Your spewing out a lot of misinformation on cc, power , rpm.
Steve

 

[Eccentric]

I live in just south of Sturgis, Michigan.... If you wanna race saws. I have two that i would bet would beat the 10-10. One... Is my poulan 3400 with a muff mod. The second is a bone stock homelite super ez automatic. I love the old macs too... I have a pm605, 610, and 650. And they are all brutes. Good job on putting that stihl to shame! Hail to the antique saws!!!

A good race would be to run your Super E-Z Automatic against a Stihl 030AV. You'd be down a couple cc's...................but I wouldn't sweat it!

 

[Eccentric]

I love the smell of fried plastic in the morning.

Ugh. I prefer the smell of sausage and bacon frying up before the races..................and the smell of cigars afterwards...

 

[Michigan Muscle]

I live in just south of Sturgis, Michigan.... If you wanna race saws. I have two that i would bet would beat the 10-10. One... Is my poulan 3400 with a muff mod. The second is a bone stock homelite super ez automatic. I love the old macs too... I have a pm605, 610, and 650. And they are all brutes. Good job on putting that stihl to shame! Hail to the antique saws!!!

LOL...I don't race saws. I use mine to make a livin'. Even on a slow day, I'm pretty quick to slice through a log (time is money). That was just a competition between friends, and on a whim at that. I'm sure your 3400 is plenty o' muscle. Tell ya what, tho - I have a pretty solid 076 AV S (111 cc's), and a MAC 250 (80 cc's) that I'll be bringing to a GTG here in MI. If you can get ur hands on some muscle, maybe we can meet up there and have a show down.

 

[Michigan Muscle]

I love the smell of fried plastic in the morning.

UH OH...LMFAO...in the words of Tommy Boy - "Whadja do??!!"

 

[mactodd]

I live in just south of Sturgis, Michigan.... If you wanna race saws. I have two that i would bet would beat the 10-10. One... Is my poulan 3400 with a muff mod. The second is a bone stock homelite super ez automatic. I love the old macs too... I have a pm605, 610, and 650. And they are all brutes. Good job on putting that stihl to shame! Hail to the antique saws!!!

The 3400, yeah, but not by a whole lot. The SEZA? You gotta be kidding! I've got all 3 saws, and they all run great, and have sharp chains. The SEZA with a 16" won't come close to a 10-10 with a 20" (3/8" .050 RMC).
My 10-10 weighs in at around 15lbs with a 20" Double Guard, gassed and ready to go.

 

[Michigan Muscle]

Touchy are we? I wasn't going anywhere close to putting up names. I'm kinda direct, there would be no mistake if I felt the need to get personal.
Take a good 10-10 and a 290, put the longest spec'ed bars on them, go after a 48" piece of pine.

Amen. I'm all in on that one.

 

[Modifiedmark]

Don't mean to gore oxes. Just pointing out the obvious. FYI, I sold my Mac, twas way too heavy and slow. 3 pounds is way too much extra weight for a 3.4 hp 54 cc saw, way too much. That would put it at about 18+ with bar/chain, oil and mix. I'll stick to my overweight 290's thanks.

Where are you getting your info from? Its way off. BTW I have no doubt a good 10-10 would hand a 290 its hind end back to it.

Look closely at the scales, the Mac is 13.1 lbs while the 290 is 13lb 8oz so that makes the 10-10 quite a bit lighter.

 

[Eccentric]

Thanks a bunch for posting those Mark. I thought I remembered you posting weights of these two saws in the past, but couldn't remember for sure and didn't wanna say anything without proof. Looks to me like the scale was set on tenths of a pound (rather than ounces) when you weighed the McCulloch (and ounces for the Stihl). That'd put the 10-10A at 6.4 ounces LESS than the MS290 (since the Mac is 13.1 pounds, and a tenth of a pound is 1.6 ounces). 13.1 pounds vs 13.5 pounds.... opcorn:

 

[Modifiedmark]

Actually I had the weight of a 029 super before. This is the MS290 that I fixed yesterday. The one with the pitiful Stihl safety chain on it. I just wanted to see if there was a difference between the 029 and the 290. There was not any difference at all, they both weighed exactly the same.

 

[barneyrb]

Actually I had the weight of a 029 super before. This is the MS290 that I fixed yesterday. The one with the pitiful Stihl safety chain on it. I just wanted to see if there was a difference between the 029 and the 290. There was not any difference at all, they both weighed exactly the same.

And that weight is just about as high as you can stack ####......