it seems that a major customer has backed out of the deal with earthquakes for some reason leaving the parant company with some saws to get rid of. I think they are selling them almost at cost to clean them out. There is a thread "disecting an earthquake" where you can find out more information. I have only bought 6 of them. 3 seemed to have been unused, chains still in plastic. I started and ran the 3 that looked like the chains had gone around the bar.....no saw dust anywhere....and they ran great.
Man...all roads lead to earthquakes these days