Need help with saw selection

[Dr. Cornwallis]

First post here, been lurking for a while and doin some research but still a little lost. From what I've gathered I think I may need a 60 cc saw but I want a 50cc saw for it's light weight.

I own and operate a lawn care and landscaping company here in Tampa Fl and I'm thinking about getting into light trimming and felling. I'm looking for a one saw solution that can be used to fell a tree and then also be used to dice it up for transport. The saw will mostly be used to removing low lying limbs, but in the case of a more serious job I need it to be able to cut through bigger stuff and fell a tree if need be.

I've grown up using my fathers Stihl Farm Boss (no sure which model exactly) and I think I want to stick with Stihl unless someone can offer me a compelling reason to go with another brand. The dealers around here also sell Echo.

The models I'm currently looking at are the MS261 CM, MS362 CM and MS441 CM Magnum. I'm a little worried that for a do it all saw, that the 261 is too small, 441 is too big and the 362 is kind of a worst of all worlds. I know the best solution is two saws and eventually I'll buy a second but for now, I only have the budget for one, and I definitely want to stick with the lrofessional quality saws... No homeowner stuff.

 

[blsnelling]

A ported 50cc saw is what you're describing. I prefer the 550XP myself.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

A ported 50cc saw is what you're describing. I prefer the 550XP myself.

Thanks! I'm not opposed to Husquvarna either. What do you prefer about them over Stihl? Also what length bar would be the best for all around use? 20in?

 

[blsnelling]

I simply get better results from them. Also, they're less expensive and lighter.

 

[sunfish]

If a 550xp is out of budget, get a 545. It's very close to being the same saw, but $100 less.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I'd get the 50cc first. I've worked for a couple of tree services, and I can tell you that you shouldn't be taking on trimming and especially removal jobs with one saw. All it'll take is for your primary saw to fail or break down once and having the second saw will pay for itself. Get the 50cc first, and a 70cc as soon as possible.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

So here we are nearly two years later I finally bought a saw. I really appreciate Brads and other members advice on the Husky but I ended up going with a Stihl MS261 CM. It boiled down almost entirely to the dealer. I was very unimpressed with the Husky dealers in my immediate area, I visited the two closest and neither even knew what a 550 XP was, and after they looked it up both attempted to talk me down into a ranch saw in order to sell what was on the shelf. The Stihl dealer, however, was very on point, had a good inventory and was extremely clean.

I ended up getting my 261 with 16" bar for $519 plus tax. I also bought a six pack of Stihl oil so I got the two year warranty.

So far I'm really liking the saw. It feels really powerful for size and is extremely easy to handle. I'm a career firefighter and at work we have 461 R's which are an absolute animal. Depending on how much I end up doing, I may end up buying a 461 for bigger stuff and a MS150 or MS193 for in tree work. I'm also thinking about sending my 261 into Brad to have it ported.

 

[1Alpha1]

So here we are nearly two years later I finally bought a saw. I really appreciate Brads and other members advice on the Husky but I ended up going with a Stihl MS261 CM. It boiled down almost entirely to the dealer. I was very unimpressed with the Husky dealers in my immediate area, I visited the two closest and neither even knew what a 550 XP was, and after they looked it up both attempted to talk me down into a ranch saw in order to sell what was on the shelf. The Stihl dealer, however, was very on point, had a good inventory and was extremely clean.

I ended up getting my 261 with 16" bar for $519 plus tax. I also bought a six pack of Stihl oil so I got the two year warranty.

So far I'm really liking the saw. It feels really powerful for size and is extremely easy to handle. I'm a career firefighter and at work we have 461 R's which are an absolute animal. Depending on how much I end up doing, I may end up buying a 461 for bigger stuff and a MS150 or MS193 for in tree work. I'm also thinking about sending my 261 into Brad to have it ported.

You chose a very good saw.

I'm happy with my two-saw plan........MS-261 / MS-461.

 

[CLEfreak]

Hey Cornwallis,

Career firefighter as well up in Ohio. We run 460R's here and I agree, they absolutely rip. I was in the same boat, and was planning on buying a 461 and a 170. Fortunately for me, an 026 that needed/needs some work fell into my lap. Then I found an old 038 mag in good shape. Then I realized I had the itis. Bad case of CAD. Picked up a like new ms360 that I love, another 038 mag for my step dad to use, am now looking at a hybrid 440/460, and trying to find a basket case to try a full rebuild on. Addiction is rough.

What area of Florida are you full time?

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

Hey Cornwallis,

Career firefighter as well up in Ohio. We run 460R's here and I agree, they absolutely rip. I was in the same boat, and was planning on buying a 461 and a 170. Fortunately for me, an 026 that needed/needs some work fell into my lap. Then I found an old 038 mag in good shape. Then I realized I had the itis. Bad case of CAD. Picked up a like new ms360 that I love, another 038 mag for my step dad to use, am now looking at a hybrid 440/460, and trying to find a basket case to try a full rebuild on. Addiction is rough.

What area of Florida are you full time?

I work Hillsborough County. It's a really phenomenal department with great opporrunities. The county is so big that you have the opportunity to get a taste of everything from the city to the country. The station I'm at now is out in the country and it's really a fun place. You run less calls volume wise but a lot better quality calls. People in the sticks down usually call the fire department unless something went pretty sideways. We also have a brush truck and while a lot of people hate brush fires, I absolutely love them.

The addiction is strong. I Haven't had my first saw for 24 hours yet and I'm already researching what else I need, and don't. I'd like to learn more about tree work as I really enjoy it and having the knowledge could save me enormous amounts of money down the road. What I've gathered after getting several quotes is that for the price of hiring a company to do my tree work this one time plus my time in a few days labor, I can buy 3 professional level saws.

I would also like to learn more in order to provide an additional service to my lawn maintenance customers. I have friends in the business that make a killing on doing light tree work during certain times of the year. In the past I've had to turn down easy and profitable work from my customers like processing and removing a downed tree simply because I didn't have a chainsaw to cut it up with.

I don't plan to play arborist or pretend to but it would be nice to be self sufficient as well as able to remove smaller trees and downed trees from storms. I remember several years ago when I was in high school and we got all those hurricanes, there were downed trees everywhere. My neighbor that I was working for (who had a medium sized and very successful lawn business) absolutely killled it that summer disposing of downed trees. Hard work but I think we spent at least a week just cutting up trees and mostly for his own clients.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

First days work... I've got about four tanks through the saw so I'm interested to see how much it wakes up after a few more. All the firewood just in time for the freezing Florida summers. I spoke with several certified arborist before I began cutting as I was concerned with damaging the trees doing heavy pruning this time of the year but all of them said that it was fine and that oak wilt is mostly a northern thing.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

 

[CLEfreak]

Nice man, I work in a quiet suburb up here. We run mostly medic calls as we are all medics and are a fire/ems service. Before that I worked volunteer for my rural hometown and had some pretty good calls. A lot of interesting runs in a 45/55 mph farm town.

Good to hear you like the saw. I'm lucky in that my neighbor owns a tree service. I get to talk to him about stuff and am going to have the opportunity to take a bunch of trees down with him this summer. Plan on learning some tips and tricks on the finer points of felling trees.