For small, easy jobs, my CS-340 also works, and if I need a little more grunt, I run my CS-3900 that simply refuses to die:
Talk me out of a CS-400
- Thread starter tbzep
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Just because you never heard of it doesnt mean its bs
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If it was a common problem at all it would have happened to me or we would have heard about it on here. Sounds. to me like a isolated case where someone had one apart and didn't tighten the screws properly . You claimed it was a design flaw which is bs. Steve
Piston Honda
ArboristSite Member
I'm a sthil guy run 038 super and 038 magnum. I was in need of a saw due to a theft so I went out and purchased an Echo cs590 Timberwolf. Totally underrate saws. That 590 screams like a scalded cat. You'll be very happy with the Echo you purchase plus they have a 5 year warranty.I'm tired of fighting with my inherited Husky 235e. Sick and tired.
I started reading this site and gravitated toward the CS-352, then the CS-400, 16" 3/8 pitch. I then read about the CS-490 but the one's I've looked at have 18" or 20" bars with .325 pitch. Local cost goes up $50 for each. The 352 is the numbers equivalent of the Husky, but it can't be as crappy a saw. The 490 may be more saw than I want. I believe I'd rather have the 16" bar, so that eliminates the 490 unless I mail order. It's also an extra $100 over the 352.
For background, I have a small farm of about 50 acres with a few head of cattle. It will be used mostly to clear storm damage that seems to be a weekly occurrence these days, cut the occasional tree, trim a few limbs, saw a few corner posts from red cedar, and assist neighbors on the occasion. It won't be run every week. I'd like something that's easy to work on.
Local options are Husky at the local TSC, Echo from several places so the prices are somewhat competitive with mail order, Stihl at an overpriced dealer that doesn't move much product, and Poulan. The other obvious source would be mail order.
I've lurked here for a while, finally signed up today to ask the hard questions.
Brownthumb
ArboristSite Operative
My kid just got home and we were chainsaw chatting.
His boss couldn't get the CS 300 started, He keeps pumping the bulb etc. My kid goes over and locks the throttle in and it fires in one pull.
My kid says it’s not a bad saw for little stuff.
If I could only keep 1 saw out of my 40 or so all brands it would be a Echo CS400. light, powerfull, handles great, starts great, reasonable and reliable. Steve
Sounds like BS to me also. This would have happened to other clamshell saws that Echo makes if true because I would bet the mount design is the same. And if it was a design flaw it would have surfaced on this forum long ago and remember his clam of a design flaw was an ongoing flaw for over 10 years. My bet is it was a dealer for other saws spreading BS about Echo saws.
You guys have left me no choice. I have been running a Husky 353 or a 350 with an 18" bar all spring to cut firewood. Meanwhile, my Echo CS-3900, age 21 years, has been resting in its case. I have a 16" bar on it, but I can mount an 18" that I bought for it 10 years ago. I have decided that the next time I cut wood it will be with the Echo, just for comparison to the Swedish saws.
I am betting that this vintage 3900 (shown in post #41) will pleasantly surprise me, especially if it runs almost even with a CS-400. I could be wrong. WDYT?
redunshee
Addicted to ArboristSite
Can't go too wrong with a 353 or 350.
I got the cheap carb (Thanks, Wood Doctor) installed on the Husky 235 after waiting forever to get a bronze vent plug. The darn thing cranked right up on the second pull! Once it warmed up I played with the L and H jets and ended up with them right back where they started. Now that I've got the little saw running consistently, I feel like a muffler mod and some slight tuning will be happening soon on the new CS-490!
Hooray! I fixed a Husky 435 the same way about two months ago. Look at it this way. If the cheap carb failed, you would have lost almost nothing. When these saws run well, they are nice to have around. You should get several more years of service out of this saw.
I'd also get the 490. It's pretty lightweight and the price is right.
I got the 490 about three weeks ago when a huge red oak fell on my fence. Luckily, my cattle are gentle and it was pretty easy to get them to go back in the way they came out. One of them ate a neighbor's young ghost peppers and a few stalks of corn. lol
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/talk-me-out-of-a-cs-400.342846/post-7295636
The 490, and 390 for that sake, are Shindaiwa designs. Now it's all ECHO, but those two are sprung from the loins of Shindaiwa. They are not what I would call 'revvers'. However, once broken in, they have good compression and they have a great ignition system that is strong and has variable timing with a lot of advance at WOT. So it may not rev like a 346xp, but once you bury it in wood after it's broken in, it will cut with a much longer bar than you would think.
I also suggest removing anything from the muffler if it has that little tube baffle some others have. And set it to run a bit richer. It should be happy at around 13.6K.
390ESX:
The 390 is slightly smaller than the 490 chassis. About 1lb lighter.
Another option in this class is the 420/4300 Dolmar/Makita. Great lil saws.
I also suggest removing anything from the muffler if it has that little tube baffle some others have. And set it to run a bit richer. It should be happy at around 13.6K.
390ESX:
The 390 is slightly smaller than the 490 chassis. About 1lb lighter.
Another option in this class is the 420/4300 Dolmar/Makita. Great lil saws.
I have 3 cs-400s from the past 10 years. All have performed flawlessly and no complaints, only issue is i was cutting logs in a river and it died, slightly out of 5 year warranty dealer said saw had water in it. No 
I was thinking 
upon further inspection there was a new coil in it. 40$ spent between 3 saws. Just started 1 cs-400 that sat in garage for over 6 months, fired right up on a below freezing day. Plus the saws oil the bar better than any saw I own.
I was thinking upon further inspection there was a new coil in it. 40$ spent between 3 saws. Just started 1 cs-400 that sat in garage for over 6 months, fired right up on a below freezing day. Plus the saws oil the bar better than any saw I own.
You convinced me to pull out my CS-4500 and give it a pull. It started right up and was raring to show off its stuff with an 18" bar:
It might be a tad older than my CS-3900. It has automatic oiling and a gooser button. What I also like is the knob for adjusting the idle. Not many saws have that anymore. I restored this three years ago.
It might be a tad older than my CS-3900. It has automatic oiling and a gooser button. What I also like is the knob for adjusting the idle. Not many saws have that anymore. I restored this three years ago.
cuttinstihl
ArboristSite Operative
I may be buying a 490 or 4910 Echo within the next few days or so. Seem like really nice saws for the price
The only downside of the cs 400 is the felling spike. I'm waiting on someone to make an upgrade set for them or maybe I am asking to much out of a 40cc saw. But it is my go to saw on it's reliability and decent power for what it is. No speed demon but reliability is the main factor. A saw that starts and has sharp chain is all a guy can ask for
Fatherwheels
Addicted to ArboristSite
I would get a different saw than the 400, the newer 3510 4510 or 4910 would be better choices.I've ordered the chinese knockoff carb. If that doesn't fix the 235, I'm pretty sure I'm going for the cs-400...or maybe the 490. Arrrrrgh!
But you could also fix up your 235, they need a tune from new to make them run right.
Fatherwheels
Addicted to ArboristSite
You can't go wrong with them. If there is a small tube behind the spark screen take it out and keep
it in case you need to go back to get warranty work done. if they have a cat in there, that's more work,
I do not like cats, I take them out one way or another and re tune the carb.
Some of them carbs have restrictors, you can google how to remove them too so you can
richen up the saw to keep in from running lean.
