Which Stihl saw?

[Mike367]

Wow!!! I get away from the computer for the day to do some yard work, check my post and I have A novel to read. :Eye: You guys are great. I will not be alone in the woods, my wife and or 14 yr old son will be with me although they wont be running saws. Ok don't laugh at me , I think I'm gonna get three saws. 1. MS361c w/20" bar 2. MS200 (rear handle) w/16" bar and last but not least 3. MS270c w/16" bar. I hope these saws cover it. No hydro. splitter until I get my tractor. Man when this chain saw bug bites it costs. Now I'm looking at the HT101 pole pruner. My wife has taken away the Stihl catalog. Keep the info coming. Thanks , Mike

 

[lostone]

I think I'm gonna get three saws. 1. MS361c w/20" bar 2. MS200 (rear handle) w/16" bar and last but not least 3. MS270c w/16" bar.

Why bother with 3 saws, if you are going to get the 361 and the 270 which are close to each other in weight and size, why bother? get the 361 and buy a second bar, You have been given good advise but are overlooking it . If you want to go with 3 saws, go with the 460/361/what ever blows your hair back as a small saw, or either go with the 440/270/ and again what ever blows your hair back with the small saw. It just seems to me that you are buying two of almost the same thing going the route you are.

 

[clearance]

An ms200 with a rear handle? The top handle 200 is the best saw ever made for climbing, why would you put a handle on the back of it and make it as useless as tits on a bull? When you are back on the ground and you take off your spurs you pick up a bigger saw because it cuts faster, hardly rocket science. Mike, you have been given good advice here, at least get one saw with some balls, 460, 372xp... something decent.

 

[DanManofStihl]

I cut firewood for a living half the year and the best saw combo I have come up with so far is an ms 170 for limbing an 036 pro for bigger stuff and an 066 magnum. It was the best all around combo I could find with three saw max. I don't want to lug extra saws back and forth with the chance of some one walking off with one of them. i can tackle any job with those three. If I had that type of money that is the set up I would go with.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

An ms200 with a rear handle? The top handle 200 is the best saw ever made for climbing, why would you put a handle on the back of it and make it as useless as tits on a bull?

Bucket work?

I'm not an arborist, so I don't know, I've just head of the 020 AVP mentioned for that use.

Jeff

 

[neverenough]

I cut firewood for a living half the year and the best saw combo I have come up with so far is an ms 170 for limbing an 036 pro for bigger stuff and an 066 magnum. It was the best all around combo I could find with three saw max. I don't want to lug extra saws back and forth with the chance of some one walking off with one of them. i can tackle any job with those three. If I had that type of money that is the set up I would go with.

Cool, that's the setup I'm going for. I have the 170, which I love for limbing, and 2 036's. I got the go ahead to trade up one 036 next year to either a 460 or 660. I wish I could this year, but momma's an equal partner and if I can get next year out of her, I'll take it.

 

[Al Smith]

Well there ya go.From an 020 to a Mac 125[not Stihl]but I suppose you could substitue an 088 in its place.It just shows to go ya,everyone has an opinion.

 

[pallis]

I will not be alone in the woods, my wife and or 14 yr old son will be with me although they wont be running saws.

Why be mean to the kid? I was fourteen when my dad put an XL-12 in my hands, taught me how to sharpen the chain, and put me to work cutting pulpwood. That was one of the all time great experiences of my life.

 

[Ryan Willock]

If it were me I'd go with a 460 or 440 (I have a LOT of run time on both, great saws, so are the huskys but what ever blows your dress up) and either a 361 or 260 or 270. The small saws would wear 16'' bars and the large saws would wear 20'' to 24'' bars with chisel chain. K and H make the best wedges, I really like the 10'' triple tapers.

 

[J_Ashley]

Honestly, if I were you I'd stick with only two saws. I'd go with the MS 361, and an MS 260 Pro and teach your son to cut with that saw. Get Protective chaps, and a hard-hat system for each of you, as well as a pair of padded gloves (Stihl Proscaper's come to mind) for each of you and spend some quality time together. Your son will appreciate this as much as you would I'm sure...

