Echo Saws, are they Dependable

[Wow]

Well almost 74 and have ran a lot of different saw.
Since 2015 I've bought 4 Echo Chainsaws. Semi retired and don't run a saw everyday. I'm not in a hurry. I'm not logging. I cut a few residential trees that threaten property and cut a few cords of Firewood. Of the Echos I've bought only 1 saw I didn't like. ALL start easy. Run decent and after 6 weeks Being shelved with gas in them ( yes I'm getting old and lazy) they still Always crank. I don't recommend the cs310. Frankly it's not a value at 200 bucks when the cs352 is so much better. Don't be fooled by appearance. Compare the AV, air filters and yes 4 cc bigger engine makes a huge difference in small engines. Back in the day Poulan made a nice 60 cc saw the 380 Poulan Pro. It had AV and was a decent saw. The Poulan 2150 no AV gave me numb hands but mine was decent. At this time I'd never spend money on a cheap saw that could be applied toward a good echo. The cs590 is a decent saw and handles a 28 inch bar for that big tree every once in a while. Most times It's wearing a 20 inch bar decent chain. The saw that sees the most use is the cs352. My first one had a flaw. Not a big deal. Nothing the dealer could not have fixed for just a few bucks BUT HE DIDN'T. Any person clearing brush will eventually drop a chain. My cs352 wasn't a month old and a saw Brier flipped the chain off snapping the plastic Chain catcher. It broke off of the clutch cover and I took the saw back all happy to be quoted a price for repair instead of warranty. So that ruined my buyers joy. I repaired it myself and that's been a couple years ago and no problems since. Unless someone is using a saw to make a living working day in and day out my Feelings are Echo probably is a better deal than buying big Name brand saws. I still own some Sthil saws but never use them with the exception of my 029 Farm boss with 18 inch bar. I use it because I've got it and it does a good job. Tried to sell it for 300 to my nieghbor. He had a big pine blow down. He was amazed how well that saw cuts. However it's not stock. Changed the spur to rim drive. Very good bar and chain plus muffler mod. A very good Chainsaw. Well built. Not an every day all day saw but danged well worth 300 bucks to me. It's 54cc (I'm thinking) and the cs490 Echo is 50. There's no comparison. The Sthil smokes the Echo 50 cc saw. But price wise the Echo is a lot cheaper. Just my opinion. Feel free to voice yours.

 

[unclemoustache]

I’m extremely pleased with my Echo’s. They have a 5 year warranty which tells me how the company feels about their product. Stihl and Husky only have 2 years.

 

[Blackops]

love my shindaaiwa's and echos - 591 and 590 timber wolf. however - the local dealer is bad news and tries to not do warranties but rather charges than to do a warranty claim or whatever these guys do. The old guy who reitred and sold the business was superb! the younger guys just seem to give a damn. Matter of fact the local guy was sketchy about making a sale on his last saw in stockc of the 590 i had to go out of state to get it and at a bit better of deal. Go figure! He would rather have 3 guys 'lookig'st it than to commit and make a sale. saws to me are really nice! I had Husqvarna's and stihl and like you said they start! others i could tell you a lot of issues and stories about them - not so good. Problem is there are more stihl dalers though not good either around here vs. 1 dealer for echo. same with husqvarna - and that guy literally hates people and refuses to fix stuff under warranty too. what is it in these modern times that leaves these people with this lack of quality whether sales or service??? sucks. but then again i am an old timer from another era!

 

[sean donato]

I’m extremely pleased with my Echo’s. They have a 5 year warranty which tells me how the company feels about their product. Stihl and Husky only have 2 years.

Last I checked for non commercial use you just had to get moto mix, or whatever husqy calls it to get a 4 year warranty. Stihl I think was a certain amount of oil. Had to be on the same invoice as the saw. But not hard to activate.
Not detracting from echo, I too find them to be a great saw for the price, and pretty dependable. My younger brother, brother in law, neighbor, and a friend that does landscaping all employ echo saws, and all report favorable reviews of their respective models. Only thing they have in common is the saws arnt used daily. The downside is there isnt which good support for them around here, or a lot of dealers that service saws (echo) in general.

