I love my chinese saw

[NSEric]

I said bone stock 359 lol.
A 359 is way faster ported and would whoop my 54cc saw.
Some day I'll have a 359 and will port it, they're a really good saw and the right size for the wood I cut. A 50cc saw is good for 90% of the trees I cut but it's nice to have a little more power than you need for the bigger trees.
I try to keep things real/honest. The ported 54.5cc clone with a 372 carb is a little faster than a stock 50cc pro saw. For my use it's a good saw but they're not for everyone, they're slow stock and need ported to run decent.

Anytime your in my area feel free to being it over. I have a ported 359 that will put it in its place.

.

 

[sean donato]

I said bone stock 359 lol.
A 359 is way faster ported and would whoop my 54cc saw.
Some day I'll have a 359 and will port it, they're a really good saw and the right size for the wood I cut. A 50cc saw is good for 90% of the trees I cut but it's nice to have a little more power than you need for the bigger trees.
I try to keep things real/honest. The ported 54.5cc clone with a 372 carb is a little faster than a stock 50cc pro saw. For my use it's a good saw but they're not for everyone, they're slow stock and need ported to run decent.


.

That's because they coped a 30-40cc design then made it bigger. Been in a bunch of zenoah clone saws and was nearly always disappointed with what I saw and how they ran. Like you say, they can be made to run pretty decent but once that happens you just paid someone or sank a decent amount of time in it to get the saw to run decent. Just not for me. They have their place though.

 

[JRM]

I don't understand the desire to proudly announce the support of a communist regime that takes advantage of their greatest asset which is people.
But you do you.

 

[fields_mj]

I don't understand the desire to proudly announce the support of a communist regime that takes advantage of their greatest asset which is people.
But you do you.

How bout those ZAMA carbs eh???

 

[NSEric]

Im from canada, we'll be joining china soon anyways lol.
No saw is made in canada, they're all foreign made to me.

I mess with the china saws to save money, I can have a new saw that rips for about 200 canadian. Used beat up pro saws sell for twice that where im at.
It took me about 3 hours to degree, port and build an intake for the last 6200 china saw I modded.

 

[Czed]

The Husqvarna 235/240 is the

I could also go buy a Husky 235 or Stihl 170, which will run like a top for a while, and "throw out big chips."

But how long will that saw run 4-6hrs per day, 4-5 days a week, for 12 or 36 months?


Edit: think about the resources taken to manufacture and ship that saw, it's ultimate longevity, in relation to a solidly-built pro saw that will last 3-30 years depending on maintenance and upkeep.

Absolute worst series of saws I've ever worked on
Trash saws I'd buy virtually anything I'd even buy a Stihl over that series or any of the homeowner Husqvarna.
And I'm a Husqvarna man I've run them since the 80s
As far as the Chinese stuff I can't recommend them as each example can be wildly different quality
I do like my 365/372 clones I have several but needed some tinkering
And my china top handles have been problem free.

 

[JRM]

How bout those ZAMA carbs eh???

A legitimate chainsaw manufacturer that builds components (in China) to the legitimate chainsaw manufacturers specifications and a Chinese saw that was built as a complete copy to circumvent the need to actually employ people for R&D and testing purposes aren't comparable.

 

[xraydaniel]

I don't understand the desire to proudly announce the support of a communist regime that takes advantage of their greatest asset which is people.
But you do you.

It’s pretty easy when you study economics and geopolitics.

How else would we have been able to enjoy cheap products and cheap services unless those third world countries and emerging nations like China bought our debt for the last 30 years? They had high productivity while we increasingly financialized our own economy and gutted our manufacturing class. We exported our inflation to them in the form of US dollars while they gave us cheap labor and cheap goods. Is there intellectual property theft and the copy issue? Yes indeed. That globalization ship is sailing away though.

While I am a firm proponent of brining back our manufacturing class and productivity I understand this is a very complex and longstanding issue. One can only go so far as to buy only American goods and services. The divorce of East and West is already in motion and it will be painful for the American consumers until the time that we decide to become a highly productive nation with a large labor force. Both those things are very weak right now.

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Im from canada, we'll be joining china soon anyways lol.
No saw is made in canada, they're all foreign made to me.

I mess with the china saws to save money, I can have a new saw that rips for about 200 canadian. Used beat up pro saws sell for twice that where im at.
It took me about 3 hours to degree, port and build an intake for the last 6200 china saw I modded.

