What saw would YOU get with $800?

[Bob Wright]

For me, an Echo CS-1201 ...Bob

 

[ray benson]

Echo listed a 1201 on the polish website. We need a member from Poland - so he could ship them to us.

 

[XJWoody]

I guess it depends how satisfied you are with your 310 and 44?

I never fell in love with my old/new 029, but the month-old 361 is a keeper. She came with a 18" green E bar, now have 3 ES bars 16-20-25" That plus 9ply chaps was a wallet-whacker... but no regrets at all.

$800 smoldering in the pocket today? And it HAD to be a 'new' saw, I'd probably put it all plus a bit more into a new MS660-32"

 

[Mr.]

My dealer sells the 660 for $800 +tax.:jawdrop:

Tough decision for me.

Fred:

 

[computeruser]

I'd skip right past the 440 you mention in your signature and get a Dolmar 7900.

It is a heck of a saw with great power, great anti-vibe, and a tremendous amount of torque. You can still find powerheads for $600, which will leave you with $200 of your $800 budget left over plus whatever you can get for your 310, which I can assure you that you won't bother using anymore after buying the 7900.

 

[jack-the-ripper]

Another vote for the Dolmar 7900:biggrinbounce2:

 

[Spotted Owl]

Round these parts that would get ya alot of saw.

Just a sneezel over a month back $750 got a 460 with a 32"er, 4 skip chains, two files, five 10" wedges and two gallons of bar oil.

I needed a new set of chaps so thats were the 50 left over and a little extra went to.

I don't know maybe he was dumpin for the end of the year tax thing or I hit him on the right day but either way I wasn't arguin nothing with him on that day.

Don't get stuck on brand loyalty. I run a stihl now but I used to cut everything from drivin in the brush to firewood with my 2100 until it vanished out the cab of my rig. If you pick it up and try it out you will know. It's a zen thing :biggrinbounce2: . Heck sometimes they just call to ya from the shelf, take me home, take me home. Just remember someone here on AS said once, enough is good-bigger is better-to much is just right :hmm3grin2orange: .

Besure you get all the power you need. Nothing worse than givinner that first taste of wood at home and finding that you wish you had bought just a hair more. Ya say ya need a 440 well a 460 is bigger and better. Has more snort than the 440 and the weight difference is minimal(for me). That 460 & 32" just got me threw a 62 incher that the wind brought down in mid December.

No matter what you get breaker in right and you will be good for a long time. Bessy just swallerd her sixth gallon yesterday and mid way threw she just kinda woke up and lit out.

Owl

 

[MOA]

Well, as to whats it for, cutting bigger hedge, oak, and walnut. there is a guy locally that will buy walnut to turn into what ever, and I have 80 acres of the crap and want it gone. Mostly I want a saw that will do the jobs my 310 wont, and I have had the best luck with my 310. It out cuts my brothers 353 and I like the weight. I was thinking on a 441, 460, 575, or 7900. I just want to be able to pull a 25" in hard wood and a 32 every once in a while. My 310 will pull 18" in hard wood, but the 20" is making for some slow cutting in the hedge. I have all the PPE I need, and I sharpen my own chains. I live south of Topeka, and we have every thing here for wood, but I am trying to turn our land into a place that I can harvest for years and I am trying to get some of the old groth down. I am leaning to the 460, but the 440 has a bigger following. The other top contender is the 7900, but my dealer SUCKS, and the 585 which I have to drive 30 minutes to get, but the dealer is almost as good as my Stihl dealer.

 

[musch]

Like a broken record, I have to agree, the 7900.

I had to search high and low for a dealer worth a $hi+, but it was worth it!!!

but for $800, you are close to a 660.

Still, the 7900 does NOT disappoint.

 

[sawinredneck]

25-32 in hedge, don't even consider the 440! The 460/7900 is the only way to go!! Hedge will chew up and spit out a 440/575 like it wasn't there! The 460 and 7900 wont love you much!!

 

[musch]

red, what is hedge?
I heard you mention its nastiness in the past, but I don't think we have it up here in WI.

