Picked up a Echo cs-500P

[Stormy]

We use Frawley's (aka loggerchain.com) for bar and chain, too. Jim and Mary are just great, as are their prices, and shipping for two chains was only $5. Hard to beat.

 

[wyk]

I actually use them for skip chain. You can not get skip chain here, only the UK. And Frawleys send it to me for LESS than what I can get it for int he UK, and if I order one at a time, I do not pay customs.

I love the 500P. It weighs nothing and has good power and great balance. The first time I picked one up, I couldn't believe how light it was. It is basically a bored out Shindaiwa 502S.

 

[Stormy]

I actually use them for skip chain. You can not get skip chain here, only the UK. And Frawleys send it to me for LESS than what I can get it for int he UK, and if I order one at a time, I do not pay customs.

That's crazy. Good for you. That's how we found them...lookin for skip chain. We'd originally ordered a loop of full from somewhere else, but in the wrong gauge, and by the time we would have returned/exchanged it for the right gauge, we would have paid for another 28" chain in handling fees and a $15 shipping fee. Frawley's agreed to take it off our hands and applied the full value to our purchase of some other chains.

 

[OBX Koastie]

I have a 500P that after my experience with my Dolmar I am not messing with until the warranty expires other than to open the high up as far as the stop. So far so good. I ran about five tanks of gas with the bar that came with it and 18" LPX chain that I got from Frawley's. Then I read in the new Baiiley's about the narrow kerf chain and how it increases performance because it is cutting less wood. To an engineer that made sense to me! Found an Oregon bar and bought two sets of narrow kerf chains from Bailey's (the WoodlandPro version). What a difference! I am convinced this saw will almost keep up with my 362 with RS chain. Because there was only one place I could find the Oregon narrow kerf bars for this saw, I bought another one. I'm not sure why Oregon stopped making the narrow kerf bars but they do make a difference on these smaller saws.

Has anyone else had similar experience with the narrow kerf chain. It looks and files like any standard 0.325 chain but measures slightly less in width across the top of the cutter. (To me it is sort of like the narrow kerf blades you get for battery-powered saws versus the standard blades you use on a Skilsaw.)

 

[Stormy]

Our 445 came with the .325 narrow kerf set up, but I didn't know Oregon stopped making the bar. And yeah, cuts wonderfully. I thought it was the ideal match. So...where do I get replacement bars? Tried a 3/8" bar on it and it didn't like it.

 

[Jrapp]

Congrats on the new saw! I really like my 590. The guy I got mine from has a 500 for his personal use. He said it is a great light saw.

 

[porsche965]

What I found out with the chain on the 500P is that since this saw pulls a lower rpm and was concerned that it wouldn't handle Stihl RSC chain. Started out with the RM semi chisel chain. To my surprise the RM felt really slow so installed the RSC full chisel and even at much lower rpms than STihl and Husky 50cc saws she really moves along well. Deceivingly well. I like this lightweight Echo and will always have one to run. Mod the muffler is all I've done mildly and pulled the muff tube and it's response increased quite a bit. This saw ports really well too.

Will have to try the narrow kerf soon. Thanks.