Haha this is the best answer I've seen in a while!
While I hope you dont go into the Asian decent, I definitely see your point.
I do think that if you hunt around enough pro models are cheap and out there, junkyard, scrapers, old farmers and various places. If your good mechanically putting the work for porting and carb swapping would definitely be more productive in a pro model, even a clone pro model.
Cheap saws always require alot of work ,but its usually fun , I bought a 23$ ms441 and it was a total wreck , I run it frequently now and 2 years later I got my nice 394xp for 300.00 from the same scrapyarder.

 

[Jonny Quest]

I try damn hard to avoid buying anything Chi-Com. ANYTHING. I am willing to spend more money to buy USA goods and services. After USA-made products, I look for quality European stuff.

I’m glad you like your Chi-Com saw. Unfortunately, it may be the product of industrial espionage, non-earth-friendly manufacturing, and people-exploiting labor practices.

I‘ll get off my soapbox now…

JQ

 

[fields_mj]

A legitimate chainsaw manufacturer that builds components (in China) to the legitimate chainsaw manufacturers specifications and a Chinese saw that was built as a complete copy to circumvent the need to actually employ people for R&D and testing purposes aren't comparable.

I couldn't disagree more. I'm not against the idea of paying more for a better product, and that means paying for the R&D needed to develop the product. Having said that, as far as R&D is concerned, at best a brand new MS661 is only marginally better than the 066 saws that first hit the shelves over 30 years ago. There are some who would argue that those old 066 saws are actually as good or better than what you can buy today. Until Stihl released the 500, the about the only saw in the past 30 years that was a noticeable improvement was the MS261. So much for the idea of paying a premium price to get the best R&D for the past 30 years.... That shouldn't be a surprise though since there's no real magic to designing or building 2 cycle engines.

What you are actually talking about isn't R&D and testing. You're really talking about overhead, of which R&D and testing is only a small portion of. The primary difference in the Chinese clones and their genuine OEM counterparts is overhead and profit margins, and overhead is the lions share of that. The cheapest price for an assembled Farmertec G660 is currently $190. Given, you have to buy 10 of them to get one for this price, but that gives us a pretty good idea of what it costs to actually manufacture the components to build an MS661. For the sake of argument, I'll even double that cost to $380 to make sure you're getting top quality parts (these would be costs to the MFG, not consumer costs). Now, how long would it take a skilled assembly worker to assemble a saw start to finish? I'll be overly conservative here and say that it takes half a shift. Lets assume this highly skilled assembly worker is making $40/hr. Lets double that to cover their benefits and make it $80/hr. That brings the cost of the saw to $800. Coincidently, that's about what some custom shops charge to build a ported, bulletproof, big bore 066 clone that walks all over an MS661 both in performance and durability. I digress. At this price point HALF of what the major MFG are charging you goes to overhead. I haven't worked for Stihl, Husqvarna, or Echo, but I suspect they are like the major manufactures that I've worked for over nearly 3 decades now. If so, the bulk of that overhead goes to pay for a bloated management structure that's not smart enough to pour pi$$ out of their own boot. Meanwhile, they outsource as much of their supply chain as the can to minimize cost. The cost savings doesn't get passed on to the customer. The only things that gets passed on to the customer are the quality issues that come with the outsourced supply chain. So long as people are willing to pay the over inflated prices, the mfg have no reason to change the way they do business. This is why a 1/2 ton pickup truck now costs over $40K. The only options that consumers have is to pay the price, or find an alternative. In this case, the alternatives are crap saws like Poulan or Chinese clones. Between those two options, I'd choose the Chinese clone every time because they are a far better saw and can easily be upgraded to be a pretty exceptional saw. When a major manufacturer can manage to get their head out of their rear, get their overhead in check and sell their product for a reasonable price, I'd be more than happy to buy their product instead.

 

[JRM]

Yeah, lots of people agree with you, sadly. It is why we are where we are. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are perfectly content going to Walmart to supply everything for your home and shop too. Instead of supporting the local grocer, local hardware store, local auto parts store, etc. Screw the buisinesses that are actually involved in and support the community so long as it saves you a few bucks in your wallet, eh?
If you are one of those guys that feel Walmart supports the community just the same it'll make perfect sense.
Like I said, I don't understand it but you do you.

