First impressions of my new Dolmar 5100

[aandabooks]

I finally got out to do a little cutting today while the youngest was in pre-school. Took the Dolmar and the Stihl with me. Everything I cut was 4-14" dead on the ground American Elm. Doing some cleanup work on one section of my property. Probably cut 1/2 cord all together. Ran two tanks through her and touched up the chain once. Here are my list of pros and cons:

Pro: Saw is a noticably lighter than my Stihl.
Con: Not as fast in the cut. It does have some weird Dolmar branded chain on it. I didn't notice it in the shop but it seems to have a ramp and raker all in one and there is a witness mark on the raker.

Pro: Very fuel efficient saw. Both saws seem to be.
Con: I really like the flippy caps of the Stihl and the Dolmar caps remind me of my Craftsman/Poulan.

Pro: Starts from cold with a couple less pulls than my Stihl.
Con: Being used to the switch on my Stihl, the first time I went to shut down I choked it out and it took three pulls to restart from warm.

Pro: Has the side adjust chain tensioner. Very nice feature that all saws should have.
Con: The bar paint is nowhere near the quality of a Stihl bar. Two tanks of gas and I've already got smeared paint.

Overall, I'm very happy with the saw. Once I get 10-15 tanks through her and truly broken in, then I'll see what she can really do. I'm considering cutting the tabs off the limiters to richen her up. The saw does wind up quite high.

The 5100 feels very comfortable in my hands and is nimble enough for limbing but the power seems to be there for some medium size bucking. Everything that I'll be cutting for the next couple of years with be 20" and smaller. Seems like this saw will fit that bill nicely.

Is there a performance gain to be made with a muffler mod on this saw? I'll be modding the muffler on the 310 next month (warranty will be up) and the consensus seems to be that that saw will really benefit.

 

[Brian VT]

You may have the Oregon Vanguard chain like mine came with ?
The rakers are folded over like Shamu's dorsal fin. lol
I've only got one tank through mine. I'll get on it after hunting season. A farmer up the street said he's got 4 or 5 maples recently blown down that I can have.

 

[SawTroll]

That chain probably is Oregon Vanguard (an odd type of "safety chain") - get some real chain for it!

 

[mikefunaro]

Stock dolmar bar is made by Oregon. The paint doesn't hold up very well at all.

MGF

 

[cuttinscott]

Congrats on the new Dolmar Saw

That chain probably is Oregon Vanguard (an odd type of "safety chain") - get some real chain for it!

Saws under 3.8ci ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SOLD with safety chain now that being said the V series oregon chain is a excellent cutting SAFETY chain, alot better than the old SG Oregon used to sell and alot better than the stihl safety as well.

Scott

 

[SawTroll]

...
Saws under 3.8ci ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SOLD with safety chain now that being said the V series oregon chain is a excellent cutting SAFETY chain, alot better than the old SG Oregon used to sell and alot better than the stihl safety as well.

Scott

I know - that is only in the US though....

 

[aandabooks]

I got a spare loop of LGX with the saw. Maybe I'll put that on and relegate the Dolmar chain to back up duty. I'll just take the rakers down a bit and sharpen it on the bench rather than on the saw.

 

[Brian VT]

I'm very happy with my 5100s but, again, I don't have anything to compare it to. I have a friend that worked for the forest service and a commercial tree service that agreed to give me some lessons on running a saw.
He had a 28" bass tree that snapped about 10' up that he wanted removed.
I learned quite a bit by watching him systematically cut until all was safely on the ground. He used a Stihl 029 that he bought when he was younger but he has run many of his employers' saws over the years. I was impressed at how fast his saw cut. Then he tried mine (with the Vanguard safety chain that I've been learning to sharpen) and it cut noticeably faster than his. He commented a few times about the light weight and he called it a "screamer". It's only on it's 6th tank of gas and I've heard there's some more power on tap. I'll be sure to have him try it again when it's "broken in" and has a new chain and I'll report back here.

Due to my inexperience while I was bucking that 24-28" a few times I was cutting air and the revs seemed a bit high even for this saw. It seemed fine when cutting but I'm thinking it may need to be richened up a bit. Cuttinscott said to bring it back after a dozen tanks or so but I might should get a tach. and learn to tune it myself.

 

[gink595]

There was a guy at wkpoors GTG that a 5100 that just screamed through the cants. If he was being truthful, he said that the only thing that was done to it was a muffler mod.

I agree the stop switch is akward to get used to if your used to the all in one stop/start/choke of he Stihl, I know I'm always cussing it