Rate your Chinese chain saw?

[davefr]

I've been working on my own NH843 clone saw lately. Besides discovering the stratos being blocked off by the intake gasket, the intake manifold also had an air leak. I've addressed those issues and did some machine/port work to it. It's an alright saw, but I'm not super pumped on it...I guess it's a good value considering the price.

I bought it for a very limited task, so I didn't want to spend $600 on an actual 543xp. I often ride with one of my climbing saws on the front of my dirt bike, but I wanted a slightly larger powerhead and bar for dealing with deadfall, without jumping all the way up to my 550xp. It's going to get beat up and rattled around on the front of the bike, that's the perfect use for a clone saw.

What was the root cause of the air leak and what did you have to do to fix it?

 

[Sierra_rider]

What was the root cause of the air leak and what did you have to do to fix it?

The intake boot wasn't completely sealing against the mating surface on the jug. I think a different boot would be the most correct fix, but I gooped some gasket sealant on a new gasket, that seemed to do the trick.

 

[holeycow]

I got one of the last neo tec 892's if not the last one off amazon.ca.
I dont need a 90cc saw but for 369 canadian with a 24 inch bar why not have one?
I thought I ordered the regular handle cheap one but got the 3/4 wrap handle and upgraded foam air filter. I hate wrap handles and cut it off lol.
It starts and runs great but I have a couple issues to resolve with it.
The oil pump is weak, I modded it and it's a bit better and useable now but I'll mod it some more before buying a new one.
The bar oil cap broke and the decomp sucks, it comes with a plug but you need a decomp valve, it has a lot of compression, the recoil wont last without the decomp.
I used a husky 61 gas cap for the bar oil cap and it fits great. I also upgraded the gas cap with one off a poulan 3514 which fits good too lol.
I'm swapping my bud the decomp plug my saw came with for the oem decomp valve out of his husky.

I knew I'd have some little things to fix going in and havent spent anything but my time fixing stuff so far.

The filler caps need to be snugged down very lightly. When you snug them proper-like, the rubber washer deforms and they leak. The caps just need a quality washer.

the foam filter is not an upgrade, imo. It is a downgrade. I'm not interested in oiling a chainsaw filter and doing the pita maintenance on a filter. Ridiculous, imo. I just want to pull a filter and tap it out on something and reinstall and go. Anyway, I am awaiting the proper cover and filter setup... Too many folks are ex or current dirt-bikers and don't understand the difference between filtering requirements of a dirt bike and a chainsaw... this has created the foam filter craze in chainsaws. My old mesh filters work perfectly and last forever, pretty much. Pleated filters are ok, but require periodic replacement. Certain conditions may require extreme filtering, but that is rare, overall. The minor gains in airflow with foam are far out weighed by inconvenience.

NSEric, the coarse foam leaks fines, so oiling is necessary, as well as some grease or an oring or two to prevent fines from getting around the cover mounting bolt setup. I'll be glad to be rid of the foam in about a week.

so far, my oiler works good on a 24" bar. The oil consumption is similar to the fuel consumption. My oiler is turned just a hair over half way.

oh ya, the stock decomp is basically unserviceable. I put a husky one in from another saw. It still closes too easily. I might try a brand new husky valve, idk. The chinese ones are known to break (causing a real mess), so I was going to replace that anyway.

the id label on the top of my saw started to ever-so-slightly lift on one corner, so I put a piece of tape on it to hold it so I won't lose it. Once it detaches I will glue it down better. Or maybe even rivet it. I saw a few complaints about that label falling off on the 'tube.

yup, I'd say that was a helluva deal we got on amazon for an "occasional use" big saw.

 

[xraydaniel]

@sean donato

Looks like neotec makes a Zenoah clone. Of course I bought one because that’s pretty damn cheap

 

[Ed Penney]

I just did Wikipedia and of the indigenous people to that island they now account for 2.38% of the population.

"In 1662, Koxinga, a loyalist of the Ming dynasty who had lost control of mainland China in 1644, defeated the Dutch and established a base of operations on the island. His forces were defeated by the Qing dynasty in 1683, and parts of Taiwan became increasingly integrated into the Qing empire. Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Qing ceded the island, along with Penghu, to the Empire of Japan. Taiwan produced rice and sugar to be exported to the Empire of Japan, and also served as a base for the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and the Pacific during World War II. Japanese imperial education was implemented in Taiwan and many Taiwanese also fought for Japan during the war.

In 1945, following the end of World War II, the nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang (KMT), took control of Taiwan. In 1949, after losing control of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the ROC government under the KMT withdrew to Taiwan and Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law. The KMT ruled Taiwan (along with the Islands of Kinmen, Wuqiu and the Matsu on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait) as a single-party state for forty years, until democratic reforms in the 1980s, which led to the first-ever direct presidential election in 1996. During the post-war period, Taiwan experienced rapid industrialization and economic growth known as the "Taiwan Miracle", and was known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers"."

