Echo Cs330t

[SRT-Tech]

anyone tried the ECHO tophandle saw (CS330T) there is one sitting in a pawn shop locally, that has been used once or twice.....good price!.....i need a smaller saw for occasional use in the trees when doing sideline work (ie when i cant use the company saws...lol)

 

[Wood Hick]

If its a fair price I would grab it. I use its older little brother the cs300 top handle almost daily in season, and it has never let me down. Its slower than the higher priced pro saws, but does a nice job for me. Also, there are a bunch of bars,chains, etc that swap out with other saws I own, so I can set it up different ways without spending and money. Go get er!

 

[dtnodya]

Even if you don't use it, if you get it cheap you can re-sell it on ebay. I bought a 280e from a pawn shop for like $25.00 and it sold on ebay for $125.00.

But yeah if the price is right, buy that thing!

 

[2wheels]

I own one and have no complaints. Could use a little more torque. But for the price $200.00 new I thought it was a great bargain.
It will pay for it self many times over.

 

[SRT-Tech]

UPDATE:

the one in the pawn shop had a shattered crank. (pawnshop guy let me get the saw inspected- two thumbs up to him for that! ).. So i decided to pass on it. Instead i made Visa happy and bought a brand new one ($400 CDN) (2 taxes). filled er up, attached the bar and chain, checked each and every nut/bolt or allen head and fired er up. 4 pulls right out of the crate......vroom. The Echo qaulity control is amazing.....everything was checked three times before being packaged, then it was checked once more.

Let a tank idle through it then tackled about 40 limbs on a tree i dropped yesterday. nice little saw!

i know i know, its not a Stihl or Husky, but i dont give a hoot. I take good care of my tools be they cheap or expensive (and i gots expensive......). I like the ergonomics of the saw a LOT, i dont get wrist pain like i do with the Stihl Ms200T. The Echo is nicely balanced, i have the 14" bar on it. Thumb ups in this one. It suits me for MY intended use of it: couple hours a day of treeclimbing, mostly deadwooding and thinning.

 

[Wood Hick]

Good for you! You know we all sometimes have the "wrong" saw in the truck for the job, once I responded to a phone call whre a guy was having trouble with a tree messing up his sattelite reception. His problem tree was an 80 foot rock oak with twin trunks. All I had with me was my little echo, but instead of go home and come back I dropped it with a 12" bar! Of course I don't recomend that, but honest to god that little saw tore it up. It was a brand new bar and chain, and that helped! Good little saw, you won't be sorry.

 

[dustytools]

Congratulations on your new saw!

 

[SRT-Tech]

went out for a few minutes and buzzed up some 10" logs.........the 330T might not have the speed of the Stihl MS200t, but a sharp chain on the 330T still cuts faster than a dull chain on the MS200T :yoyo:

 

[rahtreelimbs]

I have a CS-360 and I like it. The muffler has a catalytic converter in it and it is very restricted. I used a band saw and cut the muffler in half, gutted it then welded it back up. The difference is noticeable as it woke the saw up!!!

Granted it isn't a 200T..............but then no one said it was!!!

 

[Just Mow]

went out for a few minutes and buzzed up some 10" logs.........the 330T might not have the speed of the Stihl MS200t, but a sharp chain on the 330T still cuts faster than a dull chain on the MS200T :yoyo:

Not quite. The 200T with dull chain or the chain on backwards would still outcut the underpowered 330 Echo.

 

[SRT-Tech]

apples, oranges, ford, chevy, dodge, stihl, echo, husky ALL GOOD.......

 

[SRT-Tech]

cut for 4 hours straight today, pausing to refuel. The CS330T is a fuel sipper. only ran 2 tanks thru the whole time i was cutting. Limbing, thinning, and slash cutting the pile up afterwards. 4 x 8" cedar trees notched and dropped, and about 10 rounds of 12" cedar too.

Likes:

- very economic to fuel this saw, its a sipper (compared to the 200T i'm used to)

- quieter than both the Husky 338XPT and the 200T (that may change after i mod the muffler...

- ergonomic! fits my hand comfortabley, can run it all day long. I dont get sharp pains in the wrist like i did with the 200T

- light, but solidly built.

- the centrifugal air "precleaning" system works MUCH better that the Husky version of centrifugal cleaning. The air filter was still clean at the end of the day, even with all the dead dusty limbs and sawdust flying around. My bigger Husky was clogged full after bucking up the logs and the bigger slash pile.

- starts on first pull, even after lunch when the saw had been sitting off for an hour.

