After many years of mostly reliable, if under whelming, performace and longevity from the consumer chainsaws I've owned and needing a bigger unit for various larger projects, decided it was time to step up to a better saw like a Stihl, Husky, Makita, Echo, etc.
Did a lot of poking around various web forums, like this one, found a lot of the typical rah rah my brand is better banter, wild performance claims, and even a few seemingly unbiased reports as well. Spent quite a bit of time talking with a close friend and trusted 2-stroke junkie like myself. He's a bit of a Stihl lover, but I think more because they are plentiful in his area and he's been able to extract some good performance gains from them. He tried to convince me to wait for a blown up Stihl, but I've grown tired of wrenching on my own equipment right from the start, so preferred to start this venture with new hardware.
Wading through all the info, it became fairly clear that the ~$400 price point seemed to be the best bang for the buck for a typical homeowner or non-logging worker, with the lower end pure consumer target models lacking some key features I wanted and the next step up was a bit more than I was willing to spend for a saw that I didn't need to make a living with. I wish the various threads on these saws focused a bit more on features, strengths, and weaknesses vs. brand bashing and mostly useless "+1" replies, but if you are diligent, I think it is possible to make an informed choice- not that any of them would truly be bad choices.
The Dolmar PS-5100 really got my interest early on, but trying to find anything remotely close to a stocking dealer, was all but impossible in the NE Illinois SE Wisconsin areas. Finally found 1 PS-5100S left at Areal Equipment in Wheeling, IL for $389 w/18" bar/chain combo. I guess my long term fear was lack of service/support down the road and couldn't bring myself to pulling the trigger.
Stihl was the brand I figured I'd be buying. Lots of good friends and business associates have them and overall Stihl seems to have the best dealer and parts network around. But I was a bit disappointed in the gap in their lineup for this $400 price point. The new MS-290 didn't have all the build features or oomph I was wanting and the MS-260/MS-260 Pro seemed to fetch a big premium in price with no one really wanting to deal on them.
Husqvarna kept my attention the most. Early on I nearly almost went ahead and bought the 455 Rancher from a local big box. Figured it was a huge step up from any Poulan or Craftsman I've owned. Fortunately did some digging to find out that it wasn't quite the saw I was hoping for in build design and features. The 35x models, however, definitely did. I went ahead and checked out the 353, 359, and 346XP models, all which had the features like magnesium cases, easy to service air filters, manual decompression, overall 'feel', relative low weight to high horsepower numbers, solid dealer network, and overall favorable reviews.
After all the leg work, online reading, and based on some guidance from the selling dealer [Wise Sales, Schaumburg, IL] bought the 353 w/20" bar setup for $384. Put it through some light breakin with a couple heat/cool cycles and then a couple decent size oaks and can't believe I waited so long to buy a good saw! Wish I could justify more than one of these $400 contenders, but for now, not sure how you could get significantly better than this 353 for under $400. Now I guess I'll have to find a deal on a blown up MS361 or 357XP to turn a longer bar.
Based on the number of inquiring threads, there seems to be quite a few people in the market for a better than consumer level saw but not wanting to spend $600 to get it. Which is 'best' can be argued forever, but from my experience, the devil truly is in the details and it was those details that swayed me to the Husqvarna 353.
Did a lot of poking around various web forums, like this one, found a lot of the typical rah rah my brand is better banter, wild performance claims, and even a few seemingly unbiased reports as well. Spent quite a bit of time talking with a close friend and trusted 2-stroke junkie like myself. He's a bit of a Stihl lover, but I think more because they are plentiful in his area and he's been able to extract some good performance gains from them. He tried to convince me to wait for a blown up Stihl, but I've grown tired of wrenching on my own equipment right from the start, so preferred to start this venture with new hardware.
Wading through all the info, it became fairly clear that the ~$400 price point seemed to be the best bang for the buck for a typical homeowner or non-logging worker, with the lower end pure consumer target models lacking some key features I wanted and the next step up was a bit more than I was willing to spend for a saw that I didn't need to make a living with. I wish the various threads on these saws focused a bit more on features, strengths, and weaknesses vs. brand bashing and mostly useless "+1" replies, but if you are diligent, I think it is possible to make an informed choice- not that any of them would truly be bad choices.
The Dolmar PS-5100 really got my interest early on, but trying to find anything remotely close to a stocking dealer, was all but impossible in the NE Illinois SE Wisconsin areas. Finally found 1 PS-5100S left at Areal Equipment in Wheeling, IL for $389 w/18" bar/chain combo. I guess my long term fear was lack of service/support down the road and couldn't bring myself to pulling the trigger.
Stihl was the brand I figured I'd be buying. Lots of good friends and business associates have them and overall Stihl seems to have the best dealer and parts network around. But I was a bit disappointed in the gap in their lineup for this $400 price point. The new MS-290 didn't have all the build features or oomph I was wanting and the MS-260/MS-260 Pro seemed to fetch a big premium in price with no one really wanting to deal on them.
Husqvarna kept my attention the most. Early on I nearly almost went ahead and bought the 455 Rancher from a local big box. Figured it was a huge step up from any Poulan or Craftsman I've owned. Fortunately did some digging to find out that it wasn't quite the saw I was hoping for in build design and features. The 35x models, however, definitely did. I went ahead and checked out the 353, 359, and 346XP models, all which had the features like magnesium cases, easy to service air filters, manual decompression, overall 'feel', relative low weight to high horsepower numbers, solid dealer network, and overall favorable reviews.
After all the leg work, online reading, and based on some guidance from the selling dealer [Wise Sales, Schaumburg, IL] bought the 353 w/20" bar setup for $384. Put it through some light breakin with a couple heat/cool cycles and then a couple decent size oaks and can't believe I waited so long to buy a good saw! Wish I could justify more than one of these $400 contenders, but for now, not sure how you could get significantly better than this 353 for under $400. Now I guess I'll have to find a deal on a blown up MS361 or 357XP to turn a longer bar.
Based on the number of inquiring threads, there seems to be quite a few people in the market for a better than consumer level saw but not wanting to spend $600 to get it. Which is 'best' can be argued forever, but from my experience, the devil truly is in the details and it was those details that swayed me to the Husqvarna 353.
. Just don't ever let someone hand you their 440/441/372/575 with a 20" bar for comparison. You won't be satisfied with your saw ever again. hehe.
