Got a new ms251 today

[Tifford]

I've been itching to get a new saw for a while.
I compared stihl, husky and echo. Both gas and battery.
I was almost going to get a husky from a place where I get my small tractor serviced but they dropped the ball twice on a part ordered so I thought "do I really want to get the saw here? which was a husky dealer. I left without the part for my tractor and without a saw.

I went to a place suggested to me by a coworker some time ago. They were a stihl dealer and they are located between my place of work and home. While I was at the Stihl dealer I came to the hard reality that I wasn't going to spend around 700 or more for a saw. I can afford it easily but could not justify it.
I was talking to a woman and having run in the past: mac, homelite, poulan, shindawa(spelling?), and a borrowed stihl I said the following:
1. I want light weight. In my 20s a heavy chainsaw would not bother me. I could carry a 50 pound saw and it wouldn't have mattered. Now that I'm 50 years old (soon to be 51) and my job doesn't require me to be in shape, weight of the saw matters.
2. Having some experience with saws, I didn't want to go below 40cc.
3. For a couple of reasons I didn't want to go battery.
I narrowed it down to a 45cc and 50cc stihl. The 45cc weighed around 10 pounds and the bigger saw was a couple of pounds more. Being around saws you have to add the weight of the bar, chain, oil and gas which can add up.
The saw would be used for the following:
1. Cutting up one fairly large tree. A popular with a 32" diameter base & about 40 feet long. I downed it with my 30 year old shinny 488 with a 16" bar but I had to fiddle with the H and the L after the shop got down with it.
2. I have a 5 acre property with big limbs from pine trees that fell over the winter. I want to chop them up. I might use the saw to down a few small trees or to cut 6x6 posts for a deck.
3. I have another house that sits down a dirt road (1/2 mile long) with trees on both sides that sometimes blow down across the road. There is one tree that's leaning towards the road that this saw might have trouble with.
The battery saws appealed to me because no more issues with carbs or gas BUT I didn't think it'd be so hot with the big tree I already had.

So, I figured the 45cc would be enough and I bought it. The man who runs the service department came out and went over the saw with me. There was a lot I didn't know even though I'd been around saws most of my life. It's nice the advances made. The guy looked 60ish and I've been told he'd been at the store since he was 18. I learned a lot.
Off to my house I went. I had to try it out. Wow, Love this saw. Smooth. Strong for 45cc....of course the chain was super sharp. Buried the bar in the wood and the saw didn't even blink.

One could split hairs with weight, price, power etc etc.....I feel like I got a good saw, good support and a decent price.

 

[jltrent]

DO they still offer the MS250 4-sale?

 

[Tifford]

DO they still offer the MS250 4-sale?

The dealer I went to did not have any on display. None that I noticed anyway. The saw to the left of the saw I picked was a 30-something cc. The saw to the right of my saw was a 50cc. The 250 I think is a 45cc.

 

[AgTech4020]

The 250 was a while supplies last deal. Most dealers are sold out by now. Besides the 251 has far better antivibe technology and the single bar nut design.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tifford]

I like the AV that the saw has.

What impressed me most was the service manager coming out and spending some of his time to go over the saw with me.

The woman I 1st had talked to really gave the service manager high marks. She said something like "We sometimes get customers bring their saws in who can't seem to get them started and he'll go out there and in 3 pulls he'll have their saws running" I KID YOU NOT.....a guy came in who could not get his saw running while the service manager was going over my saw with me. After the manager was dine with me, he went outside with the other customer and in 3 pulls had the other saw running!

Simple things he explained like the environmentalists pushing for sealed gas caps so vapors don't get out into the open air. He said not to fill the gas tank up so full because the sealed cap will flood the engine for 2 reasons. 1. When you screw the sealed cap in it could (with a full tank) force gas past the carburetor. 2. If there's enough gas in the tank when it gets warmed up, instead of venting through the cap, it will again go through the carburetor. I was use to the old saws with vented caps and had I not known this I probably would have flooded the engine. He also explained that the oiling system for the chain does not oil unless the chain is moving. He told me that the environmentalists were raising Cain about oil being a big concern of theirs. To ease the concerns of environmentalists the designers of the saws have been cutting down on the oil used by the saws. He said otherwise we might have to go with a different option to lube the parts.....ie more expensive ways to keep the parts lubed.

