Efco top handles any good?

[GrassGuerilla]

I have a bead on a 34cc Efco top handle. Not sure of model. Are these worth having? I don't climb, but wouldn't mind having one as a trim saw for little stuff. May end up flipping it if nothing else. Just don't want to buy something that nobody wants. Worth $150 or so in good shape? Appears to be a recent model as opposed to a dinosaur. Thoughts?

 

[Franny K]

I have an efco 132s top handle that is 30.1cc. It is a current model and is made in Italy. In general if a seller says a 30cc saw is a 34cc one probably not much else they say can be trusted. If you verify this is the model I can comment further.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

Is this the one you have?

 

[Franny K]

No it is similar but not the model I have. The third picture is significantly different but the first two look just a bout the same except mine has only one bar nut. The picture (took lately and can find) was to show the modification I made to the battery electric husqvarna top handle bucking spike.

It is a case reed carburetor forward design. I can say my chain brake is poor. I kind of like it once I converted to the 0.043 chain. It only has three little transfer ports. Not very powerful but still has some power and sounds better if loaded down to slower revs.

Mine has small openings for the fuel and oil but they open easy with the scrench to help and are relatively debris free/easy to blow clean. Those caps look worse in that regard.

There is a possibility it is something no one wants, relatively speaking.

 

[7sleeper]

Sorry not familiar with the model. Generally I am a fan of Oleo Mac/Efco products. The TH saws are often NOT of italien origin but from japan.

7

 

[LittleLebowski]

Interesting stuff.

 

[old guy]

I have never heard anything bad about Efco saws, I had a chance to run a tank of fuel thru a new 6500 model late last winter and it seemed like an excellent saw.

 

[TimberWolf530]

I have been very happy with my MT3500. Mine has a little bigger motor, 39cc, but cuts small stuff very well. It's the easiest starting saw I own. It usually starts on the 2nd pull cold. Are you sure that's an Efco though. It looks like an old Jonsered.

 

[heyduke]

View attachment 506223 View attachment 506224 View attachment 506225 Is this the one you have?

the efco top handles look like rebranded echo 3000's and 3400's. they were good saws twenty years ago. now, to me, they're an outdated design. unless i'm mistaken, they use a single under-sized reed valve sandwiched behind the carb, instead of piston ported induction. you can get the same saw in echo livery, dirt cheap on ebay. we used the echos for climbing saws. they cost $200 new and were reliable, start-on-the-first-pull saws, important in the canopy, but pretty gutless. suggest you find an ipl for the efco and then compare it to the ipl for the echo 3000 & 3400. parts look interchangeable.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

The shop I'm at used to be an Efco dealer. The saws aren't bad, but they stopped selling them because parts were a nightmare to get (often from Italy). Same deal wirh BCS tractors.

 

[TimberWolf530]

It looks just like this Jonsered Pro 35.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

I'm thinking this is a no go. Seller doesn't know enough about what it is to make me feel comfortable. He's calling it an Emak. I assumed from searching that it would then be an Efco. Can't tell me a model, or where he got parts, service etc. too risky that it's stolen, and with no clear lineage of parts etc. I'll just pass I think.

He did mention it as being "made in Italy" also making me think Efco.

 

[7sleeper]

Emak is the parent company of Efco & Oleo Mac. Same as used to be Elektro Lux the parent company of Husqvarna, Jonsered, Mc Culloch, Partner, etc. I see no problem at all with this saw. It used to be quite often that companies sold saws under their name although the design is from someone else. Only nowadays the paranoid CEO's have stopped all technology transfer altogether.

7

 

[heyduke]

Emak is the parent company of Efco & Oleo Mac. Same as used to be Elektro Lux the parent company of Husqvarna, Jonsered, Mc Culloch, Partner, etc. I see no problem at all with this saw. It used to be quite often that companies sold saws under their name although the design is from someone else. Only nowadays the paranoid CEO's have stopped all technology transfer altogether.

7

i agree with you regarding the common practice of rebadging. the poulan 2000 / 2500 came out under a lot of different brands including jonsereds and craftsman. they were lousy saws too. anyone contemplating the purchase of this efco should look under the hood. you'll get a lot more for your money with and echo 271t, 330t, 360t or the latest 355t, just my opinion. echo still sells this reed valved saw in both rear handle and top handle flavors. the plastic on the efco and jonsered is a little different but the motor seems to be the same. another problem with these saws is that the carb and air filter are placed at the front or the saw by the back of the guide bar, in the dirtiest air. the little felt filters have to be cleaned frequently. using them in the rain is even worse the filters clog up with chips, bar oil and water, and usually need to be replaced.

 

[7sleeper]

i agree with you regarding the common practice of rebadging. the poulan 2000 / 2500 came out under a lot of different brands including jonsereds and craftsman. they were lousy saws too. anyone contemplating the purchase of this efco should look under the hood. you'll get a lot more for your money with and echo 271t, 330t, 360t or the latest 355t, just my opinion. echo still sells this reed valved saw in both rear handle and top handle flavors. the plastic on the efco and jonsered is a little different but the motor seems to be the same. another problem with these saws is that the carb and air filter are placed at the front or the saw by the back of the guide bar, in the dirtiest air. the little felt filters have to be cleaned frequently. using them in the rain is even worse the filters clog up with chips, bar oil and water, and usually need to be replaced.

I agree completely with you. I was just speaking of former company practices. For this special model, even if it was in great shape, I would really hesitate paying 150 for it. I would be thinking about less than one hundred.
I just bought a brand new hitachi cs33edtp on sale for <225€ = 1/2 price to regular during shop clearence. And before that I bought a oleo mac gs260(which is a zenoah g2500 clone, which is the father of all chinese small th saws) also for 250€ = 1/2 price.

7

 

[computeruser]

Is it a rebadged Tanaka, perhaps?

I've owned a couple of those sorts of saws - one was Makita-badged and the other was in Tanaka colors - and in each instance I was disappointed and they got sold off pretty quickly. The price seemed good but the power just isn't there. None of them kept up with a well-used Echo CS3000, and the build quality felt much worse - crunchy, hard plastics, creaky handles.

I do not believe there is a work-around - if you want a good top-handle saw, you are going to have to pay for it.

 

[rynosawr]

This is a Redmax g3100T that I got, fixed, and sold to a local tree service owner.

It has Zenoah Redmax labels, but it says made in Italy and 30.1cc, and I am 99% sure it is an Efco saw.


It has been running great for almost a year now. I think I sold it to him for $175.

He likes it and says it is a handy little top handle saw and starts great every time.