 

[Wow]

love my shindaaiwa's and echos - 591 and 590 timber wolf. however - the local dealer is bad news and tries to not do warranties but rather charges than to do a warranty claim or whatever these guys do. The old guy who reitred and sold the business was superb! the younger guys just seem to give a damn. Matter of fact the local guy was sketchy about making a sale on his last saw in stockc of the 590 i had to go out of state to get it and at a bit better of deal. Go figure! He would rather have 3 guys 'lookig'st it than to commit and make a sale. saws to me are really nice! I had Husqvarna's and stihl and like you said they start! others i could tell you a lot of issues and stories about them - not so good. Problem is there are more stihl dalers though not good either around here vs. 1 dealer for echo. same with husqvarna - and that guy literally hates people and refuses to fix stuff under warranty too. what is it in these modern times that leaves these people with this lack of quality whether sales or service??? sucks. but then again i am an old timer from another era!

Your experience sounds like mine.
My dealer HAD a great crew THEN things changed.
Now instead of buying from him I'd just buy from a Box store. Dealers that take care of you AFTER the sell ARE the reasons WE BUY FROM THEM in the first place. Dealers are pushing for profit and teaching their service managers to Charge even on new saws. I was told We DON'T warranty Plastic. OK THEN why DID YOU make a saw with PLASTIC parts then LIE about the 5 year warranty!
Here's why. Because when a cheap PLASTIC part snaps off they can hit you up for a SERVICE charge AND a NEW part charge.
They are STUPID if they think we can't see that. Any guy that can consistently drop back leaders on a target isn't a fool. I'm the kind of guy that NEVER forgets who lied or cheated me. Bet I'm not the only one. I'll bet the Echo Rep is right there with the Service department.
I love my saws BUT NOW I do my own work. The dealership lost big time over a 15 dollars or less part. If they had said, oh I'm sorry. Here's a new clutch cover do you want us to install it? I'd have said. No thanks I can put it on. THAT would have been the BEST 15 bucks the dealer ever spent. There's NOTHING he could do now to make me forget that I got screwed like a 15 dollars whor . I'm like a Ton Cat that got kicked. No amount of petting is gonna make me forget. I'll bend over backwards to help people. In fact I just removed a tree for a little widow lady FREE. Yet a dealer, !!!

 

[rabbit box]

Why Echo? Reviews. Stihl dealer could not get me the saw I wanted. Stihl dealer does not carry Echo. Stihl dealer could not get me an Echo. Stihl dealer is an Echo warranty service. Were an Echo warranty service before carrying Stihl. They told me they would honor the Echo warranty. I purchased an Echo 2511t. Very satisfied. Nice to know that my warranty is well covered. Dealer I purchased from I do not know. I know Stihl dealer. Good people. Good work.

 

[Jwilliams]

I owned a ms 290 and a 390 and sold both to buy my echo cs 620. Since then I bought a cs 400. Cs2511t and a cs590. I work part time helping a friend with his tree business and unless I’m cutting something really big then I’ll get out the stihl 440 or the 661 other wise it’s all echo easy to start and work great in my opinion

 

[Wow]

My brother has a Sthil MS 391. He and I bucked a large oak together. I had 28 inch bar cs590. He 20 inch bar Sthil 391. We cut side beside. Same speed cuts. On the big end My saw barely cut all way through so he moved nearer to the top. We saw no difference in speed except because my saw bar was longer and as we moved up the tree it became smaller around, eventually my bar stuck several inches past the log while his barely went through. Then he started to walk past the log on the opposite side. Fortunately I was alert because he almost walked into the tip of my saw. After my stern talk maybe he's more aware. In the end we agreed both saws cut about the same even though the 391 is a bit bigger 4.4 BHP 64.1cc compared to 59.8 for the echo 590. As I've noted 4cc can be a huge difference in small Engines.

 

[holeycow]

I have an Echo cs590. I bought it because it was cheap. I run it because it is a good saw. Not a lot of hours, as I have plenty of saws for the amount of sawing I do and I like them all, so I spread it around. I've been very selective on my purchases, so I have no dogs. The Cs590 rates as pretty darn decent. Sure my ms362 and my 262xp will eat it's lunch in many ways, but the 590 has an appeal of its own. I'd buy another Echo...

