What is the all time best chainsaw

[bwalker]

I bet you enjoy it when he does drag you out, keeps you young!

Wow, Redmax - what an incredible company. Very interesting history, seems they changed names to Zenoah in the 70’s m and I have seen some of those machines here! Old ofcourse but clearly very well built. I see they merge to Husky in 07 too. I wonder if Zenoah the RC machines are part of the same company as the OPE? @sean donato may know?

In case anyone else is interested in their history, here’s a great breakdown, everything from aeroplane engines and snowmobiles through to ope.

https://www.redmax.com/us/about-redmax/

I do enjoy it on occasion. Although the other day he dragged me out after working 12 hours in the 98 degree heat to cut a yard that hadn't been cut all summer. 2 hours of trimmer work with both of us trimming!

 

[timberslayer]

I have a BCZ3060TS and a BCZ260 Kombi.
The 3060 is a beast!
My teen son has a lawn care business and runs the snot out of them. Occasionally he drags me out too.

I’ve been thinking about picking up a 260 just to have something lighter than my old Stihl 130R. It’d also be nice to have a 2 stroke trimmer because that 130 is a 4mix design which I’ve grown to hate. The only reason I keep the 130 around is because it’s stronger than any other trimmer I’ve ever ran

 

[bwalker]

I’ve been thinking about picking up a 260 just to have something lighter than my old Stihl 130R. It’d also be nice to have a 2 stroke trimmer because that 130 is a 4mix design which I’ve grown to hate. The only reason I keep the 130 around is because it’s stronger than any other trimmer I’ve ever ran

A 260 with a torque head is no slouch.
The king of high HP trimmers was the Stihl FS250. It's a shame they stopped selling them.

 

[Mad Professor]

Heavy, gutless, crap antivibe..

What 1.5 lbs? Not gutless. In thick wood will run with a 044/372. Better built to last longer than either of them.

Stihls just put a burr under your saddle.

 

[sean donato]

I bet you enjoy it when he does drag you out, keeps you young!

Wow, Redmax - what an incredible company. Very interesting history, seems they changed names to Zenoah in the 70’s m and I have seen some of those machines here! Old ofcourse but clearly very well built. I see they merge to Husky in 07 too. I wonder if Zenoah the RC machines are part of the same company as the OPE? @sean donato may know?

In case anyone else is interested in their history, here’s a great breakdown, everything from aeroplane engines and snowmobiles through to ope.

https://www.redmax.com/us/about-redmax/

The rc engines more or less doesn't have husqy involvement, design has changed very little over the years. Coupple years ago their parts started showing up in husqy/ zen branded boxes. Can't tell you how happy I was that husqy didn't screw with them.

 

[Mad Professor]

Just a follow-up to the original post, this might ruffle some feathers among Stihl fans, but as someone who actually likes Stihl, I’ll happily say, their saws from the last decade don’t even come close to being the best ever made.

Stihl’s hayday’s were the '90s to early 2000s. Before that, they were boat anchors - heavy, cumbersome, boxy and now they’ve become flimsy, lightweight, weak, and overly restricted.

Between the two you had a balance of strength, repairability, time tested, and free from restrictions. This doesn’t just go for saws. It’s the same for everything - blowers, weed eaters, hedge trimmers.

The fs85, hs80, ms660, etc are all from those golden years and are absolutely bomb proof, easy to repair, unlimited, and easy to get parts. This is for the aussi market, I know the 660’s in the USA were gutless.

I don’t doubt husky, echo and other well known brands are any different.

Most of my running Stihls are from that era. All pre-limiter cap/epa: 026 X 2, 028S, 036 X 2, 038M 038S---038M conversions, 066. I've got parts saws/carcasses and consumables for them all. Some OEM P/C kits too

To fill things out a 009, 020T, 064 (runs needs work) and 056M X 2.

I won't need to buy another saw. I have top handles to 90cc

I recently got 2 huskys from same era, a 61 and 257. Have not played with those yet.

 

[bwalker]

What 1.5 lbs? Not gutless. In thick wood will run with a 044/372. Better built to last longer than either of them.

Stihls just put a burr under your saddle.

That's a bunch a none sense. A 372 or a 044 will smoke a 038 in any wood. In addition the 372 has more stump power, ie torque.
I own only Stihl saws currently.

 

[bwalker]

The rc engines more or less doesn't have husqy involvement, design has changed very little over the years. Coupple years ago their parts started showing up in husqy/ zen branded boxes. Can't tell you how happy I was that husqy didn't screw with them.

If anything Husqy has been good for Redmax. Redmax is actually building alot of Husqvarna branded trimmers and blowers.

 

[LuDookie]

As you go south hardwoods typically have less density.
Which montana saw shops you talking about.

Man, you guys know it all don’t you? Promise you, there isn’t an oak up north that’ll touch a live oak for density. Never been in a red or white oak that was harder than pecan or walnut. Didn’t learn that on the internet either.