 

[sawinredneck]

Osage Orange, Ironwood etc., has the wonderful thorns that leave venom in you, they drop apples on the ground that look like brains, yellow inside with a milky sap.

 

[begleytree]

Osage Orange, Ironwood etc., has the wonderful thorns that leave venom in you, they drop apples on the ground that look like brains, yellow inside with a milky sap.

here iron wood is hornbeam. looks like a small beech, but twisted.
osage- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage-orange better osage site http://www.osageorange.com/Osage_Orange_P.html
-Ralph

 

[musch]

Weird.

We have some Iron wood here, but it is totally different. It is an extremely slow growing extra hard hardwood, and used to be used to make oxen yokes <sp?>

It is not thorny though.
opcorn:

 

[sawinredneck]

here iron wood is hornbeam. looks like a small beech, but twisted.
osage- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage-orange better osage site http://www.osageorange.com/Osage_Orange_P.html
-Ralph

Fair enough.

anyway, cut it green you get a cord a chain, cut it seasoned, you get a half a face cord a chain!

 

[Peacock]

Hedge is tough wood, but nothing the 440 can't handle. I have cut big hedge with my old 310 and recently cut a 28'' hedge with an old 041. My new 441 tears it up.

In my experience, a VERY sharp chain will cut hedge like butter. You don't even need much power or chain speed either.

 

[MOA]

Hedge is the hardest wood I have cut. I dont now of anything harder, but I am sure that you guys do. We have one that I need to take a picture of and post, it has to be close to 6' in diameter. No BS. I have never seen one this big. I aint even going to mess with it, mostly because it has three main trunks thta are grown together and I ahve seen them twist and act really crazy when you cut them.

Back to saws, is the 460 as strong as they say? I would really like to try a 7900, but one dealer wont demo any, and the other(which is over a hour away) only demos saws they have in stock, and they have no planns of ordering one. They said that if they got one and I didnt like it they would never sell it, mostly they deal in 5100 and smaller.

 

[begleytree]

Fair enough.

anyway, cut it green you get a cord a chain, cut it seasoned, you get a half a face cord a chain!

aint it the truth!

here's our ironwood, the american hornbeam , probably what Musch knows.
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/tree/fact pages/hornbeam_american/hornbeam_american.html

 

[sawinredneck]

Hedge is tough wood, but nothing the 440 can't handle. I have cut big hedge with my old 310 and recently cut a 28'' hedge with an old 041. My new 441 tears it up.

In my experience, a VERY sharp chain will cut hedge like butter. You don't even need much power or chain speed either.

He is wanting to run a 32" bar on a 440, are you willing to put a 32" bar on you're 441 and burry it in hedge?

Hedge is the hardest wood I have cut. I dont now of anything harder, but I am sure that you guys do. We have one that I need to take a picture of and post, it has to be close to 6' in diameter. No BS. I have never seen one this big. I aint even going to mess with it, mostly because it has three main trunks thta are grown together and I ahve seen them twist and act really crazy when you cut them.

Back to saws, is the 460 as strong as they say? I would really like to try a 7900, but one dealer wont demo any, and the other(which is over a hour away) only demos saws they have in stock, and they have no planns of ordering one. They said that if they got one and I didnt like it they would never sell it, mostly they deal in 5100 and smaller.

The 7900 has more power and weighs less as well as costs less than the 460. My 046 has the BB kit and has been ported, it pulls the 32" bar nicely in hardwood. It will out run a stock 660 though.
I would look at a used 660 or 385, wher's Oldsaw when you need him!!! Mark, tell these boys about hedge will ya!!!!

 

[Peacock]

He is wanting to run a 32" bar on a 440, are you willing to put a 32" bar on you're 441 and burry it in hedge?

Nope! I wouldn't be willing to do that unless I had to. I guess my point is that you can cut some awfully big trees down with a 20" bar and not a whole lot of power. My father and I used to routinely drop some 35"+ hardwood with just a 20incher on his 041.