Few questions about USA, chainsaws and standards

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Hellas

ArboristSite Lurker
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Hello all. I need some specific help regarding chainsaws and the differences between the USA and Europe. I figured people using this forum would be of the biggest expertise to help me.

Anyway, I am trying to build a website about comparisons of chainsaws something like a more modern version of "Mike Acres specs" site but I want to focus on comparisons with fewer details. Basically, I take the specs of one chainsaw and put it side by side with the specs of another chainsaw. My thinking is that such web site would be quite helpful.

Since I am kind of an amateur with chainsaws (although I used a few different models and currently own MS 261 out in the village) I need help with the following:

1. When people in the USA talk about the chainsaw fuel consumption, I guess they don't use "l/hr" as we do in Europe. What measure do you use there that would be easy to understand? Is it gallon per hour or maybe fl oz per hour?
2. Same for fuel tank capacity? I guess here fl oz is standard.
3. When you are looking for specs, is the Noise measured in dba important to you? Many brands provide lots of different stats regardless of levels of sound chainsaw produce, would you think that one value, like "Sound on ear level" is enough to be shown?
4. Can you decide the main usage for the chainsaw just by looking into specs or it would be useful for the app somehow to accent better specs like bolding it?
5. In Bosnia among amateur people "homeowners" we would classify all chainsaws into one of the following categories "home amateur chainsaws", "enthusiast chainsaws" and "professional chainsaws". Would that be the same there as well?

and the last one

6. I see on lots of USA sites there are a bunch of chainsaw brands that I never heard of. Here most popular are Stihl and Husqvarna by a significant factor. But the homeowner category is full of Echo, Makita, Oleo Macs, Einhell, and lots of Chinese knockoffs... There are some older brands that you can't find new anymore (due to being subbrands or bought by other producers)... My father for example had some Dolmar chainsaw and my uncle probably still has Jonsered somewhere around. So are there some brands popular in USA and Canada that still produces chainsaws that should be must-haves and "must publish" on the site such as I mentioned?

Also, my primary language is Serbo-Croatian so I am sorry for my writing errors.
 
It is interesting. I want it to be something like a lighter version of versus.com, maybe something like displaycomparisons.com but just for chainsaws and nothing else.

There are lots of issues yet to be solved although I coded most of the things I wanted to have. I also have the idea to add user ratings and to later sort all chainsaws by user rating per category, per brand or anything else. However, didn't figure yet how to prevent manipulation without having verified users which I don't want to have.
 
Just have a setting on your website to view in Europe standards or US standards so that everything is the same to whoever is viewing it. For instance I should be able to click a button that says “US Standards” then all saws are in us units of measure. Would make it much easier to compare saws. Just list the DBA, the person viewing can do their own research to see how loud that particular saw is. As to homeowner vs pro saws the only real difference in my mind is mag case vs clamshell. Both can be made extremely well or extremely poor, however the “Pro” saws tend to be mag case. I believe @Farmer_Nate is working on a similar project
 
I started one for "pro" saws, and I think the list is only models available in US. It is a work in progress. Sort of like the Acres site, but only a list of saws known to be of good quality or designated by manufacturers as high-end.

It is available via a link in my signature.

I noticed a difference recently between Echo models offered in USA versus other parts of the world. The US offering looks quite limited.
 
This looks just like a list of good chainsaws. You don't have any specs and comparisons between each of those?
 
And the last one

6. I see on lots of USA sites there are a bunch of chainsaw brands that I never heard of. Here most popular are Stihl and Husqvarna by a significant factor. But the homeowner category is full of Echo, Makita, Oleo Macs, Einhell, and lots of Chinese knockoffs... There are some older brands that you can't find new anymore (due to being subbrands or bought by other producers)... My father for example had some Dolmar chainsaw and my uncle probably still has Jonsered somewhere around. So are there some brands popular in USA and Canada that still produces chainsaws that should be must-haves and "must publish" on the site such as I mentioned?

Also, my primary language is Serbo-Croatian so I am sorry for my writing errors.

Every "Zemo" should own at least one Tomos chainsaw :p
 
@Tomos770 Zdravo Zemo :). Believe it or not, I remember a few of those, from my childhood in western Bosnia, since that was the region with a heavy forestry industry. Where I am currently there are only Tomos engines for boats and dingies locally known as "penta" Don't even know English word for that :)
 
I intend as a simple list only, to point those looking for used saws in the right direction toward good saws.

In my case, it will be something like this. Do note I have a bunch of these sections and my demo data might be filled wrong. In red will be specs that are different. In bold will be specs that are favored, while the same specs will be neither bold nor highlighted in red. I plan to add all major chainsaw brands, probably everything that has interest according to Google.
Untitled-6.jpg
 
Every engine like this in Croatia and Bosnia is named penta regardless of brand.
https://www.njuskalo.hr/image-w920x690/vanbrodski-motori/penta-tomos-4.5-ks-slika-41041873.jpg

Interesting.....is it possible that isit called differently in other parts ob Croatia (Dalmatia)? Like "Tomos četvorka"....

