Are Stihl saws as good as they were?

[paccity]

Ok understandable...what brands and flavors do u speak of?

one's i run or the one's i would like to try? the one's i work are 200t, 036pro, 044, 046/460, 066,088.. 242xp, 272,288, 2100cd. and i'll brake out the the pm 80/81's , 890 geardrive. i would use more of a variety of the older mag saws but for practicality / part's if something go's south i can't just go and get part's that fast. will be adding a 394 soon that i'm putting togather.

 

[CATDIESEL]

More than I wanted to. I've ran the 261 also. Its a nice return to form for stihl.

if you are not impressed with a 441cm, then i don't know what tell you.

 

[bcorradi]

one's i run or the one's i would like to try? the one's i work are 200t, 036pro, 044, 046/460, 066,088.. 242xp, 272,288, 2100cd. and i'll brake out the the pm 80/81's , 890 geardrive. i would use more of a variety of the older mag saws but for practicality / part's if something go's south i can't just go and get part's that fast. will be adding a 394 soon that i'm putting togather.

Ok ...use what u want...both the stihl and husky saws in your lineup are good ones though. I prefer stihl over husky for the most part because they are the ones I have the most exp working on and the most familiarity with. However, I've had a couple of 242's and they were great little firecrackers, I've built a few 272's which were awesome saws, and also had only one 288 which was a good saw too. I actually think I'm more prone to like the 2 series huskies than the 3 series being I'm more comfortable with stihl.

 

[Andyshine77]

Reducing weight, saving on metal... Newer models seem less reliable to me but that's not only concerning Stihl. On the counterpart, they are lighter, better AV... I collect and love running old saws but, to earn a living, I rely on modern Stihl saws...

If you've ever held an empty mag case, you'd know it weighs nothing. The vast majority of the weight in a saw, comes from the crank. The other attachments make up the rest. So if the case cracks, it's caused by one of two things. Bad design or abuse IMHO, not because they were trying to make the case lighter.

 

[indiansprings]

Hi
is any components actually manufactured at VA Beach or is it like other item plants that have set up in the Philippines etc where they are just a big assembly line using parts manufactured or bought in from the mother country. I can remember when I was at Uni doing marketing and the lecturer had a large picture on the board of a Ford car and surprisingly little of that car was actually made by Ford. It is always more cost effective to go to a company that is geared up to make that component than set up a plant of your own. Ford cars in Europe were mainly kit car stuff. No big Foundries for engine blocks etc, No machine shops, No sheet metal forming shops, just a big assembly line with people playing meccano sets. So is the quality of VA Beach totally dependent on the skills of the assembler. If so wait a couple of years and see if the guy who bolts on the carb is still as dedicated as he fits his 100,000th carb. Monotony is the downfall of mass assembly.

Stihl manafactuers most of the componenets at VA Beach, the carbs (Zama) are built in China, Stihl owns Zama which are used on most other brands of saws Husky, etc. Mahle cylinders are made in Germany and a couple other countries, I can't say with 100% accuracy but Stihl seems to have gone back to Mahle on all pro saws, homeowner models have cylinder castings done in Brazil and brought to VA Beach and finished out on Stihl Machinery, the tolerance I've been told is 3 microns, they have there own molding faciity, they make the bars now in VA Beach also they are the only company mfg string trimmer line with virgin polyemers in one extrusion pass, strongest on the market. They are about as vertical in mfg as a company can get, they believe in keeping as much in house as they can control quality unlike most other companies.

It is a move Echo is going to try to follow, moving everything but cylinder casting to the States. No kit style mfg for Stihl, they own most, (since it is privately held no one can tell the exact %) but they pretty much make about all of the components. Unbelievable R&D, state of the art EPA testing lab, and almost all their future expansion will be done at VA Beach.

I'm sure Husky operates the same way on the XP's and top end farm saws made in Sweden. Number one you control cost and more importantly you control quality.

 

[Andyshine77]

3 microns?? no! maybe .003"

 

[Rookie97]

I have owned multiple Stihls 021, 026, 044, along with my 2 current ones 034 and a 170. As much as I would want to say to stay away from the cheap ones the lil 170 refuses to die after it has already ate up a couple bars and a lot of chains. 170 always runs, it is very cheap to use and cuts fairly well with only 30 cc's. that said all of my previous "O" series saws I believe are better built and run better, no greenie bs

 

[Sunrise Guy]

I have old 192's and new 192's. The old ones hardly ever got stuck in cuts. The new ones always do. As far as I can see, the old ones are better than the new ones.