So User name Pythagorus, What Chinese made stuff do you have in the chainsaw department. I have some Makita Stuff made in China, not sure where and the bars on my top handle Husqvarna saws that come in boxes saying made in Sweden have made in China on the envelope the bar is in. It helps to know if one is discussing manufacturing location, or just clones as they are called.

I am just guessing looking at the dates above Here in the United States this is the era when the king of England would give to governors or individuals of the various states in the colonies blocks of land that we have been using as the start of land title. How did it work in Australia?

yep, all the tags say, Made in USA

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Most of what they've copied so far are old designs that the manufacturer's have abandoned. (ex: 066, 372XP, 038, etc)

Yes, their best designs..

 

[True Grit Scott]

Scott,
Any insight as to why they blocked the strato port? Was is based on legal issues or stupidity?

100 percent patent issues .I speak with the owner regularly and he said that from day 1.. they seem to have pretty tight ties with husky.

 

[sean donato]

@sean donato

Looks like neotec makes a Zenoah clone. Of course I bought one because that’s pretty damn cheap

View attachment 1069439

Thats all the 843 is. The 543xp is a straight up zenoah design, it's companion is the gz4350. There are actually quite a few match ups in the husqy/zen/redmax line up. So it's no surprise to me that they would have copied an old zen design 60cc saw. I'd be curious if ita a straight up clone or a morphed and made bigger copy of the smaller cc designs. Seems most of the 50-60 cc clone saws are based off the 30-40cc cylinder designs. Typically becomes more apparent when you realize they have the same clutch and pull start that the smaller saws do, when the genuine saws have different, bigger clutches and pull starts to match the large saws starting and power requirements. Let us know what you think of it after you get it. I basically boxed the 843 up for the time being as I have more important things to do right now. Some of which is paying work on non cline saws.

 

[NSEric]

The filler caps need to be snugged down very lightly. When you snug them proper-like, the rubber washer deforms and they leak. The caps just need a quality washer.

the foam filter is not an upgrade, imo. It is a downgrade. I'm not interested in oiling a chainsaw filter and doing the pita maintenance on a filter. Ridiculous, imo. I just want to pull a filter and tap it out on something and reinstall and go. Anyway, I am awaiting the proper cover and filter setup... Too many folks are ex or current dirt-bikers and don't understand the difference between filtering requirements of a dirt bike and a chainsaw... this has created the foam filter craze in chainsaws. My old mesh filters work perfectly and last forever, pretty much. Pleated filters are ok, but require periodic replacement. Certain conditions may require extreme filtering, but that is rare, overall. The minor gains in airflow with foam are far out weighed by inconvenience.

NSEric, the coarse foam leaks fines, so oiling is necessary, as well as some grease or an oring or two to prevent fines from getting around the cover mounting bolt setup. I'll be glad to be rid of the foam in about a week.

so far, my oiler works good on a 24" bar. The oil consumption is similar to the fuel consumption. My oiler is turned just a hair over half way.

oh ya, the stock decomp is basically unserviceable. I put a husky one in from another saw. It still closes too easily. I might try a brand new husky valve, idk. The chinese ones are known to break (causing a real mess), so I was going to replace that anyway.

the id label on the top of my saw started to ever-so-slightly lift on one corner, so I put a piece of tape on it to hold it so I won't lose it. Once it detaches I will glue it down better. Or maybe even rivet it. I saw a few complaints about that label falling off on the 'tube.

yup, I'd say that was a helluva deal we got on amazon for an "occasional use" big saw.

I'd prefer a paper or mesh air filter too, it's easier to clean them. I thought I was getting one as the saw pictured in the add was the one with a regular half wrap and paper filter. I have bikes and atvs so I have the stuff on hand to clean and oil a foam filter. I put a piece of rubber about the size of a quarter with a 1/8 hole in it for the bolt on the air filter to seal it up. It was leaking badly around the bolt.
The bar oil cap broke in two. The husky gas cap replacing it doesnt leak with it just tight enough to be taken off by hand.

I may have a blockage in the bar oil pump. It almost oils enough for the 24 inch bar but it gets hot in big cuts and plugs the oil hole in the bar very quickly. It uses a 1/4 tank of oil to a tank of gas.
I did a little filing on it to make it pump more but it only helped a tiny bit. I forgot to blow air through the pump while I had it apart. I'll try fixing it once more before buying a new pump.

