kfallscody
ArboristSite Lurker
Here is story time, might want to get a cookie and some milk.. 
So every spring I have to do the normal tree trimming and normally I borrow my dads Husky 350 for the work. However, last year I decided I was tired of borrowing my dad's saw so I decided to get my own. Funds were short as I went to the store and I spotted a Husky 137e with a 16" bar in my price range. I knew it would not be like my dad's 350 but figured it would be better than the crap homelite or poulan you find in the box stores these days. The guy at the store said "If you ever plan on getting any firewood, this is the minimum saw I would suggest". Well we do get firewood every year so I figured I was in good shape.
I get the saw home, fire it up and do a bunch of my tree trimming. I could tell right off that it did not have the power of my dad's 350 but was not horribly gutless. It certainly did the job I needed it to do. Towards the end of the day though, as I was getting tired, I let the bar/chain go in the dirt and as you can guess, it didn't cut right after that. No problem I think, I'll just take the file to it. This is where my experience with this saw started to go sour....
I grab my chain file but find it FAR to large for this chain. I had asked the guy at the shop if I needed a different file and he assured me I didn't.. grrrr. So I go back to the store, get helped by a different person, who says that I need a smaller file(duh) and that they do not have any of that size. Furthermore, they do not even have chains for this saw! He said they should get a shipment in the following week which should hopefully have the items I need. I leave my phone number with the guy and ask him to call me if they show up. After I leave I hit up a few stores to see if they have the file size I need and find nobody sells the "tiny" file.. grrr.
The next day I get up early before the heat to get my tree work done and find a nice puddle of bar oil under my saw. GREAT I think, just what I need. The bar oil tank was about half full when I put it away the previous night, it was maybe 1/3 full in the morning, maybe closer to 1/4. So I fill it up and get to work, just wanting to get this over with. Let me tell you, I was cursing that dull chain for the next few hours but it did it's job.
So the next day I take the saw back to the store for the leaking oil tank, it is under warranty after all. The guy in the sevice department says "Oh that is a bad oil tank, will have to replace it. It will take a week or so to get parts in from Husqvarna, I will call you when it's done." So now I am sawless but luckily I have most of my work done.
A week goes by and I get no call at all! So I decide to just drop by on the following weekend, only to find that they have the files just not the chains. I ask the guy why he didn't call me, he says somebody must have thrown the note away.. hmmmm... ok. I then go back to the service department, another guy is working there who can't seem to find my saw at all! He can find the record of me dropping it off and what was wrong, but no saw. He says he will call me when he figures out what is going on.
Another week goes by and still no call. So I drop in there again and this time they can find my saw at least! However, they say that the oil tank still has not arrived and was assured I would be called once the part was in and installed... okay yeah right I think.
Yet another week goes by(a month since I got the saw) and no call, so again I drop in only to find that my saw has been ready for 3 days!! I inquire as to why I was not called and I get a lot of hmmmm's and uuuhhh's but no answer. So I just sign the paper, grab my saw and go home. I get home, sharpen the chain and finish up my trees without issue.
I put the saw in the garage and there it sat for about a month. My GF needed a few little things done at her place so I go out to get saw and find another puddle under my saw.. and the oil tank is nearly empty! I literally yelled "not :censored: again!" So again, I put about half a tank of oil in there and go to my GF's and get all that done. I go home and inspect the saw. It looks like the oil is coming out of the oiler hole, not out of a cracked or broken tank. So I take it back to the repair shop and again, told I will get a call.
A week goes by and I get a call this time, saying the tank has been replaced again and all is fine. I go pick it up, take it home, fill with oil and let it sit for a few days. Again, another puddle of oil.. this is starting to get ridiculous! So I take it back to the store to just get my money back. I get told that all items past 30 days cannot get a refund. I told them that most of that time was spent with the saw in their repair shop but was again told, there was nothing they could do. Pissed off I take my boat anchor home, toss it in the garage and there it still sits.
So fast forward to this spring, trees need trimming again and I am not about to deal with that POS saw again. Luckily, during the past year, I have gotten the local stihl dealer as a client of mine. He tells me a few weeks back that he wants to replace his old slow computer with a newer better faster one... I glance over the at MS310 and say that we can work something out. Well yesterday I delivered and setup his new computer, he gave me a ms310 w/ 20" bar(25" was a bit long for that saw I think) 2 spare chains, a gallon of bar oil, 6 pack of premix oil and a check for the remaining balance.
So this morning I did my spring trimming and wow, what a joy! This thing is like a dream compared to that POS husky which is still sitting in the corner of my garage! Starts fast, powers through my elm & russian olive trees almost like they are not even there! It is just a pure joy to use..
So in the end, I learned what everybody already knows.. is cheaper to just get the right tool from the start! In fact I went back today and got a Stihl fs-55 string trimmer and can hardly wait for the grass to grow so i can slice it down.. I also understand why so many people are fans of stihl products, not sure I will ever give Husky a penny of my money ever again.
