I could tell the 346 weighed more, or maybe it was all the **** packed in the owner......
I'm with ya on the craftsman, a wild thing will shake your fillings loose.
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Weight and vibration levels of MS 280, 260, and Dolmar 5100?
- Thread starter dadouthat
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That is going to upset puss hands.:taped:
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Bowtie
Gearhead
That is going to upset puss hands.:taped:
LOL. Like I said, the people that run saws all day every day for a living, I understand the merit in searching for the saw that has lower vibe levels. The rest of us, we really dont run a saw for extended periods of time that attribute to the discomforts and problems that arise from vibration, UNTIL we get to that certain age where everything starts hurting more than we think it should. For those people, I also apologize. The rest, BUCK UP SISSIES!!!! The first saw I ever ran was an old Homelite with no av at all, and I loved the experience.
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Good questions and I hope this answer is taken ok. I don't mean to sound harsh, but did your grandad have whitefinger or carpal tunnel or Bergers disease? (and if you haven't heard of Bergers disease, consider it a very good thing not to know about). Mine had Berger's disease, my father had very bad carpal tunnel before surgery was generally available for it. I had carpal tunnel from heredity and repetitive motion labor including use of a chainsaw. I had surgery but I don't want a rerun.
Every household in this area has multiple saws and they are probably the most important power tool of all. We all use saws a lot. I cut firewood for my principal heat source in a cold region, clear trail, and depend on my saws for general "household" duties. (But unlike some really do, I don't cut up moose with one!) Carry a chainsaw in the boat and on the snogo. I depend on and use a chainsaw a lot more than Joe Homeowner but less than all day every day.
So I darned well do care about vibration. The 280 is a very smooth saw even in cold weather (-20F and lower when rubber mounts get stiffer) and I don't want to retreat back to more vibration. And I just don't need a saw the size of the cure-all 361!
Bowtie
Gearhead
Looks like you found your saw then. Good end to this thread!
extraspecialman
ArboristSite Operative
the 280 is a good saw,but power to weight it dont compare to a 260 or 361.Ive never ran any Dolmar saw.But for the money,the 280 is hard to beat.About the same speed as a 290 or 310,but alot less weight and alot better AV and balance.Cheaper than the 260.Id recommend a 16" on a 280,18" max.
thanks for the information
Troll and many others: thanks for the information. It's been very helpful to me and the usual forum side fights seemed to please the participants. (They're sort of like the brawls in the stands at hockey games.)
I probably didn't make it very clear what I wanted the information for. I already have a 280 and wanted to get another saw to complement that one. Possibly a pro level and smaller and lighter than the 280. I'm looking for something about the weight of the 025 that I finally wore out. The 280 is fine and I like it, but when the MS 261 with new suspension and other improvements over the MS 260 finally appears, that will probably be an ideal saw for many of my uses. I've been waiting for them to hit the market but since the MS 261 probably won't appear until next year, I'm trying to get information about the ones that do exist. I'll check the vibration tables that Troll specified.
So far, and I know this is horrifying to some readers here, it's beginning to look as though the best solution is just a replacement MS 250.
Troll and many others: thanks for the information. It's been very helpful to me and the usual forum side fights seemed to please the participants. (They're sort of like the brawls in the stands at hockey games.)
I probably didn't make it very clear what I wanted the information for. I already have a 280 and wanted to get another saw to complement that one. Possibly a pro level and smaller and lighter than the 280. I'm looking for something about the weight of the 025 that I finally wore out. The 280 is fine and I like it, but when the MS 261 with new suspension and other improvements over the MS 260 finally appears, that will probably be an ideal saw for many of my uses. I've been waiting for them to hit the market but since the MS 261 probably won't appear until next year, I'm trying to get information about the ones that do exist. I'll check the vibration tables that Troll specified.
So far, and I know this is horrifying to some readers here, it's beginning to look as though the best solution is just a replacement MS 250.
