My first saw was my Homelite Timberman 45cc/18" bar. Dad bought it for me on my 19th b-day since I had moved out of the house and was living on my own on a place with a wood stove and plenty of trees to cut. It had this cute little nose guard on it that I removed within about 2 seconds of owning the saw. I hadn't really run a chainsaw much at that point, and thought this saw was a great one to have, worked just fine. Then a friend of mine, a Canadian logger, showed up with some big arse Husky he owned, 36" Cannon Superbar, dual port muffler, full skip chain, ported/polished... I ran it for about 5 minutes and realized why he referred to my saw as a "Fisher Price" saw.
When I was 20 I started working for the Forest Service and noticed that all the saws guys were running were orange and white. I didn't get to use them much, ran a 310 some which didn't impress me much. Then when I first became certified as a sawyer, the saw they gave me to use for my certification was a cherry looking Stihl 044, full wrap handle, 28" full skip chain, cut like a mother :censored:er. I spent a few more years floundering around running lesser saws, and in the winter of 05/06 I was working for wildlife on a wolverine trapping project... in the dead of winter we got a huge dump of snow followed by a bunch of wind that blew trees down left and right. I spent many a day running an 044 with a 28" bar and full skip (with the bar buried plenty of times too) and decided that I just had to have one. Searched for a long time and ended up with a rough looking 044 off Ebay that I got for $144 that runs great and is my saw of choice now. It still needs fleshed out with a full wrap bar and long clutch cover but it's MY saw. I hope to do a refurbish on it some day to freshen it up and keep it going strong for years to come.
I also recently bought a 460 mag that I only need a few more parts for to make a complete saw of it. I'm also working on getting an 026 to rebuild/refurbish and give to my Dad for Christmas. Maybe one day I'll buy an 066 just to see how they run
I also have a love for the 038 MagII after running one for a few years at my last job, and recently bought a 361 for my current job and really like it as well.