So every spring I have to do the normal tree trimming and normally I borrow my dads Husky 350 for the work. However, last year I decided I was tired of borrowing my dad's saw so I decided to get my own. Funds were short as I went to the store and I spotted a Husky 137e with a 16" bar in my price range. I knew it would not be like my dad's 350 but figured it would be better than the crap homelite or poulan you find in the box stores these days. The guy at the store said "If you ever plan on getting any firewood, this is the minimum saw I would suggest". Well we do get firewood every year so I figured I was in good shape.
I get the saw home, fire it up and do a bunch of my tree trimming. I could tell right off that it did not have the power of my dad's 350 but was not horribly gutless. It certainly did the job I needed it to do. Towards the end of the day though, as I was getting tired, I let the bar/chain go in the dirt and as you can guess, it didn't cut right after that. No problem I think, I'll just take the file to it. This is where my experience with this saw started to go sour....
I grab my chain file but find it FAR to large for this chain. I had asked the guy at the shop if I needed a different file and he assured me I didn't.. grrrr. So I go back to the store, get helped by a different person, who says that I need a smaller file(duh) and that they do not have any of that size. Furthermore, they do not even have chains for this saw! He said they should get a shipment in the following week which should hopefully have the items I need. I leave my phone number with the guy and ask him to call me if they show up. After I leave I hit up a few stores to see if they have the file size I need and find nobody sells the "tiny" file.. grrr.
The next day I get up early before the heat to get my tree work done and find a nice puddle of bar oil under my saw. GREAT I think, just what I need. The bar oil tank was about half full when I put it away the previous night, it was maybe 1/3 full in the morning, maybe closer to 1/4. So I fill it up and get to work, just wanting to get this over with. Let me tell you, I was cursing that dull chain for the next few hours but it did it's job.
So the next day I take the saw back to the store for the leaking oil tank, it is under warranty after all. The guy in the sevice department says "Oh that is a bad oil tank, will have to replace it. It will take a week or so to get parts in from Husqvarna, I will call you when it's done." So now I am sawless but luckily I have most of my work done.
A week goes by and I get no call at all! So I decide to just drop by on the following weekend, only to find that they have the files just not the chains. I ask the guy why he didn't call me, he says somebody must have thrown the note away.. hmmmm... ok. I then go back to the service department, another guy is working there who can't seem to find my saw at all! He can find the record of me dropping it off and what was wrong, but no saw. He says he will call me when he figures out what is going on.
Another week goes by and still no call. So I drop in there again and this time they can find my saw at least! However, they say that the oil tank still has not arrived and was assured I would be called once the part was in and installed... okay yeah right I think.
Yet another week goes by(a month since I got the saw) and no call, so again I drop in only to find that my saw has been ready for 3 days!! I inquire as to why I was not called and I get a lot of hmmmm's and uuuhhh's but no answer. So I just sign the paper, grab my saw and go home. I get home, sharpen the chain and finish up my trees without issue.
I put the saw in the garage and there it sat for about a month. My GF needed a few little things done at her place so I go out to get saw and find another puddle under my saw.. and the oil tank is nearly empty! I literally yelled "not :censored: again!" So again, I put about half a tank of oil in there and go to my GF's and get all that done. I go home and inspect the saw. It looks like the oil is coming out of the oiler hole, not out of a cracked or broken tank. So I take it back to the repair shop and again, told I will get a call.
A week goes by and I get a call this time, saying the tank has been replaced again and all is fine. I go pick it up, take it home, fill with oil and let it sit for a few days. Again, another puddle of oil.. this is starting to get ridiculous! So I take it back to the store to just get my money back. I get told that all items past 30 days cannot get a refund. I told them that most of that time was spent with the saw in their repair shop but was again told, there was nothing they could do. Pissed off I take my boat anchor home, toss it in the garage and there it still sits.
So fast forward to this spring, trees need trimming again and I am not about to deal with that POS saw again. Luckily, during the past year, I have gotten the local stihl dealer as a client of mine. He tells me a few weeks back that he wants to replace his old slow computer with a newer better faster one..
. I glance over the at MS310 and say that we can work something out. Well yesterday I delivered and setup his new computer, he gave me a ms310 w/ 20" bar(25" was a bit long for that saw I think) 2 spare chains, a gallon of bar oil, 6 pack of premix oil and a check for the remaining balance. So this morning I did my spring trimming and wow, what a joy! This thing is like a dream compared to that POS husky which is still sitting in the corner of my garage! Starts fast, powers through my elm & russian olive trees almost like they are not even there!
It is just a pure joy to use.. So in the end, I learned what everybody already knows.. is cheaper to just get the right tool from the start! In fact I went back today and got a Stihl fs-55 string trimmer and can hardly wait for the grass to grow so i can slice it down..
I also understand why so many people are fans of stihl products, not sure I will ever give Husky a penny of my money ever again.
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