I know that it is called "Tomos Lamo" or just "Lamo" over here in Slovenia!

I (its fathers actually) have 4PS version of it......in white colour (pre 80s versions....1977)
 
If someone asks: what "penta" do you have, you could say "Tomos četvorka". I guess everyone will also understand "vanbrodski motor". For Dalmatia not sure, I am far off the coast.

You can check Bosnian classifieds to figure what I am meaning
https://www.olx.ba/pretraga?trazilica=penta
It's like a calculator called "digitron" and "kaladont" being name for every toothpaste regardless of brand. Same issue with every SUV being called "Džip" although it is not the "Jeep".
 
Husky and Sthil are the most popular brands here too among serious users. Echo may be third.
Might want to add a category on bar usage which would state size range of recommended bars (in inches for the US), most common bar size, pitch (lo-pro 3/8"(picco), .325", full size 3/8", .404", and guage (.043", .050", .058", .063")
I find a a mismatch/misunderstanding of bar size, pitch and guage is one of the more common problems for less experienced chainsaw users.
Many new users think a larger bar makes a saw more powerful and some of the less reputable sellers take advantage of this by
offering a saw with a larger than ideal bar size.
Also might want to state run time in minutes - might be more useful than gas tank capacity. Oiling capacity is important in determining how large a bar is practical.

Brand alone does not determine the quality of the saw. Stihl and Husky both make lower quality "homeowner" grade saws. Other brands like Poulan, which is now known for low quality saws - used to make professional grade saws.

I am far from a professional, but these are some of my thoughts.
 
This is a very helpful answer thank you. Run time is not easy to calculate but I guess I can use consumption and size of tank to calculate it and probably it would not be accurately estimated by using those two parameters.

I understand that every brand has lower-tier products and I figured in the meantime that I will put them into 3 classes Professional > Rancher > Homeowner.

I don't think I saw oiling capacity spec in any manual, so that would be hard to implement.
 
Hello all. I need some specific help regarding chainsaws and the differences between the USA and Europe. I figured people using this forum would be of the biggest expertise to help me.

Anyway, I am trying to build a website about comparisons of chainsaws something like a more modern version of "Mike Acres specs" site but I want to focus on comparisons with fewer details. Basically, I take the specs of one chainsaw and put it side by side with the specs of another chainsaw. My thinking is that such web site would be quite helpful.

Since I am kind of an amateur with chainsaws (although I used a few different models and currently own MS 261 out in the village) I need help with the following:

1. When people in the USA talk about the chainsaw fuel consumption, I guess they don't use "l/hr" as we do in Europe. What measure do you use there that would be easy to understand? Is it gallon per hour or maybe fl oz per hour?
2. Same for fuel tank capacity? I guess here fl oz is standard.
3. When you are looking for specs, is the Noise measured in dba important to you? Many brands provide lots of different stats regardless of levels of sound chainsaw produce, would you think that one value, like "Sound on ear level" is enough to be shown?
4. Can you decide the main usage for the chainsaw just by looking into specs or it would be useful for the app somehow to accent better specs like bolding it?
5. In Bosnia among amateur people "homeowners" we would classify all chainsaws into one of the following categories "home amateur chainsaws", "enthusiast chainsaws" and "professional chainsaws". Would that be the same there as well?

and the last one

6. I see on lots of USA sites there are a bunch of chainsaw brands that I never heard of. Here most popular are Stihl and Husqvarna by a significant factor. But the homeowner category is full of Echo, Makita, Oleo Macs, Einhell, and lots of Chinese knockoffs... There are some older brands that you can't find new anymore (due to being subbrands or bought by other producers)... My father for example had some Dolmar chainsaw and my uncle probably still has Jonsered somewhere around. So are there some brands popular in USA and Canada that still produces chainsaws that should be must-haves and "must publish" on the site such as I mentioned?

Also, my primary language is Serbo-Croatian so I am sorry for my writing errors.
Actually, your writing is excellent; better than that of many Americans.
 
The link you posted to the Tomos motor you say is called penta - that is what we would call an "outboard" motor in the USA regardless of manufacturer.
Yes, that was the word I was looking for. I now understand the proper way in my language is not "penta", it's a brand that got known and generic. Probably something like Band-Aid instead of an adhesive bandage in English. As I said, a few messages back, to a neighbor from Slovenia, some people here will call "Jeep" every medium-sized SUV regardless of it being Honda, Mercedes, Toyota or BMW :). This especially applies to SUVs that look like BMW X5.
 
Bar lengths and pitch/gauge type would be hard to compare as they can vary from country and even year manufactured
stihl in USA use a lot of .063 gauge, Canada uses .050
The husky 36/41 saws went through 3 different bar and chain pitch/gauge changes through its life span .325 .058, .325 .050, & 3/8LP .050
 

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