What's the deal with Farmertec?

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Joseph Acquisto

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I never paid attention as Farmertec seemed to be a Chinese built saw, but today I see an "Sthil 044 magnum Clone Farmertec" for sale on FB market place. Case plastic, etc look exactly light Sthil, even says Stihl on it.

????
 
If it says Stihl on it, someone has put Stihl parts/stickers on it. They don't come that way, and it wouldn't be the first time I havw seen someone badge one like OEM.
In general are they any good, out of the box? I'm toying with the idea of getting a cheap(er) big saw to do some milling with.
 
Farmertec are on the low end of the clone saws, but perfectly serviceable. You'll need to be comfortable taking the cylinder off and checking everything before using. Also, run it rich!
 
May the odds be ever in your favor. There are folks that buy them in bulk to tear them all the way down to check every part and replace a ton of the parts with oem before reselling to increase their life span but in the end they do not last like oem or have the power of oem without serious work or oem parts.
 
Ha! When I said earlier "out of the box" it was just a manner of speaking. Now I see that's how they may be sold, in a box . . . of parts.
Also see a few ads, on FB marketplace for instance where people are selling those kits and even assembled saws that "have been gone through".
Not sure I need to get into that tar pit.
 
@irhunter Farmac / Neotec seem to have better build quality, generally. But they are all leaps and bounds ahead of the quality of 5 years ago. It is telling to me that there is a vested interest in product improvement.
 
There are threads and videos on how to build them and what parts to immediately throw out and replace with OEM, depending on the brand and model. You can get a pre-assembled one which shows you how it goes together, but then you should tear it down, inspect every part, get OEM replacements for any weak parts, and rebuild it.

I looked at building some for the experience, but parts, labor, and OEM parts makes the cost more than an actual STIHL, and it will only make 80% of the power (or less, depending on the carb) and perhaps be good for 500 hours, at which point it should be torn down and inspected with any suspect parts replaced. I've heard STIHL saws should last 3,000 to 3,500 hours of hard use, add another 1,000 if they're well cared for, less if not let warm up and cool down. Clones... well, replacement saws are inexpensive.

The clone saws generally aren't nearly as fuel efficient and need a heavy oil mix, so those costs alone are significant detractors, plus the maintenance costs for a small operation...I think you need a large operation for that to make financial sense. With people porting STIHL and Husqvarna for more power so they can generate more hourly income I'm not convinced clones are cost effective.

Personally I'd rather buy a used OEM on the cheap and rebuild it, or a new OEM and have something really light and powerful as my body appreciates such things.

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Seperate from all that, the forced labor and dictatorialrule components of the regime are immoral. I don't want to support that, only to risk being consumed by it.
 
I've got one of the Farmertec 372XP saws Ive had for 2 years now. Ive probably cut 25-30 cords of wood with that saw, and have had 0 issues with it. It fires 2nd or 3rd pull, and as a matter of fact today when it was cold out (Close to 0F) it started when my Husky 365 would not.

It has been a fantastic saw and I would buy another in a heartbeat.
 
I've got one of the Farmertec 372XP saws Ive had for 2 years now. Ive probably cut 25-30 cords of wood with that saw, and have had 0 issues with it. It fires 2nd or 3rd pull, and as a matter of fact today when it was cold out (Close to 0F) it started when my Husky 365 would not.

It has been a fantastic saw and I would buy another in a heartbeat.
I've got a 500i , 661c and a 660 clone i built from the kit . The 660 clone has atleast 100 tanks thru it . I've replaced the carb and ignition coil . Starts 2nd pull and with a muffler mod and max flo it's a monster.

I'd use it more but the 661 a.v is so much nicer
 
I have been running a expansion pipe on my farmertec 660 all year and it's been holding up just fine. The fact that in can take 60% more power on all stock parts says something for being as cheap as it is.
 
I'm happy with my G660. It replaced an 064 that locked up on me. If I were to "loose" either of my 036 saws and/or my 026, I would replace them with a blue saw without a second thought. Upon receipt, I would replace the screws for mounting the handle and felling spikes, the clutch, and the starter pawl (about 20 min), and I'd probably order a dual port muffler for them as well, but I'd run a few tanks fo fuel through it before swapping the muffler and re-tuning.
 
My neotec Ns892v runs well, that's for sure. And tunes like an old school saw, which is nice. I am quite surprised that it has wicked throttle response, runs reliably and strong, tunes easily and just generally appears to be ridiculously good value, relative to the real thing.

My two little 25cc chinese top handle saws are equally impressive, but not quite as good value per cc.

I have run my wee proyama on and off all summer/fall - about 30 tanks or better. I see no reason to believe that it won't hold up well. Just for kicks, I felled and bucked lots of 10-12" trees with it. It just motors right along and can even be levered with the dawgs with a fully buried bar in hard, dry aspen. The "chainsaw" chainsaw seems equally as good a runner, but perhaps not quite as good in the fit-and-finish department. These little things are just so handy as a quad or tractor saw. I'm still a bit afraid of the wee things due to the top handle configuration. It seemed so weird at first.. I thought that the Chainsaw chainsaw was so funny, I had to have one. Make no mistake though, Proyama is a real ope company while the chainsaw chainsaw guys are not really.

Anyway, I'm not so sure that the real mcCoys are much better these days with all of their issues... at least for me who will not put a lot of hours on the chinese copies. Since all three of my chinese saws all run like proper powersaws, there is no point for me to lay down 4 or 5 times as much money for very nearly the same thing with a more recognizable name on it.

So far I am more than impressed by my copies.
 
neotec just has the same old crap 380 660 070 that was offered by farmertec 10 years ago. nt has nothing new like the farmertec brand.

G444 G266 G466 G111T G888 G366 to just name a few. They leave nt IMHO in the dust for selection of saws.

Then husky clones they leave nt behind again. G372xp pro G372xp G372 = 365, G272 G288 etc

I dont care about color so always grabbing blue. But have grey orange and white orange too. 200-300 shipped and big 122cc more in 5's shipped. but 25% of new oem for milling guys.

g466g444g660g366.jpgg888444466.jpgftsaws.jpg
g288tttt.jpg
 

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