 

[holeycow]

NSEric..; "I'd prefer a paper or mesh air filter too, it's easier to clean them. I thought I was getting one as the saw pictured in the add was the one with a regular half wrap and paper filter. I have bikes and atvs so I have the stuff on hand to clean and oil a foam filter. I put a piece of rubber about the size of a quarter with a 1/8 hole in it for the bolt on the air filter to seal it up. It was leaking badly around the bolt.
The bar oil cap broke in two. The husky gas cap replacing it doesnt leak with it just tight enough to be taken off by hand.

I may have a blockage in the bar oil pump. It almost oils enough for the 24 inch bar but it gets hot in big cuts and plugs the oil hole in the bar very quickly. It uses a 1/4 tank of oil to a tank of gas.
I did a little filing on it to make it pump more but it only helped a tiny bit. I forgot to blow air through the pump while I had it apart. I'll try fixing it once more before buying a new pump."


I contacted neotec through their customer service email. They are sending me the proper cover, filter, and baffle block. I pointed out that the amazon offer did not show the "pro flow" filter setup which I was specifically trying to avoid. It took a mild push for them to agree to send me the parts. They seemed quite intent on providing a good service. I have oils and things for foams too. I don't want to do that for a powersaw.

I ordered the wrap handle on purpose. It's much nicer for falling, imo. The Stihl-style wrap handle is pretty crappy, but better than not.

Funny you mention the quarter size rubber washer. That same solution had occurred to me last night. I put a new oring on that little post, but it won't work very well. I'm going to do what you did if I run the saw before the new filter setup arrives.

 

[NSEric]

I haul my saws around on their side on the rack of my atv, with the wrap handle you couldnt and it wouldnt stay on the rack good sitting upright. The saw kept falling over without something to prop it up when adding gas and oil too.
I know im the odd man out not liking wrap handles but I need to get the saw to the woods to use it, plus I mostly buck up wood with this saw and you dont need a wrap for that.

 

[holeycow]

I haul my saws around on their side on the rack of my atv, with the wrap handle you couldnt and it wouldnt stay on the rack good sitting upright. The saw kept falling over without something to prop it up when adding gas and oil too.
I know im the odd man out not liking wrap handles but I need to get the saw to the woods to use it, plus I mostly buck up wood with this saw and you dont need a wrap for that.

Yup, they are cumbersome abominations for sure.

I farmer'd this cause the pullback is occasionally violent and I dont want to destroy the recoil..(like what happened on one of my beloved jonny 590's).it's a soft rubber, quality stopper that I had laying around. Ugly, but it works. I wasn't going to put a 30.00 elastostart handle on it.

 

[xraydaniel]

Yup, they are cumbersome abominations for sure.

I farmer'd this cause the pullback is occasionally violent and I dont want to destroy the recoil..(like what happened on one of my beloved jonny 590's).it's a soft rubber, quality stopper that I had laying around. Ugly, but it works. I wasn't going to put a 30.00 elastostart handle on it.

View attachment 1069660

Didn’t a neotec elastostart come with the kit for that 892? I got em for my 892bv’s.



Rubber bung for that is a nice idea. I have plenty from my brewing days.

 

[holeycow]

No, mine didn't come with the "elastostart" handle.

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

I've only seen the elastostart copies on the Farmertec G888 aka MS880 later versions.

Middle one.

 

[holeycow]

a bunch of the neotec's come with them too. But not the regular 892's. They should. I bet it would save some recoils In these models.

 

[elijahh]

Black Max 38cc. They at wal mart now for $138. I got it just to play with. No complaints so far. Warm starting procedure is to pull then push the choke to set the fast idle then pull on it. I got the carb tools and richened it up. Typically 6 - 8 pulls to start cold.
At first it was pretty weak. But at tank 4 it's come alive.

If they go down to $100 i'll get another.

View attachment 1023719

Really perfect.

 

[sliceoflife]

I've got a lot of discussion about my starting out with saws on a G070 (070 clone) and a mill. Still posting there pretty regularly, but it's become a kind of generic blog with updates on all my saws...


Still kind of feeling about the saw exactly what I'd expected (based on my experience with other Chinese electronics and power tools... not on forum posts... because nothing is more misleading than forums posts... sorry; but people seem to either let their politics or one bad experience taint an honest review (negative posters) or try to balance that or just assume their familiarity and skills dealing with imperfect saws translates to everyone (positive posters).


When I got the saw, the decomp valve arm (thin metal flap that transfers from decomp valve button to valve itself) was bent and didn't work. 30 second fix if it hadn't been my second chainsaw (the first being an old 250 mac that I had running-ish but hadn't put much time into trying to get running well enough to call it a runner, certainly not enough time to have any clue how to diagnose problems with saws)

Also 2-3 of the ribs of the flywheel cover were snapped off (cheap cast metal), so I had to fish those out.

Clutch springs were too weak for the saw... Above 1100RPM chain engaged. Replacing clutch fixed it, but I ran it like that for a bit.

