That being said, I've seen a couple shops around here that are working on these clone-saws.
Holzfforma chainsaws any good?
- Thread starter Andrew15
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Their suppliers are probably too busy cranking out parts for Farmertec
cuttinstihl
ArboristSite Operative
IME if the saw isn’t getting used very often, a clone could easily fulfill that role. I’ve had some time on a G395 clone for infrequent milling, and I couldn’t recommend it enough for that purpose. I did have the tweak the carb and snug down every bolt just to be safe out of the box, zero problems other than that.
One thing I can say for sure is that it kicks the crap out of my old rebuilt 066 for power, not sure if that old Stihl was just tired from age but the G395 is significantly stronger
One thing I can say for sure is that it kicks the crap out of my old rebuilt 066 for power, not sure if that old Stihl was just tired from age but the G395 is significantly stronger
I heard about that fiasco.
Plus husky workers installing pistons backwards at factory.
I was curious about that myself but couldn't find any information.
If you can watch this
She's running a zenoah clone
Her technique sucks.
She'll make someone a helluva wife.
Already got a game one, thanks.
Already got a game one, thanks.
Fubar
treehugger
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She Looks like wifey material to me ,ain't bad looking either , I bet she cleans up well .
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Brewmaster
ArboristSite Operative
Holzfforma, Neotec, Farmmac and unbranded saws are good. (But! However!)
The quality control is not even close to Stihl or Husqvarna.
“IF” the buyer is not mechanically inclined
“THEN” buy OEM because you stand to get a poor running saw 10-20% of the time.
The reasons are:
But I said they are good saws, didn’t I?
So with that said, my cost per 372XP is about $300 each before bar and chain.
That “includes all the spare parts” and backlog of repairs I might need. (NOT the “spare saw”)
The 28” lightweight bars are very good; stiffer than the Japanese high priced ones.
The quality control is not even close to Stihl or Husqvarna.
“IF” the buyer is not mechanically inclined
“THEN” buy OEM because you stand to get a poor running saw 10-20% of the time.
The reasons are:
- The Chinese mass produce these saws and their parts
- The “brand” labels them.
- Some are made under a “brand” in China and have “slightly” better QC (quality control)
- The carburetors are a weak point in these saws.
- I am taking an experienced educated guess that one in five will never run right; mostly because of the carbs.
- The cylinders and ports and pistons are 70-90% the quality and finish of OEM. (You won’t know unless you compare them)
- The Chinese saw will never be as powerful nor run as well as OEM. (Unless you port, gasket delete, muffler mod etc)
- It is more likely to die sooner. In a year or twenty years; but side by side with OEM properly maintained and stored. OEM can be handed down to your grandchildren. China import; only if you replace parts with OEM.
- Switches, chain tensioners and many little parts are not near OEM reliability, quality and longevity of service.
But I said they are good saws, didn’t I?
- For the money if you have repair skills.
- Get a spare carb or two. I have 4 spares just for the 372XP clone. (One is a “Genuine Walbro”, made in China, two are Huayang and one probably 50/50 “if is good” carb that I have a carb kit to fix.)
- I grease the chain tensioner properly.
- I have multiple switches and 2 spare recoil assemblies.
- I also have many spare parts for them and redundancy of entire saws.
So with that said, my cost per 372XP is about $300 each before bar and chain.
That “includes all the spare parts” and backlog of repairs I might need. (NOT the “spare saw”)
The 28” lightweight bars are very good; stiffer than the Japanese high priced ones.
- The Chains are just “OK”; they stretch way too much early on.
- (Don’t let those lightweight bars get too hot however; but that is true will all resin filled bars)
- I don’t know about the aluma-sandwich bars from China, yet.
Don't sound "good" to me.
Brewmaster
ArboristSite Operative
Yeah. "IF" reliable and makes you cash; get OEM. "IF" an hour of your time and a few bucks on "insurance" parts at 1/3 the price is worth it. Then these are great; I mean "good" ... especially if you make cash with them. Then you can afford OEM.
