Trying to choose a cleanup chainsaw

[MOA_Chaser]

New to the forum; I have never owned a chainsaw. I own two acres that has a total of two trees on it, a house with no fireplace, and no wooded property... but we do have a 400 acre hunting lease. I basically need a saw for clearing trees that fall across logging roads, and possibly clearing brush/shooting lanes.

Looking at various reviews and recommendations, it seems like the Echo 590 is a beast. BUT... it weighs in at 17 lbs.

Of course there's always the chance that a 30" tree could fall across a road, but I'm wondering if the 590 would be overkill and heavy for the type of use I'd expect to see. I was initially thinking about the CS-400, which gives an 18" blade and comes in at around 10 lbs.

I guess I'm not sure about what exactly I would need/want for any given chainsaw situation.

It seems like I could use the 400 for a lot longer without getting tired, but when we get a 20" oak falling across a road am I going to be cussing it out and wanting to throw it in the brush? What kind of bar length and CCs should I be looking at for this kind of varied clean-up duty?

 

[pioneerguy600]

An Echo 590 weighs 17 lbs!

 

[NSEric]

I like a 50 cc saw with a 16 inch bar for that type of use, it can cut up a 30 inch tree but works best on smaller stuff.
If you like echo's get the 490.

 

[pioneerguy600]

New to the forum; I have never owned a chainsaw. I own two acres that has a total of two trees on it, a house with no fireplace, and no wooded property... but we do have a 400 acre hunting lease. I basically need a saw for clearing trees that fall across logging roads, and possibly clearing brush/shooting lanes.

Looking at various reviews and recommendations, it seems like the Echo 590 is a beast. BUT... it weighs in at 17 lbs.

Of course there's always the chance that a 30" tree could fall across a road, but I'm wondering if the 590 would be overkill and heavy for the type of use I'd expect to see. I was initially thinking about the CS-400, which gives an 18" blade and comes in at around 10 lbs.

I guess I'm not sure about what exactly I would need/want for any given chainsaw situation.

It seems like I could use the 400 for a lot longer without getting tired, but when we get a 20" oak falling across a road am I going to be cussing it out and wanting to throw it in the brush? What kind of bar length and CCs should I be looking at for this kind of varied clean-up duty?

It seldom hurts to go a bit bigger in a chainsaw, a too small chainsaw for the job at hand is much more tiresome for me.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

I like a 50 cc saw with a 16 inch bar for that type of use, it can cut up a 30 inch tree but works best on smaller stuff.
If you like echo's get the 490.

Thank you, I hadn't seen that one and it seems like a better saw at almost the same price point as the 400.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

The 490 is a solid saw. Do the easy muff mod, remove limiter caps and retune the carb. But with an 18” or 16” bar if possible, the standard box store 20” bar is too much bar for that saw.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

The 490 is a solid saw. Do the easy muff mod, remove limiter caps and retune the carb. But with an 18” or 16” bar if possible, the standard box store 20” bar is too much bar for that saw.

Great... Are the Echo bars OK, or is it a good time to go with another brand bar while switching to a shorter one?

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Great... Are the Echo bars OK, or is it a good time to go with another brand bar while switching to a shorter one?

If you can get them to sell you the saw with a shorter bar just run it until you would need to replace and upgrade then. For your use it will last a long time, the Echo bar is fine. I have 2 490 and they run great.

 

[champion221elite]

I like a 50 cc saw with a 16 inch bar for that type of use, it can cut up a 30 inch tree but works best on smaller stuff.
If you like echo's get the 490.

I have a CS490. Its a nice 50 CC saw. It runs even better now that I've removed the limiter caps, muff mod and retuned the carb. Echos come quite lean out of the box but a quick tune helps wake them up and run much more safely.

An MS261 is also a nice saw, but it will cost 2x as much as the Echo CS490.

 

[computeruser]

Experience in trail clearing in the Midwest has shown that if I can’t do it with 40-50cc/13” then I probably need 80cc/28”.

Trail clearing isn’t production work and any hurry you are in is purely self-imposed. Don’t overbuy on saws for this work, especially if you’re going to be carrying the saw by hand or even in a backpack for miles at a time.

Echo 490/16” would be a great choice at a great price point.

 

[Huskybill]

I learned on the 2.0 & 3.75 cu.in. Craftsman saws I got tied on waiting for them to cut. I wanted firewood for home back then. The 2100 (100cc/6 cu.in.) husky was the power house I was looking for. Then I tried a 266se 4.1 cu In. The 266/4.1 is the perfect sized saw for any home owner. Stay in the 60cc range like the rancher 460 you can’t go wrong. I’m not sure if amazon is still doing it I got a $100 gift card for getting a Visa card from amazon. The rancher was on sale for $499 I got the rancher for $399 for my son. Check amazon out.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

To be honest if working with brushy shyt my Echo top handle cs-280 is out a lot more than the cs-400. I just prefer it.

A 400 is going to do a lot of damage, be light enough to run all day long, won't kill you to carry very far. I'm partial to mine because I cut lots and lots of brush and live trees and nothing more tiring and dangerous in my opinion than swinging a heavyweight saw in the twigs and brambles. I basically save the bigger stuff for when i get to take a break refuel and sharpen the chain then attack the larger stuff with a fresh edge for speed. I run old poulan bars and chains on mine, right now it's 16" with a skip tooth chain, sometimes 14" in fence lines. The 18" one from the factory is still new. Many times bars and chains that fit are on clearance at Wal Mart or the farm store.

If you are cutting mostly 6" plus trees or logs, rolling around in a side by side and don't have far to walk, I'd say the larger saws make more sense.

 

[s sidewall]

I prefer my echo 400 over my big saws for cleanup, lighter, sips fuel and doesn't tire me out. Muffler mod, retune and a real chain, works good clearing a fence line of brush. If I got anything of 25", I go get the big saw after clearing the other stuff.

Steve

 

[Huskybill]

I try to teach my sons to use the proper size saw for the task at hand. A bigger cc saw cutting small brush up or tree branches can be an accident waiting to happen. Maybe a 50 cc to 60 cc saw is all you will ever need. But putting a 16” bar on a 460 rancher isn’t too shabby.

I’m older @68yo now and wornout. The Stihl 170 and partner 400 is as fast as I want to go for now. Put me near the big wood, start the bigger saw for me and I’ll cut.