Help what saw to buy!! (small saw)

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Not true at all, you didn't do your homework.......:cheers: :cheers:

The core (engine and crank) of the 136 and 141 are Husky made (Sweden), with chromed cylinders, and nothing like the "real" Poulans with the zintered (or whatever) cylinders, but the rest is more or less Poulan, and they are put together by Poulan.

So, you work in Shreveport now. LOL
 
If the exchange rate is 300.00US$ and you don't need dealer support. I would check out saws on Ebay. Ask alot of questions and choose a seller that will ship to you with good feedback. You can do better with a better quality used saw than either models you have listed for the money. If not the MS 170 should work quite well for your intended purpose. Good luck.
 
You're missing the point a bit: Stihl claims that they have the same quality in their Chinese factory as in their German, and they might or not, but if you buy a 170 it will be made in Germany with the traditional German Stihl quality.

WHATTTT?!?!?!?!?! Stihl made in China????? :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :bang: :cry:

I suppose the way to tell the difference is that it is pronounced "STIHR," huh?
 
7,
They made me drink to cool-aid, so i am a Stihl man(ahhhhhummmahhhhummm). But i think of a 170 as a limber not a "firewood saw". You say "casual", what size logs are you generaly cutting? Unless you pick on really small stuff a slighty larger saw would serve you better. Is there any possibility of buying used, or are you dead set on new? You may be able to run down a decent used saw in the 40cc size that would fit the budget. Just an idea.....

(ahhhummmSTIHLahhhhummm):D

RD
 
Although I'm a tried and true Husqvarna fan, I wouldn't look at the 136, 141 or 142. They are nothing but orange Poulan's. I worked on a 142 today, almost new, from Lowes. The entire muffler assembly had fallen off. Replaced it, sharpened the chain, modified the L/H mixture screws for external adjustments, etc.

It was a TURD! One of the worst running Husqvarna's I've ever seen. It didn't have half the power of my Echo top handle CS-360T!

In addition to not having any power, the oiler only worked when it wanted to. One minute dumping tons of oil, the next minute the chain would be dry as a bone for 2-3 cuts, then the oil would come gushing out again. I cleaned the entire saw, bar, etc, so it was some sort of internal "issue".

Before I'd buy one of these smaller Husqvarna's, I'd get an Echo instead, CS-370 or CS-400, or even a CS-440 if the budget allowed for it?.....Cliff
 
LOL - no, but I collect info.......:)

Btw, I have learned that there is a lot of saw info thet is true up to 99% of the time or so, but very little that is true 100.0% of the time.....

so true:)
 
Although I'm a tried and true Husqvarna fan, I wouldn't look at the 136, 141 or 142. They are nothing but orange Poulan's. I worked on a 142 today, almost new, from Lowes. The entire muffler assembly had fallen off. Replaced it, sharpened the chain, modified the L/H mixture screws for external adjustments, etc.

It was a TURD! One of the worst running Husqvarna's I've ever seen. It didn't have half the power of my Echo top handle CS-360T!

In addition to not having any power, the oiler only worked when it wanted to. One minute dumping tons of oil, the next minute the chain would be dry as a bone for 2-3 cuts, then the oil would come gushing out again. I cleaned the entire saw, bar, etc, so it was some sort of internal "issue".

Before I'd buy one of these smaller Husqvarna's, I'd get an Echo instead, CS-370 or CS-400, or even a CS-440 if the budget allowed for it?.....Cliff

That would be like going from one turd to another
 
You can't compare those orange Poulan's to an Ehco. They may not be for you but they are a MUCH better unit.

So you are saying that the orange poulans are better than the Echo,,,,,,,,,,
I agree.:)
 
Small Stihls

For the smaller homeowner saws, you will be MUCH happier with the Stihl's. I've tried 3 different homeowner model huskies to quite the disappointment. The homeowner saws from Stihl are built quite a bit better than the huskies. I'd go that route. We got the MS-210 over the 137/142, even though the hp rating is lower, the Stihl has significantly more power than the huskies do... Good luck and let us know what you choose and give us a review bro... Some pics are always good too

:cheers:
 
I have cut wood with a puolan 2300 CVA with 18" bar [38 cc] and heated my home with it and wood exclusively for 3 years or so when it was new ['84-85 or so]. I the largest tree I went through was a 34-36" dry red oak. This saw was not a speed monger, but with propper application of power, and a sharp chain, would do all I needed. I would choose the larger of the 2 saws, because the power increse will allow you to go through larger wood much easier. A longer bar, if a sproket nose, doesn't sap a significant amount of power, but will allow you to go through much larger wood with a single pass. Either saw is a much better saw then mine is, [yes it still works I have replaced it with a 441] and should last you for many years if taken reasonable care of.
 
From DIRECT experience, I'd buy a small Echo saw 10 to 1 over the orange Husky "Poulan" saws.

We have two 510's, and have ran them for about 4 years, nearly every day. They are not all that impressive for power, but decent. (We actually muffler modded one of them a couple weeks ago, and it runs pretty close to my Husky 55 after doing so, still testing it, but so far pretty impressive.)

In contrast, I purchased a 141 Husquvarna, and couldn't get rid of that POS fast enough.

The very first time I fueled it it, the gas cap cross-threaded, never to quit leaking again. That goshed darned "O" ring would come spitting out if you tightened it all the way, and leak like Niagra falls if you didn't stop at exactly the right spot, agravating to say the least, and it ALWAYS required pliers to get it loose.

The engine would NEVER start after it sat for a while, typically requring 20-40 pulls, most days I didn't even bother with it, I'd should have just tossed it down over the hill into the scrap pile.

It had very poor power characteristics, and would start going lean about half way thru a tank of fuel, requiring an adjustment to the high speed mixture screw.

It WOULD NOT start if shut down and left sitting for a couple of minutes. You had to let it cool down, or pull it a couple of hundred times.

I suspect that it was over-heating causing the last two problems, because the fuel line and carburetor were fine?

Anyhow, any of the Echo saws I've owned were ten times more reliable than the 141. The 142 we just serviced yesterday ran OK, plenty of rpm's, but its a good thing it didn't have bucking spikes on it, because it had it's tongue hanging out running that little 16" bar.

The 440 Echo we owned was DEAD SOLID reliable, at least 30 percent more power at every rpm than the 142, and it NEVER took more than 5 pulls to get it started under any conditions.

The 142 is my second experience with the orange Poulan's, coming from a Husqvarna fan, I'm sitting here wondering what they were thinking putting their label on them?........Cliff
 
My dad runs the Stihl 180 tooless everything. And He LOVES it. I have an husky 141 air injection. Not a bad saw but I only use it to cut out fence lines, not enough power to do much else. If nothing else I promise you this. The Stihl will be worth more from the point you purchase than any thing else.
 
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