- only takes a pull of about 6" - 8" to fire it up. Nice when in the tree. I had issue with the work 200Ts, they were horrible to start (10 pulls) after refueling or sitting for a bit (but i dont blame the 200T, i blame poor maintenance and lack of proper spark plug gapping)

- the clutch does'nt pack up with crud like some saws seem prone to do. After work it was clean, barely a speck of sawdust in it. Will re-evaluate after making some noodles with the saw.

- solid, quick chainbrake - either manual or centrifigual.

- screw on/screwoff gas/oil caps, with replacable O rings seals !!! no stupid, prone to breakage "flip up" caps here

- TWO clutch cover nuts, not one. nice solid setup, with side tensioner

dislikes:

- the oiler loves to oil, even when idling and the saw was at the side of the harness. When you rev it to make a cut, you see a heavy stream/spray of bar oil plastering the wood and flying into the air (after prolonged idling). During use it oils normaly.

- felt air filter (i prefer the husky 61 nylon mesh cartridge filters myself....but each to their own...)

 

[clearance]

I had this tree service guy asking me questions, sniffing around, probably wanting to hire me cause I am a CUA, anyways, he showed me his little Echo and was telling me how good it was. I kind of thought he was a joker cause of this, the only saw is the 200, everyone knows it. But maybe you are onto something, stranger things have happened.

 

[2wheels]

you can adjust the oiler out put with the screw in the bottom side of the saw

 

[SRT-Tech]

ah so there is an adjustment....i did'nt see one behind the clutch, where im used to adjusting them...)

cheers!

 

[SRT-Tech]

RAVE: this lil arb saw is a fuel sipper! all i di yesterday was climb and thin 1" - 6" limbs all day long. Still had a 1/4 tank left at the end. i do notice that the fuel use goes WAY up when cutting the bigger stuff (prolonged cutting time) but thats expected.

RAVE: the air flter (after about 18 hours runtime), is JUST starting to get a tiny bit of dust on it. The Echo 'pre clean air injection" setup is (IMHO) way better than the one on my bigger Husky

RANT: stock chain is "ok" , but the WoodsMan Pro 30LP i put on REALLY makes some chips.

Mods coming soon: 12 or 14" ArborPRO bar, or ArborMax bar (both with roller tip) ,

 

[callagher]

A word of warning about the smaller Echo's

Always...always....double, triple check the tightness of the airfilter cover retaining screw.




Let's say you were cleaning out river snags,...and didn't see you air filter cover/filter fall of in the river.



Your Echo will suck in chips by the truck load.



She was a good saw, a very impressive amount of smoke will roll out of her, you would almost think it was about to catch fire.

Over heated about every internal part....tossed in the junk heap, after a few tries to bring her back from the dead.

:deadhorse:


Echo was right on the money, making sure their throw away saws....get thrown away....by placing the intake right next to the bar. With only one non-locking horzontal retaining bolt on the air filter cover.


******Rant over******


*sigh*

 

[mountainlake]

Hard to believe some people, but then tools don't belong in the the hands of some people. Smoke, forgot to take the choke off or waay out of adjustment. Steve

 

[SRT-Tech]

Always...always....double, triple check the tightness of the airfilter cover retaining screw.




Let's say you were cleaning out river snags,...and didn't see you air filter cover/filter fall of in the river.



Your Echo will suck in chips by the truck load.



She was a good saw, a very impressive amount of smoke will roll out of her, you would almost think it was about to catch fire.

Over heated about every internal part....tossed in the junk heap, after a few tries to bring her back from the dead.

:deadhorse:


Echo was right on the money, making sure their throw away saws....get thrown away....by placing the intake right next to the bar. With only one non-locking horzontal retaining bolt on the air filter cover.


******Rant over******


*sigh*

the air intake on mine is on the back of the saw, not next to the bar. The air cover is held on with a single plastic nut, but there is a posilock action when it is slightly tightened.

 

[SRT-Tech]

UPDATE/REVIEW:

ran the saw for a week solid, limbing/thinning, some ground bucking of smaller limbs (12" and under). The saw performs flawlessly, the WoodsmanPro chain is a great upgrade. Still have'nt had to clean the air filter (last time was over a week ago), its just got a tiny bit of dust on it. Fuel consumption wise, i've been averaging 1.5 to 2 tanks in a 6 - 8 hour day. Its a fuel sipper. Running synthetic mix oil in it and regular gas (87 octane). Once this gas can of mixed regular is gone i'll be swtiching to 94 octane (ethanol free Chevron)

really appreaciating the wieght (or lack therof) in this saw when climbing this grove of 100' cottonwoods i've been working on.