Do the Loggers and other pros use Stihl or Husky in your area?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
sweetjetskier

sweetjetskier

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
414
Location
CT Shoreline
In central and shoreline areas of CT I see 50/50 Husqvarna/Stihl.

The biggest problem I have been running into is saw dealers who also sell motorcycles, quads, jet ski's, scooters.

The dealers seem to want to sell those items, at a higher profit level no doubt, while leaving the smaller power equipment items they stock just sitting.

They appear to not care if the smaller items are sold or not!

One dealer charges well over 20% over list for all Husqvarna saws that they stock, funny thing is not many guys buy from them partly because of that.

If repairs are needed be prepared to wait 4-8 weeks for a contractor/arborist repair, cant fathom what a homeowner timeline would be.

In todays business market, customer service is a HUGE deal, when one is treated well and fairly, they are your best referrals, customers for life.
 

Isna

Logging and sharing it (teaching)
. AS Supporting Member.
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
473
Location
French Alps
In central and shoreline areas of CT I see 50/50 Husqvarna/Stihl.

The biggest problem I have been running into is saw dealers who also sell motorcycles, quads, jet ski's, scooters.

The dealers seem to want to sell those items, at a higher profit level no doubt, while leaving the smaller power equipment items they stock just sitting.

They appear to not care if the smaller items are sold or not!

One dealer charges well over 20% over list for all Husqvarna saws that they stock, funny thing is not many guys buy from them partly because of that.

If repairs are needed be prepared to wait 4-8 weeks for a contractor/arborist repair, cant fathom what a homeowner timeline would be.

In todays business market, customer service is a HUGE deal, when one is treated well and fairly, they are your best referrals, customers for life.

+1

We sometimes have to wait 2 months to get a husky repaired (one of them had to be send to Marseilles, 170 miles away, to finally get fixed). Takes 1 week to get a stihl repaired. We need our saws to earn a living and therefore can't afford to wait. No wonder we stopped buying huskies. All about customer service...
 
VTWoodchuck

VTWoodchuck

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
308
Location
Northern Vermont
Jonsered is pretty popular here still. One shop has been around forever.
Does anyone else have a dealer who sells Stihl AND Husqvarna? Mine does both and is a great guy. The show room is like going to a strip bar, as in you want to try em all! He runs an automotive shop in the same place too. Get my truck and saws worked on by the same guy!:rock:
 
hardhat

hardhat

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Feb 8, 2007
Messages
351
Location
mississippi
Everyone has chimed in with husqvarna, stihl, jred, etc. All the real loggers use poulan wild things for felling and bucking and wood sharks for limbing. For the big trees, have to cut chunks out of the side to get the saw further in... When the saws have problems, you just get a new one.....

Used to use the poulan predator, but they don't make that one anymore.
 
mdavlee

mdavlee

Tree Freak
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
18,144
Location
tn
In my area its about 50/50. There's a few loggers using husky 576s with 28" bars and 372s with 24" bars. The biggest outfit around bought a feller buncher a few years back so they don't use many saws now. They ran 460s and 24" or 20". Very few of them would spend the money for a 660. A couple tree services switched to husky lately when a 385 was cheaper than a 460. They still use a 200t but everything else they switched to husky.
 
Birdhunter1

Birdhunter1

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
228
Location
Murphysboro, IL
I have a dealer nearby that sells both Husky and Stihl, he is a top notch dealer on every brand he carries (Grasshopper, Redmax, Ferris, ExMark) but he admits he doesn't sell much Husky equipment. Even more odd is that there is a Husqvarna rep in my hometown (heck of a nice guy) and you still don't see Husky saws advertised. Now Stihl I can go within 20 miles any direction of my house and hit at least 1, sometimes 2 or 3. The dealer I use used to carry Husky's but quit when he kept having to warranty Lowe's and Rural King (farm supply) Husky saws.

I don't know hardly any loggers around here but most of the tree service guys are running Stihl and most of your landowner types are running Stihl, Typhoon said it is 70/30 I'd say more like 80/20, but he knows alot of loggers I don't.
 
Poleman

Poleman

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
1,192
Location
Black Hills of South Dakota
I'd say around western South Dakota it's a strong Stihl market. There are good dealers and they treat you well. The arborists/tree services all run Stihl because of reliability and the area dealers. The loggers on the other hand are a mix of both Stihl and Husky, mostly Stihls though. Probably 70/30 in that area where the arborists are 95/5 in comparison. Not a lot of other brands to choose from since we are isolated and the brand and reputation sells the saw along with strong dealears in the Stihl catagory.
 
Winchester356

Winchester356

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
252
Location
Western North Carolina
In our area there are very few production cutting outfits

There are two different types of cutters guys cutting for firewood sales, and cutting for
cabinet/ furniture making.

Most of the Amish and Mennonites which are a majority of the loggers are running Stihl's
460's with 20" bars, and 660's with 24" bars is the usual setup.

A few guys run 372's and 390's most they're in a minority.

And from what I've talked to guys many don't like Huskies because the AV gets torn out
too easy when they horse on them.

This is mainly due to the local dealer network that Stihl has, and the lack that Husqvarna
has.

