Saws That Surprised You

[jltrent]

Poulan 4000 with a 24" bar and a good sharp full skip chain. It will make a pile of sawdust in a hurry.

MS170 is pretty unimpressive, especially if you get over a 4" limb size.

 

[merc_man]

Biggest disapointment would be the pioneer p28. Slow turd.

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[4CornersPuddle]

The saws that still bring the big smile to my face are my many 288XPs. I cut many thousands of trees with them over the last half of my felling career, everything from small lodgepole pines through Doug fir pumpkins. Imagine my surprise when I changed from Homelite 550s in 1980 to a Husqvarna 2100! Yikes, what a joy. I purposefully washed those Homeys at the car wash and neglected to start them to dry them out. I was particularly happy when they rusted tight. That meant I could buy more Huskys. I still fire a 288 when I've got to do serious felling or bucking, stuff over 40".
Of all the many Stihls I've run and also own, I'm most impressed by the 6 025s and MS 250s we use. Yes, they're consumer saws. No, they are not underachievers. We prefer them for the small arborist tasks we take on. They have been completely reliable for 10 years. We run 020/200ts up to an 066 and many pro saws in between.

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Strictly speaking of stock, the Pro Mac 10-10s is by far an over achiever! Clamshell design, piston port,57cc and will cut with most modern saws in its class or flat out pass them . Not cutting fast enough? Just stand on it!
The super EZ automatic, 45cc . Decomp ,3/8ths chain no problem ! The Honey Badger of saws it has 0 f#!@ks! Unfortunately the later models have a blue ignition that is garbage.
Do nothing to these saws but run them ! If they made saws like this today porters would be working on lawn mowers.

 

[Okie]

Homelite Super EZ....can't believe they are what 41cc? They cut crazy for an old saw.

Also my Pioneer 1074. I got it with a few Macs I bought. Was gonna just sell it off til I ran it. Small lightweight rugged built 51cc that pulls like much bigger engine. Also starts easy, cuts great, and can idle all day.

I still use some of the EZ's I should have added them to my list, but they did not SURPRISE me. I have several, one that I bought NEW back in the 70's, have the receipt and owners manual. Only had to do the carb kit once due to storing for about 5 years and not being started. Carb re-install is a learning curve on the little fellers. I've always dumped the gas out of the tank and then run the carb dry, choke and re-start until it's completely dry before storing. It's never seen ethanol gas.
Did not really notice the tingling in the hands while running them EZ saws until I started using saws that have a good vibe system. The EZ when all is correct will pull the big tooth chain on a 16 inch bar with no problem, Really good light saw for trimming also. Very reliable. When the compression release is ON you would not think they would ever start due to the weak pull on the rope.

 

[toadman]

The saws that still bring the big smile to my face are my many 288XPs. I cut many thousands of trees with them over the last half of my felling career, everything from small lodgepole pines through Doug fir pumpkins. Imagine my surprise when I changed from Homelite 550s in 1980 to a Husqvarna 2100! Yikes, what a joy. I purposefully washed those Homeys at the car wash and neglected to start them to dry them out. I was particularly happy when they rusted tight. That meant I could buy more Huskys. I still fire a 288 when I've got to do serious felling or bucking, stuff over 40".
Of all the many Stihls I've run and also own, I'm most impressed by the 6 025s and MS 250s we use. Yes, they're consumer saws. No, they are not underachievers. We prefer them for the small arborist tasks we take on. They have been completely reliable for 10 years. We run 020/200ts up to an 066 and many pro saws in between.

The ms 250/025 is a seriously under appreciated saw IMO... I used to use them pretty regularly in tree, because they're light, cheap, reliable & given a sharp chain, they cut very well for their class.
Faster than my 200T and has a rear handle, which I like to have in certain situations, and not others
I've picked several of them up off FB and yard sales before for $25- 120, and all of them paid for themselves on the first job, but lasted a lot longer than that in my case... I don't currently have a running one, but I should probably change that, come to think about it.

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

Impressed Dolmar 7900 stock I ran back in 2010 or so at a gtg. I would swear it was ported.

Least impressed with 562xp I demoed when they first came out from local dealer.

 

[Brushwacker]

MS200 T. Of all the hype of this and that here, that is pretty much the only 1 that impressed me that much. I am fairly impressed with the 025's also given they get overlooked here . Stock they are peppy, excellent power to weight, reliable and very easy to handle and transport, great value for the price.