Tzed250
Addicted to ArboristSite
Tzed 250
Bingo!
I just did some homework on the KWF tables and they are great. (My German is pretty primitive though.) It's nice to see measured values of some of the things that we all compare. For power/weight ratios, there is far less variation than I had expected, and the Dolmar 4600 ( 460?), MS 260, 346 XP NE, and even the lowly MS 250 are not as different overall as I would have expected. The only real surprise to me was after seeing that the Husky 346 XP had the lowest vib levels by quite a bit, I checked for dealers in the entire state and the "neighboring" provinces.
The result: for Dolmar, there are only two dealers in the state and they are separated by about 500 miles. The one nearest me is only 60 miles away.
For Husky, there is only one dealer in the entire state and that one is only 60 miles from me, although there is another in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, which is only about 750 miles from me.
On the other hand, for Stihls, there is only 1 dealer nearby in Fairbanks, but then when one gets to Anchorage, there are several, and also some on the Kenai peninsua. So practically speaking, the state is carpeted with Stihl dealers.
The 260 has lower vib levels than the 250, should last a lot longer, and costs a lot more. I'll see how the checkbook looks when I start to see winter. (It's already getting dark again at night, we're losing several minutes a day, and our senior Senator Ted Stevens just got indicted. It's going to get dark in lots of ways.)
I just checked some member profiles and now I understand some of the major differences in viewpoints like safety and comfort features: some of the persons on the forum and the thread are lots younger than saws I bought new! As someone commented (Eubie Blake?), "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."
Bingo!
I just did some homework on the KWF tables and they are great. (My German is pretty primitive though.) It's nice to see measured values of some of the things that we all compare. For power/weight ratios, there is far less variation than I had expected, and the Dolmar 4600 ( 460?), MS 260, 346 XP NE, and even the lowly MS 250 are not as different overall as I would have expected. The only real surprise to me was after seeing that the Husky 346 XP had the lowest vib levels by quite a bit, I checked for dealers in the entire state and the "neighboring" provinces.
The result: for Dolmar, there are only two dealers in the state and they are separated by about 500 miles. The one nearest me is only 60 miles away.
For Husky, there is only one dealer in the entire state and that one is only 60 miles from me, although there is another in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, which is only about 750 miles from me.
On the other hand, for Stihls, there is only 1 dealer nearby in Fairbanks, but then when one gets to Anchorage, there are several, and also some on the Kenai peninsua. So practically speaking, the state is carpeted with Stihl dealers.
The 260 has lower vib levels than the 250, should last a lot longer, and costs a lot more. I'll see how the checkbook looks when I start to see winter. (It's already getting dark again at night, we're losing several minutes a day, and our senior Senator Ted Stevens just got indicted. It's going to get dark in lots of ways.)
I just checked some member profiles and now I understand some of the major differences in viewpoints like safety and comfort features: some of the persons on the forum and the thread are lots younger than saws I bought new! As someone commented (Eubie Blake?), "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."
nikocker
Addicted to ArboristSite
Comfort is important.
I'm 57 and I have to say with arthritis starting to develop in both hands I truly appreciate the smoothness of my NE346XP. It doesn't matter how long I handle any saw - - it just hurts. However the 346 is the most comfortable of all my saws to run.
So my suggestion to is to buy the one that feels best to you, but by all means you owe it to yourself to at least check out the NE346XP.
An added benefit is that it will probably outperform all the others you're considering!
Good luck in your purchase.
Al
I'm 57 and I have to say with arthritis starting to develop in both hands I truly appreciate the smoothness of my NE346XP. It doesn't matter how long I handle any saw - - it just hurts. However the 346 is the most comfortable of all my saws to run.
So my suggestion to is to buy the one that feels best to you, but by all means you owe it to yourself to at least check out the NE346XP.
An added benefit is that it will probably outperform all the others you're considering!
Good luck in your purchase.
Al
