It has been a slow progression, it includes flip top oil caps, safety anti kickback chain on their low end saws, auto chain tensioners, and plastic crank cases.
I don't see what causes so many people to have trouble with the flip caps. I've never had any trouble, nor have I seen any of the multitudes of people I've worked with in the Forest Service (and you know we have some not-real-bright folks working here) have any trouble with them over the 7 years the flip caps have been out. Honestly, I've seen and had threaded caps jostle loose several times, while I've never seen a flip cap come off.
Safety chain comes on all saws under 62ccs due to ANSI standards. Doesn't matter who makes it.
Yeah, the tool less chain tensioners are pretty dumb.
All 3 big companies have plastic crankcases on their small saws. Agreed, Dolmar is the only company that makes a saw as small as 40cc with a mag case, but they also make one as big as 51cc with a plastic case.
To sum it up, when you point your finger, remember that you have 3 pointing right back at yourself.
So this dip in Stihl quality you speak of... The only one that applies to the pro saws is the flip caps. BFD. Small thing. Let's take the Stihl 460 for an example. The rest of the saw is actually more reliable and more powerful than the original 046 was. Same for the 440 before it was discontinued, same for the 660. (Although the power did increase on the 066 there for a bit, then OSHA sound level limits made the power decrease, then EPA regulations decreased power again) However, the power of the 660 is greater than the original 066, and with simple muffler and carb mods, it can be back up to where it was at the peak of the 066. But with both the 1128 and 1122 series saws, continous improvements to durability have been made. So are you saying that the drop in quality happened with the change from the 038, 056, 084 era saws? I love those saws, but you've gotta agree that although there's a lot more plastic on the newer saws, they're still very reliable and more powerful than the saws they replaced. Not to mention they weigh a lot less.
I'll tell you another thing for free, until Dolmar makes an air filter that's bigger than that which you'd put on a weed wacker, it'll never work for fire, where Stihls and Huskies do great.
This is not to say that the Dolmars are crap. I own 2, and love them. When it came time to buy my 62 year old mother a small saw to use around her property, the Makita 401 was the obvious choice. The 7900 is a really comfortable saw to run, the full wrap they have for it is hands down my favorite. The power is great, unless there's dust in the air.