A few months back, Four Paws, one of our resident Shindaiwa aficionados, had a nifty little saw up for sale: a 377/360 hybrid he had put together. A 377 crank in a 360 case, for added stroke in a more compact/lighter crankcase. Curiously, no bites.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/shindaiwa-377.264441/#post-4983733
It seemed intriguing, especially since most of my cutting is in small invasive buckthorn and such, and I have become a real fan of this displacement class. My usual kit for this work is the 242-family Husqvarna, and I’m working on accumulating both more runners and parts saws of that family, and also other saws in that size class (543xpg?). Anyway, this little Shindaiwa fit the bill, so I bought it and ordered up a suitable bar (A041 mount, so nothing else I own works on it). And this past weekend I finally had a chance to put four tanks through it.
What a great little package! The spec sheets don't really capture it - the weight, handling, powerband, and such - the way that real-world use does. Great behavior for my purposes and, I should think, for many other peoples’ purposes, too! The powerhead occupies a bit less physical space than the Husqvarnas, and less in fact than saws of the Stihl 171/181 family, which many of y’all are likely familiar with.
Now honestly, before SawTroll jumps in and points it out, A/V is a bit primitive, probably due to harder-than-average buffers when compared to my usual rubber-isolated Husqvarnas. And Brad will be correct about its performance potential: I'm sure that other saws in this class can wake up more with porting. But you know, this saw was a real pleasure to run and handled well. I was pleasantly surprised. And, when those four tanks were done, I looked back at what those four tanks got me and I was pleased: it is a really productive little machine. In that time I put down probably fifty buckthorn trees from 1" to 15" diameter, cut them up into conveniently sized pieces that can be dragged by hand and made into brush piles, and this saw got the job done great!
I doubt my review would have been so glowing with a 16" or 18" bar hanging off the saw, especially if the saw were being asked to use all 16-18" of said bar. But the 13" .325" setup with Oregon 20lp chain hits the sweet spot for this powerhead (size, power, balance, etc.) and makes for a really versatile machine.
I know that the spec sheet folks on this site will point out what this saw lacks, and the folks who think the true measure of a saw is its time through a knot-free poplar cant will correctly point out that many saws will outrun this one against a stopwatch, even saws in the same displacement class. But darn it, this was unusually satisfying to run, rather productive in its appointed task, and the build quality is superb.
. The good news, and the bad news, is Shidaiwa is a pretty much unknown brand around here. Not a lot people are going think, "Wow! A Shindaiwa!! I gotta jump on that deal."
?