Idle RPM dipped by ~500RPM when hot. (Still does; that's the next thing I'm trying to diagnose).

Muffler bolts just plain will not stay on. I've torqued them to hell, replaced them with better bolts, put threadlock on, etc... Needs locking nuts or something.

With that said... for <$500; I got an assembled 105cc saw with a 36" bar and three chains that seems like a pretty nice option for milling. Parts are easy to find and most can be had cheap (if you buy aftermarket).. oiler is plenty aggressive, saw pulls as well as anything I've tried. Starts up like a champ if it's been sitting <2 weeks... a bit of a fight if it's been sitting more than that.

My comparisons are some used saws I've bought in the same price range with similar power.

Echo 900cs cost me the same. Ran, but very hot and kept shaking the muffler off. Find out muffler is shattered right where it mounts and was basically wedged into place with the mounting bolts... needed a new muffler... Took months to find one... wound up beating a mismatched muffler into shape and cramming it in there... of course days after completing that I lucked into a replacement OEM muffler (will probably never see another one for sale in my life). Feels like maybe 70-75% of the power of the 070. It would benefit from a carb rebuild too; and honestly; I prefer the G070 on the mill. Mostly use this for breaking down logs before milling.

775D cost me a touch less. Ran with some minor issues, but could tell Comp was low by how easy it was to pull. Similar power to the echo. Started to mill and two slabs in it seized. Got it loose and realized I should have looked at the piston before running... sure enough it was quite a mess... amazing the saw ran as well as it did. Still ran exactly the same after; but I assumed it would seize again if I kept using it; so had to find a replacement top end... not an easy feat... basically meant finding one of maybe 4-6 different saws from the 60's; where the seller would check the piston for me... and that didn't cost more than it was worth to save the saw... came across 775G that I worked out buying for $100 plus some driving... got it, and it's a nicer saw than the 775D, so set to restore it instead of the 775D, basically giving up on the 775D (maybe I'll find a deal on another top end, but no rush).

775G I got a deal on imho... but had to convert to .404 (>$50 for sprocket), and I'm expecting to have to rebuild the carb... and frankly it was dumb luck that was all I needed to do. Seller said it'd been sitting for decades... Could have been anything once I got it in my hands; though he did send some C+P pics and they looked to be in good shape. All Told, in this saw for less than $200... that said; it requires a secondary oiler to mill, the 070 doesn't... so even with how lucky I got (in my opinion) with this saw; I'd say it didn't turn out to be a better deal than the G070.


Do I wish I could just buy an 880 or a 3120? Yeah; but I'm not paying $2000 for a saw. In the $500 range... your options seem to me to be New chinese copy of those size (or close) saws. Brand name slightly smaller (80s-100cc) saws that are old and likely hard/impossible/expensive to find parts for. Or Non-Pro big name saws in much smaller sizes. I do see a stihl 070 or similar pop up in the forums for around the top end of the $500 range now and then... usually shipped from EU... if I had it to do over again I may spring for one of those saws; but in general; just feels like there's a LOT of tradeoffs to stick with brand named saws unless you're spending over $1000. Other than that; best deal I've had a chance at was a local 2100xp PHO that a tree had fell on... ran fine; but body was all kinds of beat up... and seller wouldn't budge from $500. I wanted it for $400; and we couldn't work it out.

Looking at it strictly as a price/performance evaluation... I think the Chinese saws are unbeatable unless you find a really incredible deal on a used saw. But they've got their problems; for sure (And I picked the 070 because it was supposed to be one of the best/least problematic clones).



Small firewood saws? My experience is different. I think I got lucky there too, but seems a LOT more opportunities for luck there.

Got a 57cc Homelite super xl auto for $25 as a non runner. Bar is pretty worn and should be replaced before any heavy use, needed a chain too; but it started and ran with some mix in the throat, and after a ~$5 carb kit; I'm pretty sure I've got her running as well as a new $100 chinese saw would... for less... and this model is so common I don't think parts will be much of a problem... So smaller saws? Feels like a much different market.

 

[Mad3400]

Order the G660 to test out and it's a cheap piece of Chinknesium, just like the G444.

I put some time on it and besides tuning the carb, no issues and has great power with a 25" B&C and I might even try running a 36" B&C if needed.

So far, for the price, it's been good money spent and I might keep as a Stump saw.

Mad3400

 

[Jake Wilson]

We just put 5 tanks through our Chinknesium (so funny) Farmertec 372 XP whacking down an 80' Poplar (that also took 2 skinny Maples with it). Straight stock except a Walbro carburetor. Running a 24" Farmertec bar too. The Poplar was 28" at the stump and it took it all with no complaints.

I got pinched twice and had to go get the Husqvarna 288 XP off the shelf to free it. Now Poplar is no super test of saw power - but it got the job done and right before the rain too!