I've learned to largely stay out of these discussions as views on either side are generally set in stone. But for all the "worth it or not" thing has been argued to death, it more or less comes down to the pro vs hobbyist thing for any tool. If you're a pro who depends on it for a living you buy pro tools w pro service - DeWalt, Makita, etc. If you're a hobbyist who can't justify pro tools, you buy Ryobi or Harbor Freight. If you're a hobbyist who likes pro quality and doesn't mind spending money on pro tools, you buy pro. Same with chainsaws. Unlike any other tools, the twist with clone saws is they are exact clones, which means at least by design they are pro. But the control quality and casting and parts quality is decidedly not pro, making them a crapshoot. Far better investment for the cheap DIY tinkerer than most off brand tools due to the clone factor and ability to drop quality OEM parts in to one. But apples and oranges, not worth the volumes of pages spent arguing which makes more financial sense. If I was relatively new to saws, don't know which direction I'd go. All about being cheap and DIY, so I might have embraced them with the insane cost of big pro saws now. But I learned the value of pro tools a long while back and weeded out all my early HF power tools and replaced them all with DeWalt and Makita and Bosch. Not at great cost - I opportunistically buy a lot of pro tools dirt cheap second hand. Since I got into big chainsaws pre-clone back when they could still be bought for cheap prices second hand or even new sometimes, I got big Stihl's and never looked back. Each to their own.
People NEVER include ECHO when they refer to good saws. I'll take my ECHO's over a Husky or Stihl any day and overall they cost less as well. More than a chink saw but less than the other 2.
echomeister
ArboristSite Operative
Here the question you ask yourself.
If you are the type that just wants to grab the saw when needed use it and put it up after done without any futzing about then do not buy a Chinease saw. Get an echo.
If you have a few good saws but would like a spare to play with, and you don't mind looking it over and futzing with it some then get ya a Holtz.
I have joncutters g2500, 4500, 5800.
They run good but they all have quirks. For one the chain tension can be hard to set right. Adjust it so it just hangs off the lower rail then rotate the chain a bit and then it can be too tight or too loose. Air filter cover doesn't seat right unless you give it a special tap in the right place. Sometimes bar oil doesn't feed regularly. Just hold it out of the wood and give it half throttly till it picks back up.
I don't mind these issues. They come without cat or clogged muffler. G4500 surprises me with X-cut chain. Roars on with 20 inch bar buried.
If you are the type that just wants to grab the saw when needed use it and put it up after done without any futzing about then do not buy a Chinease saw. Get an echo.
If you have a few good saws but would like a spare to play with, and you don't mind looking it over and futzing with it some then get ya a Holtz.
I have joncutters g2500, 4500, 5800.
They run good but they all have quirks. For one the chain tension can be hard to set right. Adjust it so it just hangs off the lower rail then rotate the chain a bit and then it can be too tight or too loose. Air filter cover doesn't seat right unless you give it a special tap in the right place. Sometimes bar oil doesn't feed regularly. Just hold it out of the wood and give it half throttly till it picks back up.
I don't mind these issues. They come without cat or clogged muffler. G4500 surprises me with X-cut chain. Roars on with 20 inch bar buried.
Something that may just be a unique situation for me and where I'm at is if you are a good chainsaw repair person up for the quirks of fixing clone saws when they have problems, you can often do a sideline in chainsaw repair that will get quality small Stihl/Husky/Echo saws donated to you or found non-working for cheap and repaired. More likely in cities or larger populations where you have tons of tree services working. These guys can't afford any down time and in particular with Stihl, can't wait for a dealer to spend weeks fixing their saws. The lower budget operations just go grab another saw from a pawn shop to keep working and end up piling up a bunch of non-working saws. If you can become a go-to guy to do quick turnaround fixes on some of their saws, they'll just give you some of the others that are cheap for you to repair but you'd have to charge too much in labor to them to be worth having them repaired. That's how I got my MS211 and MS251 free which were no more than $75 each to rebuild, a Husky 359 plus my 338XPT, and I found a non-working MS361 for $100 I only had to put $75 into to rebuild. So for small and midrange saws there's never been any reason for me to look at clones. Big saws, though, it seems near impossible anymore to find cheap non-working Stihls or Husky's to rebuild, everyone wants top dollar working or not.
I recently got a neotec. Their customer service is stellar.
Brewmaster
ArboristSite Operative
I have three that I am keeping!
I have a small echo saw and just got a small echo blower Saturday. Echo makes a reliable reasonable priced product. I have 3 stihl products and not a big fan of any of them. I like my Husqvarnas and dolmar saw.
It's still cheap Chinese labor.
Must be something to be said for Echo's - my tree service friend hasn't donated me one yet. His little CS-310 is one of his go-to favorite saws. My giant MS780 is flawlessly dependable, but aside from the 2/3/4/661 saws, I've got no great attraction or loyalty to Stihl. Like my smaller Stihls just fine, but hardly seems like anything "pro" in their sub-50cc clamshell line. Echo and Husky seem a better choice there for ease of getting parts - the parts headache of Stihl with no online sales is a deal breaker for many.
