As they said it is pretty well known the Stihl chain is the hardest, followed by Carlton and Oregon being the softest. I don't think a person goes wrong for money spent on any of them. Truth of the matter is out the field any of them will cut a truck load of clean wood without being touched,,if you stay out of the dirt and rocks. Then you go home and three strokes of a file puts them in shape to next time out. If you have time or inclination to worry about brand A gets two more file jobs than brand B and thus costs .002 per cord less to use then I am not knocking you just saying personally I don't care a lick about it and have never kept track. What does matter is if you cut skidded wood or regularly preform feats of chainsaw trenching then semi chisel is the only way to go, it will put more wood in the truck at the end of the day than chisel because you spend less time filing All Chinese chain, no matter whos name is on it is trash don't waste your time and money. I regularly watch Ebay and scored three 100' rolls of Carton in the sizes I use on the cheap, 3/8 chisel, 3/8 LP semi and 325 semi so the issue is settled for me, I am now a Carton man, LOL.