 

[Woodslasher]

My Husky 346 was surprisingly disappointing when I first ran it. It cut fast and all that, but it seemed like a cinderblock compared to my MS250, so I sold it and haven't looked back. As for good surprises, my 045 Super and my brother's Husky 281 seem like the best saws I've run. My 045 pulls a 36 inch bar no sweat and my brother's 281 wore a 42 inch bar for awhile without issues, but it likes a 28-32 inch bar better for normal work.

 

[sawnami]

When I got my Olympyk 962, I spent some time checking for why it was so hard to pull over. I found out that it had 210 PSI compression and no compression release. I've got the starting routine figured out and it's not too bad to fire up now. It definitely has a wow factor to it when you run it in some wood. I've had a couple guys ask to buy it from me so they could dissect it to find out why it runs so aggressively for a completely stock saw.

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[KarlD]

I love all my saws but the one that has surprised me the most is a Dolmar ps52...little gem.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

That Poulan 245 that I rebuilt surprised me. First in its complexity. I know I've said this before, but that thing is a 3D jigsaw puzzle. Considering the fact that it was designed in the late 1960s / early 1970s, without the help of 3D CAD software, and for how all of the pieces fit together, it is as much a piece of art as it is a machine. 2nd was the power. I knew it was a powerhouse, but I never ran it when I was a young man. That was always my grandfather's saw. He ran it with the 20" bar it came with and it just ripped up everything in its path. I got the 35cc something or other with the 16" bar and all of the early 1990s required safety stuff. IIRC it was a Mac, though I have no idea what model it was.

Fast-forward 25 years and that 245 is now the 70cc saw in my 30/50/70, 3 saw plan; still ripping up everything in its path. It now wears a 24" bar and an Oregon rim & drum. I also swapped out the points ignition for a solid-state module. It doesn't spin as fast as the 'modern' saws; it tops out at about 10k rpm. Though it's not a speed demon, it is a torque monster that is almost impossible to stop. (and we all know, torque moves the wall.)

 

[super3]

Dolmar 120si

 

[Justsaws]

25cc eBay top handle chainsaw. Less than $100.00 delivered, decent saw.

 

[LoveStihlQuality]

Poulan 4000 with a 24" bar and a good sharp full skip chain. It will make a pile of sawdust in a hurry.

MS170 is pretty unimpressive, especially if you get over a 4" limb size.

Does your MS 170 have the. 043 gauge chain? Changing to .050 helps a lot. My top handle use same 14".

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[ML12]

I'd say that the plain old 54cc 10-10 impressed me. Pulled a 24" bar through anything I could throw at it. (PNW Softwoods).

 

[TBS]

My Tanaka labeled redmax g5000 has cut everything I've thrown at it.

The ouligen gs7800 has been a surprisingly nice to run.


The most surprising disappointment has been the Tanaka cs51eap, the antivib is to soft and it's a bit underpowered.

 

[scottr]

My 2003 PP220 42cc saw surprised me after a muffler mod . Good power and the rear outlet muffler has a rear heat shield that attenuates the sound .

 

[stihl86]

Introducing the undisputed heavyweight lightweight pos. Stihl 019T. There was never a worse saw made imo. I do agree with the 025.

 

[EchoRomeoCharlie]

My jonny 590's. They can keep up to pretty much anything their size.

I don't get the ms362 hatin'? Mine feels at least as strong as my 262xp and certainly has more than my Echo 590. And the antivibe is above reproach. Mine is not mtronic. The early-ish version mtronic ones I ran were wheezy, in comparison, imo.

IMO, the 362 is sort of a pointless saw when the 462 is available and I've seen the 462 available locally for only about $50-70 more.

35% more power
less than a pound heavier, which isn't noticeable at all in the hand to me holding them side by side in store.
<= 10% more money

As for the question in the OP:
For me, the 462 at first was disappointing, I just expected more out of 70+cc's. However, once I got about 10 tanks through it, it's very impressive power to weight ratio. Pulling a 28" full comp in hard woods easily at 13lbs completely stock...yeah, pretty impressive to me. Great felling saw around here because of the weight and it's chain speed. Most trees are <50" so a 28 is perfect.

My 261 is impressive as well considering it's weight and size.