Don’t remember the names, but one was in the older side of Kalispell, which was one of the few Stihl/Echo joints where I bought my loops, and 2 Husqvarna shops, one near Columbia falls and the other at the main junction in Columbia Falls. I’d have to pull up maps to get the names. I received great service at all of them.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

A 260 with a torque head is no slouch.
The king of high HP trimmers was the Stihl FS250. It's a shame they stopped selling them.

Yea I agree, they’re fantastic. I found one at the dump for $5. Needed a lot of work - all the internals were water logged and covered in oxidation, but I managed to save it. I used it for my next video on how to tune trimmers. The carb wasn’t so fortunate and to get a genuine stihl would cost me $150 here in Australia.. crazy. Went with a $15 clone and it’s been excellent. One thing that I don’t like about stihl trimmers are the auto cut self feeding heads. Especially on their fs55 models running flex shafts. Causes a lot of vibration from the torsion.

 

[bwalker]

Man, you guys know it all don’t you? Promise you, there isn’t an oak up north that’ll touch a live oak for density. Never been in a red or white oak that was harder than pecan or walnut. Didn’t learn that on the internet either.

Don’t remember the names, but one was in the older side of Kalispell, which was one of the few Stihl/Echo joints where I bought my loops, and 2 Husqvarna shops, one near Columbia falls and the other at the main junction in Columbia Falls. I’d have to pull up maps to get the names. I received great service at all of them.

Never cut pecan, but I have cut walnut. It's pretty soft. Softer than either red or white oak.

 

[timberslayer]

A 260 with a torque head is no slouch.
The king of high HP trimmers was the Stihl FS250. It's a shame they stopped selling them.

Heard Stihl has a 251 out now, 42cc and 2.7hp. It's a good bit heavier than the 250 though
I don't see many 250s around here for sale, for good reason I guess

 

[timberslayer]

Yea I agree, they’re fantastic. I found one at the dump for $5. Needed a lot of work - all the internals were water logged and covered in oxidation, but I managed to save it. I used it for my next video on how to tune trimmers. The carb wasn’t so fortunate and to get a genuine stihl would cost me $150 here in Australia.. crazy. Went with a $15 clone and it’s been excellent. One thing that I don’t like about stihl trimmers are the auto cut self feeding heads. Especially on their fs55 models running flex shafts. Causes a lot of vibration from the torsion.

View attachment 1199012

Put an Echo speed feed on it, it'll change your world. I put the higher capacity head on my 130 and I can fit 5 arm lengths of 2.4mm line in it easily

 

[timberslayer]

If anything Husqy has been good for Redmax. Redmax is actually building alot of Husqvarna branded trimmers and blowers.

I'd for sure say the Redmax built backpack blowers are far superior to the rebranded Kawasaki blowers Husqvarna used to sell back in the day. It took almost 10 years for the Redmax blowers to be dethroned for power, now they've got that title right back with the new EBZ9000

 

[Mad Professor]

Never cut pecan, but I have cut walnut. It's pretty soft. Softer than either red or white oak.

Hard stuff is dead locust or hedge.

 

[sean donato]

If anything Husqy has been good for Redmax. Redmax is actually building alot of Husqvarna branded trimmers and blowers.

No doubt zenoah and husqy has been good for their power equipment line, the trepidation over the buy out was possibly loosing one of the most powerful amd reliable oe mfg on the planet. Mergers don't often result in a "hey you keep doing that thing over there and let's work together on this stuff over here." Rc is a niche market and 2 stroke powered rc is even smaller niche.

 

[bwalker]

Hard stuff is dead locust or hedge.

Sugar maple from the UP of MI is hard as well.

 

[bwalker]

Put an Echo speed feed on it, it'll change your world. I put the higher capacity head on my 130 and I can fit 5 arm lengths of 2.4mm line in it easily

I run the speed feed heads, although I do have a 6" Redmax head that I use on the 3060 occasionally.

 

[bwalker]

Heard Stihl has a 251 out now, 42cc and 2.7hp. It's a good bit heavier than the 250 though
I don't see many 250s around here for sale, for good reason I guess

I don't believe the sold that many.

 

[sean donato]

Man, you guys know it all don’t you? Promise you, there isn’t an oak up north that’ll touch a live oak for density. Never been in a red or white oak that was harder than pecan or walnut. Didn’t learn that on the internet either.

Don’t remember the names, but one was in the older side of Kalispell, which was one of the few Stihl/Echo joints where I bought my loops, and 2 Husqvarna shops, one near Columbia falls and the other at the main junction in Columbia Falls. I’d have to pull up maps to get the names. I received great service at all of

it's difficult to compare species in areas you haven't worked in. There are many ways to compare wood, however nothing as universal as "how hard it cuts" which is subjective at best, and down right absurd at worst. Fourtantly I live in an area with a rather diverse selection of hard and soft woods. White oak is just normal cutting wood. Plenty of "harder" and a lot easier to cut. Again all subjective, and growing conditions. Moisture content etc all play a huge role in density and hardness.