Well as the old saying goes. "You have to keep up with the Jones's" ...And if the Jones's are just running stock OR ported saws then what 'they' are not doing would be silly. No?
I could take either side of a debate on the matter. Having worked with mult saw sizes through all activities in the forest industy as well Gas and oil and Utility, Private and residential.
I mean that's like being " a Gentleman a scollar a bucking horse rider and a fair judge of C* " in comperission. No?
My first ported saw were in '92 from Walkers saw shop. I had my own contract on a tree thinning job in a Central BC wet belt. All the snags and spike top cedar had to be felled though most of the job was thinning saplings.
I cooked my 262 not tunning it back falling a large snag; which was my every day fav saw for all jobs up that way.
I also had a 266 and a 42.
Took a week off for my Sisters wedding and dropped all three saws off for porting &/or maintanence. I only wanted the 266 & 262 ported but he wouldn't port the 262 after I cooked it but replaced the piston and saved the cylinder. I picked them up and I was disappointed because the one I was wanting back to use, didn't get ported.
I didn't want the 42 ported but they ported that too. My first two ported saws and neither one was the one that's going to make me the most money, at least not in that territory. I go to a job on north west Vancouver Island and I have to use the 266. I get a new ported 262 and I'm making more money again when vigerasly maneuvering a ported saw that's a pound less that could not have done that job otherwise.
It's about balancing to make the max.
Seconds are made here and lost there.
I was taught by a brilliant man in the first five minutes of the first tree thinner job I was one and that was.. "If you have 10,000 stems per hectare (one tree per square metre).. (4,000 per acre ) and you save 1 seconds 'per cut' 'then that's 10,000 seconds which is almost 3hours". Per cut does not mean in the cut by all means. You get so much a hectare and you can do it in a day instead of a day and a half by saving a second per move on average.
Realty puts it into perspective.
In cases with small material
the 'fastest saw' is not necessarily a ported saw but without porting , at times you have to go to a 'slower saw'. (mumbo jumbo..it makes sense)
Part2
The same concept of saving seconds is bread into me to compete. Saws are like pro boxing, weight divisions are only pounds apart these day. Porting is the steroids.. and I like my steroids.
Truth is you can get a HP with a MM with some saws alone and very quick response. Many of my ported 372's against 372 has cut 3 blocks to two when I was doing fall and burn in 16- 20" Pine Perhaps I file a bit better but its will sway further to the ported saw as the wood increases.
Many different activities, industries and responsibilities so this very well CAN hold true. Heli Falling first growth on the coast in a
camp, we lay around like cats all day. Just eat and sleep. You are only out 7 hours and having soup and a nap at 3:00pm
If the weather is good? Sometimes it's too much rainfall in 24 hours (day off) or windy or fog. I have dressed and undressed 4 times in a day and not got my rocks off. frustrating! .. On top of all that, you work 2-3 weeks (your choice) and have one off. 900-1300 hour saw hours per year. I sure don't want to fix saws. In summer I have been back in town at 11:30am after a days work.
You made this comment in front of people that do it for a living before?
It's all subject to change
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/what-makes-someone-a-logger.307622/page-2