I thought the Amish still used misery whips and axes.
 
fearofpavement

fearofpavement

Trying them all
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
7,346
Location
middle Georgia
One of Georgia's major industries is timber production. However the vast majority of it is mechanical harvesting of planted pines. There are also a lot of hardwoods cut but much of this is also mechanically cut. That said, most of what I see is Stihl. I have a Stihl dealer about 5 miles away but he sells only homeowner saws. (well, that is all he stocks, he has never sold a 261 for instance) he has the 170, 250 and 391. He is mostly a commercial mower shop and sells a lot of Stihl stuff to homeowner such as string trimmers and blowers.

I have a good Stihl saw dealer that only sells Stihl and carries a complete line of commercial stuff but he is about 25 miles away. There is only one Husky dealer that I am aware of in any direction and I have never been there so don't know what he has.

That said, some of the saw shops in this area USED to also sell Husky but quit after they got tired of people bringing in their Lowe's saws for service. I assume they get paid so not sure the issue but both of the Stihl dealers used to also handle Husky and don't now.

I have never seen a new Jonsered saw. Saw a used one in a pawn shop once and one time I saw a itty bitty Dolmar saw in a pawn shop and that is the only one I ever laid eyes on other than photos.

Back to the question: 80% Stihl, 20% Husky, 0% anything else.
 
tallguys

tallguys

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Messages
2,044
Location
Ontario, Canada
Same here. The Tree Dept. here in Plymouth bought a new 660 Stihl. Sat in the truck for weeks. No one would use it said it was a dog. Told the head of the crew to look up AS and MM and port it. Wonder if they did?

Now why would you go and do that for? Should've just agreed that it was a dog then offered to help remedy their mistake by taking it off their hands for say, 40 cents on the dollar.
 
johnfawn2000

johnfawn2000

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
109
Location
north carolina
i have to take into consideration who works and owns my local husky dealer. I have been in maybe four times and have been treated like i just interrupted their web browsing session of dooney burke purses. With that said, the effeminate men at my local husky dealer would be better off working behind a macy’s cosmetics counter. I can’t really see any industry professionals shopping that jip joint.

It's really a sad state of affairs for anyone who wants to buy a husky.
i pickup what u r laying down. I am a huskey nut nut,and somewhat of stihl user at least. I will be get a stihl 460 later, and send it to gary hunt for his tricking. I do repairs on saws i need parts called a huskey dealership. They also have a rental business,was after 8 am,they let me kno right quick they did not have time 2 fool with me.i shat darken that door again. I am tempted 2 call huskey in charlotte,n.c..i think they could have said pls call back or may we call you back when slows down,nope
 
CentaurG2

CentaurG2

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
3,811
Location
New England
Most loggers around here use a harvester. On the rare occasion they get out of the cab, they are usually carrying a husky. Most tree companies around here run 200t(s). All the other saws on the trucks will be huskys or jonserads. Heck, I hear tell of a tree guy that also owns a stihl dealership and even he runs huskys saws on his truck. Pro landscape market is dominated mostly by redmax and echo trimmers/ blowers.
 
Chris J.

Chris J.

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
7,724
Location
Inescapable Abyss, Texas
I have no idea about loggers as there's not much logging in Houston.

The tree service companies run mostly Stihl, with Echo second, Husqvarna third.

Lanscaping companies run mostly Echo trimmers & blowers, with some Stihl mixed in. I rarely see Husqvarna trimmers or blowers.
 
ccrain

ccrain

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2011
Messages
52
Location
South Carolina ,USA
Around here its about 50 50 stihls and Husqvarna.Most people like both about the same, then i hear some say Husqvarnas bottom ends hold up better than stihl(heard of some newer stihls bottom ends going out).I go for Husqvarna.Wish McCullough made high preformace saws again.When did they stop,now from what I cant tell there cheap made in china saws.
 
Log Hogger

Log Hogger

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
378
Location
Michigan
Mostly Stihl. Last tree service outfit I saw was running Stihls, biggest saw was a 361 and they were bucking a big arse Oak with it.

The Husqvarna dealers in my area are a joke. Dirty showrooms, utterly incompetent service techs, one dealer doesn't do repairs in the winter because he takes the winter off. In comparison, within a 40 minute drive, there's two Stihl dealers who are crooks (now only one, the other went out of business), one Stihl dealer with little new saw inventory but a killer service department, and one Stihl dealer I swear must be the best in the country - every single pro Stihl chainsaw model in his huge, clean showroom, and an amazing service department staffed with cool, knowledgable people.
 
sunfish

sunfish

Fish Head
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
14,305
Location
Success Missouri
Like I side earlier, round here it's about 50/50. Go a bit south and seems like it's more Husky, go north and more Stihl.

We have a Very Good Husky/Stihl dealer 50 miles south of me, stocks all models and a lot of parts, good prices too. A local Husky dealer that is more a small engine/mower shop, doesn't stock pro models and has few parts. A tractor dealer close that has Stilh, but some don't like them.

Fair bit of loggin and a lot of firewood cuttin here. Very rural, small population, bunch of hillbillys, lot of cattle farms and hard woods.
 
ccrain

ccrain

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2011
Messages
52
Location
South Carolina ,USA
speaking of stihl dealers my uncle works at a stihl dealer ship.I get stuff there cheap sometimes.As they say not what you know its who you know.They also sell echo saws and kubota tractors,sounds like a big dealership but not really.
 

Latest posts

Top