I'd stay with the stock RM2 chain untill the both of you get some time under your belts with the saws. After a while, I'd step up to the RS chain on the 361, but I'd honestly leave the RM2 chain on the little saw. For limbing work, it will be plenty fast enough, and the saw will see a lot more movement, more oppotunity for that nose to cause kickback...

Whatever you choose though, READ THE OWNERS MANUAL. I can't tell you how many customers we see back at the serivce desk asking dumb questions about their equipment. Folks, they give you a book that covers operation, speifics, techniques, and even SAFETY, yet a majority of people are too ignorant to read the manual. Please, read the manual, you'll be glad you did.

Justin

 

[TimberPig]

I'll add another vote for buying either the 361 or the 270, not both. They basically weigh the same and the 361 cuts faster. Which do you think will collect dust?

If you want to buy a 270, then get a 440 instead of a 361.

Also, forget the cumbersome C model with the useless brake setup, as Jokers mentioned, it is more of a hindrance than a safety feature.

 

[Andyshine77]

3 Saws, MS260 pro, MS361, MS460.

 

[neverenough]

when i looked at the Swedish stihl page the weight on 250 and 260 are the same (4,9 kg ) if so, maybe the 260 is the better choice for a small saw ,,,,,,,
the 260 i looked at had heated handles and carb, a nice feature
especially when its wet outside ,,

The difference is the 250 is a homeowners model, and the 260 is a "pro" model. Lot's of extra coinn for just a limbing saw.

 

[jokers]

I cut firewood for a living half the year and the best saw combo I have come up with so far is an ms 170 for limbing an 036 pro for bigger stuff and an 066 magnum........If I had that type of money that is the set up I would go with.

Hey DanManofStihl,

Since you are feebly attempting to add the "weight of your experience" of earning half of your living by cutting firewood, why don`t you take a few minutes when you get home from High School today and quantify just how much experience you have? What is the name of your commercial venture? How many cord a year are you putting out? I`m assuming that a quick check with your state tax dept would verify your existence?

Didn`t you recently say that you had an ms180 but regretted getting rid of it, or was that the 290 that you had? Which did you have, 170 or 180?

I had a husky 141 and it ran really well much better then the poulan wildthing I had. I would probley buy another husky 141 but I did like my stihl ms 180 better then both of those saws.

Or this....

I would recomend a stihl 029 or the husky 353 I have had a stihl 029 for a long time and it was a great size for firewood duties. I think 50ccs is the smallest size I would get for firewood duties.

Or did you have a Husky 359?

I had a husky 359 and it did pretty well with a 20 in bar I would stick with the 18 in personally. I think it would perform better.

or maybe it was an ms440...

I had a ms 440 and it was a great saw not as powerful as the 066 but it still worked great I still wish I hadn't sold that saw it never gave me any problems the entire time I had it.

more ms180 nonsense...

I would keep the ms 180 I had one and it worked great I wish I hadn't sold it but The guy I sold it to still uses it at least twice a week sometimes more. If I had to choose it would be the 021.

Here is a fitting reply from lostone to your above statement, taken from that same thread.

Uhhh, Dan are you a politician?

more yet...

I have an ms 180 and I like it for pruning and stuff .....

Anyway, you get the idea but I think this next post taken from the thread "What saws do you have and what did you pay?" dated 6-29-2005 @ 8:57pm sums it up.

Stihl 066 magnum with a 36 in windsor bar needed nothing $425
stihl 036 pro 20 in bar needed carb lever $250.00
sithl ms 180 needed nothing $125.00
Redmax g2500ts needed nothing but the chain sharpened $39.95 at pawn shop
Just bought the redmax today thought it was a deal runs good all of my saws I got in running shape. Nothing very new except the 066 mag it was almost new when I got it off ebay only around 35 to 40 hours on it.

is probably more likely the truth and it Dovetails in nicely with this one....

