Stihl and Husqvarna are the two major brands and both have great saws. Shihl dealers and shihl parts are easier to find in my neck of the woods. That was the major factor for my choice of brand. Husqvarna is almost non existent in my area. I've never needed any repairs so far, but finding bars, chains, sprockets was most important for me. As for a quality saw I don't favor ether brand. Both have good stuff.
Good post. Definitely run the saw and get a look through the exhaust port.
I just told your story to my Stihl 026 PRO that I paid $200 for three years ago:
Can I ask what other brand /model you've used & have you added up the amount of $ bills you have had to pull from your pocket + if you rely on a saw for whatever reason why put it away wet/dirty & uncared for or so minuets at days end with compressed air gun will up the resale value Do you rely on your saw to make a living ?
that might have been a bit of brand bashing on my part,my current work saw is a husqvarna 560xp which I really like, there's a couple of main brand saws here but oleo Mac's rising in popularity mainly due to them being a very robust design, I like stihl for the simple reason that parts are cheap and readily available with very good dealer support in my area. Yes my saws pay my wages, I cut professionally 5 sometimes 6 days a week, I never sell any saws when I get a new 1, there usually quite work worn so I usually give them away if I don't need the parts for my new saws, I ger my air filter blown out twice daily and give them a quick rub down now and again
I service kit for a commercial concern trying to make a few bob we have 3 full time fallers with a choice of 10 assorted size saws 2 with the most hours on are traded every 2 years & I try to keep them up together so we get the best allowance against a new saw parts were we are (Stihl)are the most expensive of all brands overall & we have had less problems with Husky in terms of replacement parts+ the fallers are happier with them To me a single saw brand is never the be all to end all they all have good & less good models I am a fan of the pre Efco Oleo Macs & prof model Alpina's for my own use i always buy "kaput" units & fix up my latest "find was 4 various badged 244F's Oleo Macs /Vap44F for 20€'s a total spend of 57€'s& I have 3 running/cutting saws & 1 for parts I have a guy coming tomorrow to look & chose one for 50€'s for me they are the dog's dodahs for fire wood cutting light lively with muffler mod A/V & very limited plastic wise but each to his own
