Long story short, this is my first Stihl. I had to do fuel-lines on a cheapie 16" Poulan I use as a homeowner in suburbia, but I'll be moving to the woods, and have some family property out in the sticks, and that Poulan was not up to all those tasks. It'll be my lightweight cleanup saw. Times arise when I need more saw, so I treated myself on my birthday with a 20" Stihl MS-290. I am often deep in the woods, miles from anything, and even 10s of miles from Stihl dealers, and do a lot of work on Sunday. A small work-stoppage can kill most of the day, so I had the dealer set me up with extra plug, pull rope, chain, sharpening file kit, extra air filter and of course the plastic case. So, here are some questions:
The air filter: The one in the saw has a felt-like material on it, but the replacement lacks that. It just looks like a wedge-shaped rectangular box of plastic with lots of slots. Is that some sort of "special service" filter? Like for high altitude or something? Do I need to get that swapped out by the dealer?
Oil & Cases: My Poulan case was pretty nice that it had a spot for a quart of bar oil. Not so w/ the Stihl. I always drained my bar oil back into the bottle because left in the saw for a couple months, it would migrate out of the saw into the case. Does the Stihl do better job keeping the oil in the tank, so that I could store it that way for long periods, and have it ready to go at a moments notice? In the Stihl case, I can fit an extra chain, extra filter, pull rope, gloves, sparkplug (2 nice recesses seem designed for that), felling wedge, and a small bottle of two-stroke oil. Any better & creative suggestions on carrying extra bar oil inside the case other than re-using another two-stroke oil bottle? I have a couple Stihl tools in the bar scabbard (Torx, sockets, screwdriver).
Lastly, are there any other "must have" or "nice to have" items I've not thought of that will help me avoid needless work-stoppages when far afield?
The air filter: The one in the saw has a felt-like material on it, but the replacement lacks that. It just looks like a wedge-shaped rectangular box of plastic with lots of slots. Is that some sort of "special service" filter? Like for high altitude or something? Do I need to get that swapped out by the dealer?
Oil & Cases: My Poulan case was pretty nice that it had a spot for a quart of bar oil. Not so w/ the Stihl. I always drained my bar oil back into the bottle because left in the saw for a couple months, it would migrate out of the saw into the case. Does the Stihl do better job keeping the oil in the tank, so that I could store it that way for long periods, and have it ready to go at a moments notice? In the Stihl case, I can fit an extra chain, extra filter, pull rope, gloves, sparkplug (2 nice recesses seem designed for that), felling wedge, and a small bottle of two-stroke oil. Any better & creative suggestions on carrying extra bar oil inside the case other than re-using another two-stroke oil bottle? I have a couple Stihl tools in the bar scabbard (Torx, sockets, screwdriver).
Lastly, are there any other "must have" or "nice to have" items I've not thought of that will help me avoid needless work-stoppages when far afield?