I have an ms 180 and I like it for pruning and stuff it is better then the husky 141 I had. I loved the price $179.00 Its not a pro and will never be but I cant pass a deal.

.....or maybe this is the truth?

I sell fire wood personally and I cut firewood at work and do storm damage removles. I think I average at least 100 hours or more on my saw.

Wouldn`t that be about three weeks worth of saw time if you were doing this full time?

This one could be your best yet!

How do I delete a post?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know it is right their in my face I just can't seem to find it. Thanks for any help

But don`t worry about screwing it up, I`ve already saved them all for you!

You`re insulting our intelligence and recollection and it makes it very hard to give you any credibility.

Real men wouldn`t drag a 170 or 180 into the bush, it might be scared.

Russ

 

[jokers]

I think that too many guys here are putting too much stock in a limbing saw for firewooding. How many guys actually drag more than one saw into the bush and to each tree to be processed? Not many!

The typical production scenario is that the trees are felled with a decent size saw, an ms260 bare minimum, and hauled tree length to the landing where they are blocked with a bigger, faster(could be the same as saw as used for the felling) saw. Some guys leave the tops in the woods and thus nearly negate the need for limbing. Most other guys set a limit of processing down to 3" where even a smaller saw like a 250 is going to show it`s hp advantage over something like a 180. The bottom line is that any benefit derived from the ultra lightweight of the smallest saws is made moot by their weak performance because the saws don`t need to be packed in.

Mike, unless your 14 yr old son or wife are small, they should be able to handle the ms250 with no sweat. On the same line of reasoning, why saddle them with the additional weight, or yourself the additional cost of the 270 for an imperceptible hp increase?

A 9 acre woodlot suggests a fairly small scale endeavor. For the amount of time that the small saw may be used, the slightly higher vibes of the 250 vs the 270/280 are also probably moot.

Russ

 

[jokers]

Dull chain will not work in any saw, you know it as well
Here, the felling of trees larger than 25" is rather exception than trivial, so all the work from felling to limbing is usually done with the single compromize saw with 15-16" bar. That saw usually is from 45-65 cm3 class.
260-270-280. I´m talking about the 270 because I know this saw as I know 026 with I´worked too. I´m using the basic configuration of it, 270 (3.5HP) without QS, without keyless chain tensioner and without decompression valve and I´m satisfyed with it. For me it is better than was 026 which had strong vibration. 270 or 280? If you need a littlebit more HP, probably, a littlebit shorter intervals between fuelings and carry a larger fuel containers you can get 280 or something more powerfull (take this as a joke, not more).
Now, if I need to by a new saw, probably, I will try Oleo-Mac or Dolmar.

About the pinus take it is as the genera of pinus, surely not as pin us.
v.

Hi pinus,

Thank you for the well reasoned and connected response. Not that I entirely agree with you, lol!

I am familiar with the genus pinus but would not have been at all surprised if you had replied that your handle should be pronounced as pee nus. We have had a few surprisingly intelligent trolls here who might have enjoyed the play on words.

Let me extend a personal welcome to the forum. I always appreciate a reasoned reply, even if I`m not in total agreement.

Russ

 

[SWE#Kipp]

the only stihl saw ive'd run i think was 025 or maybe 026 and i only run it for a week and i cant recall on to much vibration in it, though its maybe different on the two of them ,,,, and i cant remember which model it was ,,,, but you should run my jonsered raket 60, after 5 min i cant feel my arms hahaha ,,, i think they should have sold them as concrete vibrators
For insulting Jred i might get some spanking from Mange ,, hmm sweet :angel:

good luck with your purchase

 

[Chris J.]

For insulting Jred i might get some spanking from Mange ,, hmm sweet :angel:

Aha, so what I've heard about you kinky Swedes is true !

 

[SWE#Kipp]

oh yes very true indeed

 

[Mange]

This is a Sweden bull, not a price winner, cind of skinny, but a price winner.