 

[JRM]

By the way, that 066 is still around after 30 years because it is a quality saw. Just like the 661. Let me know what number Chinese saw with chinese parts you are on 30 years from now, assuming you can even get parts for them or they are still around . Since the stihl/husky stuff are stupid inflated and need to get their head out of their rear I'm assuming none of their parts are being used in the chinese saws....to do so would be hypocritical.

P.S. China has cheap kit trucks for you to order and assemble too. I'm sure they're every bit the quality of those over priced half tons

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Regulation has driven the price up also.
Try starting a car company, or manufacture a chainsaw.
Government officials have basically priced out all but the richest people in the world. Unless you already have a company.

 

[serdie]

Regulation has driven the price up also.
Try starting a car company, or manufacture a chainsaw.
Government officials have basically priced out all but the richest people in the world. Unless you already have a company.

My Holzfforma G372, G288 and G395 were flown over by ballon. That prick Biden shot em down!!

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

I'll pick them up at Myrtle beach for you!

 

[NSEric]

The thing I dont get with name brand saws is why a 70 or 90cc saw cost double what a 50cc does.
They dont cost double to build and R&D is the same for both, big saws should be no more than 25% more than the small saws.
If prices were better on name brand saws, I wouldnt touch chinese ones.

 

[fields_mj]

Yeah, lots of people agree with you, sadly. It is why we are where we are. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are perfectly content going to Walmart to supply everything for your home and shop too. Instead of supporting the local grocer, local hardware store, local auto parts store, etc. Screw the buisinesses that are actually involved in and support the community so long as it saves you a few bucks in your wallet, eh?
If you are one of those guys that feel Walmart supports the community just the same it'll make perfect sense.
Like I said, I don't understand it but you do you.

Actually no, I hate Walmart. I buy there because they are the only place left in town, and they are certainly the only place that's still open by the time I get home from work. If my wife would let me, I'd raise my own meat chickens. I hunt, kill, and butcher most of my own meat, but if we're having steaks, I find a way to get to the local butcher shop. My mower is a 15 year old Kabota F2830, and my CUT is an '83 Ford 1710. I have an F350 psd, and had a 7.3 IDI before that, but my camry gets much better fuel mileage going back and forth to work. My power tools are a mix of Dewalt and Milwaukee. I have cheap hand tools that I keep in the truck and car because they are prone to get lost on the road or on the farm, but the tools in my shop are a mix of Black Hawk and Snap On because I need those tools to actually work. I do my own work because every job I've ever paid someone to do has gone to crap and I've either had to finish it myself or undo their mistakes and redo it from the beginning.

Bottom line is I spend my money where it makes the most sense. I'm not opposed to buying American when it means I'm actually buying American. When it means that I'm paying twice as much to keep the board members rich while they expand their management team instead of investing in their technicians, I'll take my business elsewhere. I'm not blindly loyal to any one brand. When a brand makes a durable product and I need that product to be durable, I save up until I can afford to buy it. If I need a tool to use once or twice, I'm perfectly comfortable buying something disposable.

And for the record, 4 out of 5 of my 30 year old Stihl saws are still running despite the Chinese parts that Stihl put in them.

 

[JRM]

And for the record, 4 out of 5 of my 30 year old Stihl saws are still running despite the Chinese parts that Stihl put in them.

Your still missing the point. I'm not bashing the chinese saws for being Chinese. China has the ability to make quality parts but generally only do so when contracted by a reputable company, like Stihl or Cummins or Snap On. (Yes, Snap On has tools made in China)
In those cases they (China) are making tools or parts to a certain standard of quality they were contracted to do. This is Much different than plagiarizing a quality tool so much so that the legitimate manufacturers parts are directly interchangeable. It's morally wrong no matter how you slice it.
It sounds like you understand this by the array of tools you listed that are quality and not cheap and have direct copies available at substantially less prices. You can buy one quality Dewalt drill that will last ages or you can buy a cheap China version and replace it several times over.
(I still have a corded Dewalt that is easily 25 years old that gets used heavily and still works as good as it did the day I brought it home)
Cheap tools (usually) save money up front but almost never in the long term. A chainsaw is no different.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

We'd probably be able to compete more with the Chinese except for our multitude of taxes we and our corporations have to pay. There's a 7% sales tax alone in our state and it also applies to services..