cuinrearview
Red saw lover
If you are patient, occasionally the Makita 5001 drops below $400 on Amazon. That saw checks all the boxes for me. Value, power, heated handles, and it loves 3/8 chain.
The 490 will pull a 20" as long as you don't get in a hurry. But it makes the saw feel bigger than it should.I've been doing a little work along my lane taking some Burr Oak and Ash trees down. The biggest today was 18" and mostly they were 12-14" trees.
I went up there today with 3 saws - Stihl MS241c & MS361, and Echo CS-490. Only the MS241c has more than one tank of fuel through it, it's on tank #3.
My early takeaway is that I was impressed with ALL of them. The MS241c just rips at a level that seems much greater than a 40cc class! Cannot wait for it to break in! I used it some last Wednesday up there, and then today 5 days later it started on the first pull!
I must say, I shook my head at the very idea of a decomp valve on a 42cc machine, but by the end of the day last Wednesday my elbow was hurting (kinda like tennis elbow) and a couple times when I went to pull the cord without using the decomp, it yanked out of my fingers. I pushed in the decomp and it was much easier on my sore elbow! Just think I'm gonna love this saw! (It did falter once while limbing and sputtered like it was out of gas, so I quick shut it off and went to fill it, and it was just ALMOST out. While on it's side there was enough fuel to completely cover the fuel filter. But it must have been low enough. Anyway, I filled it and it started right up on the 2nd pull and away I went. Just seemed a little odd, but no big deal.
The MS361 SEEMED to have a lot of low end grunt. I could lean on it and it didn't seem to bog or mind it at all. I didn't use it too much (the 241 & 490 are just lighter and were plenty of saw for what I needed to do) but I want to get the MS361 out along side the MS362 and take notes in a few days. One thing I did notice was that if it sat for 15-20 min it took several pulls to get fired up... several. In fact on a mid-60's day I actually had to choke it (which I didn't want to do) but it was fine and I think it's probably mainly a learning curve for me on how this saw needs to be handled. Again, I didn't use it a lot but it sure feels strong.
The Echo CS-490 was a surprise to me and I couldn't be more impressed for the money! I gave $279 (then later got one for my boy for $259) off eBay. Came with 20" bar's which I swapped out for 16" WoodlandPRO Timbermax-Lite from Bailey's.
This is the absolute easiest saw to start. Just unreal how little effort it takes. I would imagine this would meet the OP's criteria for a light saw (10.6#) Mag case, 50.2cc, Chrome Plated cylinder, rim sprocket, and comes factory with a 20" bar. (It for sure feels like it'd run a 20" with ease, but I like a 16" on it so I'll probably never know....)
Anyway, it did great for a new saw and I'm also looking forward to seeing what it'll do when broken in some. I did remove the tube from the muffler but beyond that nothing. At half the money of a MS261 it could be something to consider OP...
But it makes the saw feel bigger than it should.
That's what I thought when I bought mine. I used it with the 20" b&c to cut some big stumps and it worked fine.That's kinda the sense I got just handling it when it first arrived. I knew from the gate I was not going to run a 20" on it. But it is a nice option for the occasional need, if a guy didn't have another saw with longer bars.
I had a 400 that I bought used for a month or two. Really slender, good feeling saw. And probably not a bad choice for a first saw...or an only saw if you don't need to go fast on big wood or flush cut big stumps. It'll really do a lot though.Yeah I think it is just an awesome value with the features they've put on it.
I've had a CS-400 since '09 that I gave $191 for and I really like it a lot, but for about $80 more nine years later..., I think the CS-490 checks all the boxes. I'm gonna make a concerted effort NOT to neglect the CS-400 (it's been such a nice saw) but I think it will be hard to not reach for the CS-490
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