Wow. Big thanks to Brad and Matt for sharing time and money on this comparison.
A big pre-thank you!
No problemo
Anyway guys, I was always going to get my mitts on a 660 one day and am already in love with the 7900/7901's plus the 390XPG I have.
I've mentioned some of this in another thread but the plan is as follows...
I already have 2 modded 7900's. My older one has more power than my newer one (different porting from Brad) and I bought Brad's old 390XPG which is a bit of a weapon.
The tree job that I have been on for about 9 months now (I do this after hours - I actually also have a REAL job, sadly...) is ongoing and to be honest has paid for all of my CAD plus some. I'm in a lucky situation as in my area few people do what I do so you could say I have a near endless supply of trees
Although most of the guys here are in the US if anybody ever wants to come out and drop a heap of trees with me they are always welcome. This forum is basically the only place I can associate with like minded chainsaw people. Nobody I know close by is even slightly interested in a "wood's port" or even knows what one is
At present I have dropped just on 8,500 trees on this one property (Casuarinas - an Australian native hardwood) ranging from around 12" to probably 44-48" at their widest point. I have about another 4,000-8,000 to go depending on what this particular corporate farm decide to do on their other properties.
The 7900's have been more than up to the task on this job and are an excellent saw. I'll sing their praises anyday and do very often on this forum as many of you would know.
A while back I asked Brad if he had any 2nd hand pro saws he'd be willing to sell. At the time my brother had been helping me out on a lot of domestic tree jobs I was doing and although I always split the proceeds with him 50/50 I planned on getting him a pro saw as I'd paid to put him through the same tree courses I'd done. My grand plan was, and still is to some extent, to up the ante and really get the tree felling paying for itself from a business sense - I just struggle to find the time as my daily job as a Senior Horticultural Agronomist means I am fielding questions from farmers/growers up to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week in busy periods. If I could earn the same money on a consistent basis felling trees I'd dump Agronomy in a flash...
Anyway, Brad mentioned he had a modded 390XPG and it was at a good price. The saw arrived and I just happened to like it a bit too much to give it to my brother
After using it more and more on trees up to about 40" with bars up to 32" I have realised that the 390's are an excellent, well balanced saw, just like the 7900's except more powerful (compared to the 7900's I have now anyway
). The more extensively modded 7901 in this thread is quite obviously significantly more powerful than my other two 7900's.
So here we are with 3 of my favourite saws (even though I have very little time on a 660 - just enough to know I liked it but that was just dropping it into logs a few years ago). Tree felling is far far different and is where you really work out fast whether you like a saw's balance or not.
I would have got these saws modded by Brad anyway so I told him to go nuts with videos and photos and tests etc etc and post away. He would have been testing them after mods anyway so why not share it around.
I'm going to enjoy this thread more than most
By the way, I'll do a follow up with this thread when these saws get to Australia in a tree felling situation.
The plan is that I will sell one of my 7900's (keeping the 7901) and sell one of the 3 larger saws (390XP, 390XPG, MS660).
My grand pro saw plan is 2 x 200T's or 338XPT's (not a priority at the moment), my 5100-S, 2 x 7900/7901's, 2 x 90cc class saws, and of course my boat anchor Husky 3120. When running a business that incorporates tree felling it always pays to have two saws in each class if possible even though the 7900's and 390's sort of cross paths! The reason I'd stick with one 50cc saw (the 5100-S) is that my 7900's will do everything they can plus more. Also my other half loves that little saw! I'm yet to bring her back into line but she has said a few times it's "her" saw.
I have a feeling the 660 will be getting sold but hey, you never know. I might just be that impressed I sell the XPG. Time will tell.
Sorry for the long post but just thought I'd let you guys know that I'm not trying to win any "I've got the most modded saws" competitions. These saws are for a legit business and are tax deductible which allows me to spend a bit more on my chainsaw "hobby" than some other people.
P.S. Also many thanks to Brad who has had 1000's of my hard earned dollars transferred into his account and hasn't skipped town to Mexico...yet...
As always he has been excellent to deal with and I sometimes wonder how he fits in all in. I've really been loading him up lately
Anyway, back to the real purpose of this thread. Those saws look awesome. MS660 in particular...
