Solos at Sears- still

[Tony Snyder]

I was at Sears. I thought I would see what saws they had at what prices. (snooping on the competition) A guy comes right by the side of me and picks up a boxed saw, tells his wife, this is the one, says "made in germany", on sale for $189.
I asked him if he thought that saw would be any good being a Poulan. He said Oh ya, I got one last week, my son wants one now. After he walked away I moved over and looked. It was a Solo for $189. They had a few and maybe more in back. I couldn't hardly believe it.

Do you all suppose that that was old stock. I didn't think they sold the Solos any more. This one was dark green.

Boy, I sell Solos, and sure I can't buy them for that.

They also had the Huskys, 345 at $279, and 55 at$329.

 

[Bill G]

Tony,

I cannot speak to the Solo issue. As for Husky's at Sears I believe that is a new line they started this fall. Come on, you should know by now that everyone sells Husky's. I might even start selling them out of my home shop. I can do better than the floor jockey at the box store.

Bill

 

[seesaw]

Sears

Talking w/the Solo rep, Solo doing business w/Sears was a match made in hell. They broke off their relationship w/Sears and learned a hard lesson in "box store politics". The green saws are old stock.

Seesaw

 

[GeorgeWLogger]

Hello ,

Can anyone tell me the Sears model number and the size of the saw? I assume it would be in the 50cc class. I would like to call around to some sears stores and locate one for that price.

Regards,

GeorgeW

 

[tony marks]

what i expected seesaw. solo looks to be a quality product ,with that being the first priority. that to me is totally bass ackwards from the box stores.they want to get a name and quality tool and ruin it to get a better bottum line. my compliments to solo.

 

[GeorgeWLogger]

Hello ,

Can anyone tell me the Sears model number and the size of the saw? I assume it would be in the 50cc class. I would like to call around to some sears stores and locate one for that price.

Regards,

GeorgeW

 

[Tony Snyder]

I was back to the local Sears store 1-8-03, Those saws were gone. The sales guy I spoke to didn't know that they had had them. Poulan filled the space.

I suspect they found a few of old stock somewhere and were clearing it out at an arbitrary price.

That customer I spoke to must have thought WOW what a deal, and ran back for another. Like I said there was one left when I left (nope thats wrong. one and the display model). I don't know what I would have done with one, I sell the red ones.

Sears reminds me; years ago I went in there for a 16lb sledge. They had only 12s. An equal opportunity employee went to the back room to look, came back in a few and had one 8 pounder in each hand. He said I found two eights, he set them down beside the 12s, smiled and walked away. Thats one of those little grins I've never forgot.

 

[treeclimber165]

The Solo saw at Sears is a Solo 51 Special I think. It's the same one that Bailey's sells as their private labeled saw. There are two versions of that Solo and the one sold by Sears and Bailey's is the crappy one.
RBTree has one, if he didn't get rid of it. He was all excited about finding it at Sears last year until he got it and ran it for a few weeks. Then he didn't talk much about it any more.

 

[seesaw]

I think Sears had the 651SP (not the pro model). I'm sorry George, I don't know the Sears number on it.

Brian, you're right about the model Roger (RBTree) found. If I remember correctly, he had it modified and wasn't pleased w/the saws reactions to such mods. It wasn't that the saw was "crappy". Roger may correct me or shed some light

IMO, the 651SP is a fine saw (no matter where you get it). It is labeled semi-pro but it has been my experience that it can hang w/ anything in the 50cc class. 51cc, 3.6hp, and 10.4lbs. 2 year warranty too.

Seesaw

 

[bwalker]

Brian, I remember rb being ticked of about that sears solo. Sounded like a real roach.

 

[jokers]

I expect rb to step up and correct us all if in error, but what initially set him off was the fact that Sears was intentionally misleading customers by citing the specs for the 651P while they were actually selling the SP. If I remember correctly, Sears had to cough up a few bucks to make it right with Roger. From what I understand, this saw did not respond favorably to mods, sounds like there wasn`t much left for Dennis to go after, but as seesaw pointed out, 3.6hp for a 51cc saw ain't shabby for a saw to begin with. Even "consumer" model Solos are excellent saws from my experience, just the dealer network leaves something to be desired. Russ

 

[bwalker]

just the dealer network leaves something to be desired

What dealer network? The only Solo dealer I know of only sells sprayers and bP blowers. Solo is in the same boat as Dolmar, and Efco in my area. No dealers.

 

[ClearH20Scott]

I was surprised to find a full line, servicing dealer only
two miles from my place of work. He intends to hang
onto the line, says he moves alot of units with the two
year warranty. Does quite a bit of Internet purchased
blower warranty service also, seems to like the work.
I purchased a 651Pro from the guy, cuts circles around
my brothers' 2149, stock of course. Runs nice, feels
right, well built, and usually starts on the first pull with the
primer. Has a definite Stihl feel to it. Maybe just a notch
under my 034 Super. Muffler will be reworked at the
very least, after that, who knows.

 

[seesaw]

bwalker

That Solo dealer you spoke of..if he carries the backpack blower then he's a Solo power equip. dealer. He can get saws if you asked him.