He also went over what to do in cold weather vs hot weather and a part that gets reversed for each case.

He said that on a new saw the chain will loosen up. Sure enough, after 1 tank the chain on my saw needs to be tightened which I will do tomorrow. I'll also sharpen it. I'm pretty strict with myself about keeping chains sharp. Better to see shavings than dust. Side Note: I scratch my head when I see guys on video using theirs saws and clearly you can tell their chain isn't sharp. A petpev of mine.

I'm just impressed with the service manager and the potential problems he headed off.

So far, I love the saw but I've only had one tank through it so time will tell. I feel in my gut that I made the right choice for me. One of the concerns I had was about ethanol gas going bad but if I use Stihl gas that shouldn't be a problem. Paying more for gas to protect a fine piece of equipment is cheap insurance. I already knew this but the service manager said when you're done cutting just run the tank dry and choke it just before it runs out and you'll be good to go for storage for the season. I also have a Stihl weed whacker that I'm throughly impressed with that uses the same fuel so I'm not to concerned about the fuel going bad from sitting.

 

[Tifford]

I also have to add that I'm impressed with the safety features of this saw. Namely the chain brake.

In older saws I guess the brake was activated by the operators hand only during kick back situations.

This saw, as was explained to me, will engage the chain brake in other ways as well. He said if the saw was to get dropped off the counter by accident, the brake would come on. He said if the bar gets pinched and you pull hard to get the saw out of the cut, the brake could engage. Nice to know that safety features have improved. This no doubt has saved some trips to the emergency room and may have saved the life of a loved one out there somewhere.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Just had to add that. I swear, the service manager should be a salesman for the store.

 

[Todd Loosli]

I bought one about 5 years ago good saw, I had to remove the limiters on the carburetor to get it to run right at 6200 feet. My old poulan chainsaws are still my favorite

 

[Cope1024]

Tifford, your experience proves my theory on chainsaw purchases. You could have been happy qwith any brand saw; attention to detail and service after the sale make the difference. I have the MS251's grandpa, the 025. If you're half as happy with your purchase as I am with mine, you'll be in hog heaven.

 

[Colt Marlington]

Wow...That's a lot different than the strong arm tactics that I got where I bought my new Echo 490.
I don't know if they even know how to start a chainsaw, and the high pressure tactics were overwhelming. They kept lowering the price until I had no choice but to say yes.

 

[cuinrearview]

They kept lowering the price until I had no choice but to say yes.

Yah that's not gonna happen at a Stihl or Husky dealer

 

[Tifford]

DO they still offer the MS250 4-sale?

There is a hardware store in Weedsport NY has a new MS250 on the shelf if you or anyone else is interested. I'm not promoting that business, just helping those who want a particular saw. I was there picking up a new file for my saw.

 

[Tifford]

Tifford, your experience proves my theory on chainsaw purchases. You could have been happy qwith any brand saw; attention to detail and service after the sale make the difference. I have the MS251's grandpa, the 025. If you're half as happy with your purchase as I am with mine, you'll be in hog heaven.

Pretty much 100%. The finalists were the 3 brands mentioned plus a Shindaiwa.

The dealer for the Shin was an hour away and he by far does more lawnmower stuff than anything else. He's a good guy but overly busy. I took my current shin to him for service and it was delay delay delay on getting it back. So that ruled the Shin out for me.

The echo being Japanese appealed to me b/c everything that I've ever owned that has been made in Japan has been bullet proof. Unfortunately, they are mainly sold in big box stores and I'm unaware of a dealer near me.

Came down to husky and stihl.

The husky dealer usually is on target, friendly and honest but recently his phone has been off the hook and 3 weeks in a row they forgot to order a part I've already paid for.

At the Stihl dealer, the woman was unassuming but helpful. I actually bought the saw and was expecting just to go out the door with it but was pleased to find out that the service manager talked to all customers who bought saws.