PS, I figure the cs590 is easily the best 60cc "farm" saw on the market and due to its construction and the way it runs, not far behind a "pro" saw and at about 1/2 the price.

 

[Honyuk96]

I had one Echo and sold it shorly after buying it. I liked the saw, it performed well. It was also one HARD starter.

 

[Tigwelder83]

Echo are tough, maybe not a peppy as a huskie or stihl pro saw, but possibly more dependable

 

[Marcus James]

I had one Echo and sold it shorly after buying it. I liked the saw, it performed well. It was also one HARD starter.

Only hard to start if you forget to flick on the little on off switch. If you try to start it with the switch off, it will flood like crazy and take forever to start once you switch it back on. You'll end up needing to dry it out, waiting for an hour to let it completely dry. I found that it started great in every condition if you start by first turning it on. I don't like that little switch, but other than that, I love the saw.

 

[Brufab]

I got 8 pieces of echo power equipment over 30 years not one has failed me yet 2 590 3 cs 400 1 srm 2100 straitshaft trimmer 1 newer straitshaft trimmer and the big giant back pack blower.

 

[Cynfawr]

I like my echo saws. When I bought my first personal saws I went with the first gen husqy auto tune....
Got burned and was pretty frustrated.

Bought several echo saws afterwards and have liked them all.

Cs2511t, cs355t, cs310, cs501p, cs590

The cs2511t and cs501p are my favourites.

They've all been reliable starters and have given me no issues in the 4 or 5 years I've had them.(the cs2511t is newer but so good it has more runtime than any other by far.).

 

[Marley5]

Love my Echo saws and they all get worked hard.
If I had 1 single complaint compared to my Husqvarna's, would be the air systems......filters need cleaning often.
Every single 2 cycle engine I own has a muff mod and retune.
When helping the brother at his sawmill I carry CS310 - CS490 - CS590.
Again, great saws.

 

[mattr66]

The echos are a great value. I buy the CS-490 new cheap since they are discontinued, port them and sell them. They are completely different animals ported. The replacement the 4910 is very close to the 501p model and out of the box better than the 490. A ported 490 will walk them both though.

 

[Parkerpusher]

I have only owned 2, but have been impressed by both.

They are like having a friend who isn’t the coolest, or most exciting to hang around, but ALWAYS shows up when you need him and never asks to borrow anything.

 

[bwalker]

I have never seen an echo saw in person. However I have a friend with a lawn service that uses their trimmers and blowers. He swears by them. Based on this I would assume their saws are decent.

 

[huskihl]

I have never seen an echo saw in person. However I have a friend with a lawn service that uses their trimmers and blowers. He swears by them. Based on this I would assume their saws are decent.

They’re built well. Most will oil a longer bar than they’ll pull. A little bit lower in power than other similar models. Some are a tad heavy and some aren’t. I really dig the 4910.

 

[Wow]

I have never seen an echo saw in person. However I have a friend with a lawn service that uses their trimmers and blowers. He swears by them. Based on this I would assume their saws are decent.

Cut up a big tree today with my cs590+1. Love that saw.
I call it a , +1, because the cheap spur drive has been converted to Rim drive UNLIKE the stock cs590. When a saw is no longer fully stock I add a +. Just a simple Drive qualifies for a +1. So my Echo is now a cs590+1. When the parts come in for the cs352 ill call it a cs352+1. IF by chance I were to do a mm then I'd call it a cs352+2. My system will eventually become normal. Years ago I designed a motor boat and angled the transom 30% so the motor trim was easy to adjust. Now it's common and no one remembers how that came about. About 36-7 years ago I designed and built bicycles with no crank to train my children. Others saw it and now they are sold in stores. My engineering mind organizes things automatically. So let me be the first (is there anyone else yet?) to start adding a, + , and a number, to modified model numbers. Ha. Ha. I like the idea even if no one else does. Then maybe this is already being done. So far, if so, I've not seen it. Bless you