just for comparison
i am looking for a bigger felling& bucking saw for firewood etc.,ok i go to a local saw dealer (not my normal dealer). he caries both echo and stihl.
got to comparing saws 60-80cc saws, weights capacities etc. oh and most of all price...
i got a price of a ms 441 and about fell over.... are you kidding me $899.00 for a 70.7 cc saw w 20" b&c?
what is so much better about the stihl for that price that makes me not want to buy a cs8000 for $50.00 less from the other dealer?
i was looking into the cs 680 with 27" b&c for $545.00 or the cs 8000 w 32"b&c for $849.00
is stihl trying to price themselves out of the market?
i just dont see the difference in price myself but enlighten me if you will....
Last week at the local husky dealer, new 372xp, 819 schlomoliens...I had to ask.....
I ain't never buying any more brand new saws at those kinda prices, since I thought about it last week and compared saws to mowers. I was at a stihl dealer, he sells mowers too and was just gobsmacked thinking about it, looking at a new high end rear engine quality snapper rider, then thinking *they wanted the same cash for a new big saw*...WTH?? I mean I just slammed still on the sidewalk thinking about it, then got real annoyed.
NEW SAWS ARE A RIP!
Small engine device, air cooled, burns petroleum products. both need oil lube as well.. Mower got TEN TIMES the metal in it that has to be machined. Higher commodity cost, by a large factor, saws ain't built outta anything exotic really, plastic aluminum, magnesium and steel..same as mowers. Same cast cylinders and pistons, granted two strokes a scosh more cutting on them after casting, but still, in mass quantities...the mowers need a camshaft and valves, so that's a fair trade wash... Carbs get jobbed out, and are built about the same, the saw guys and mower guys don't make their own so that's a wash. The mowers got an additional electrical circuit for starting, plus a big battery, plus other stuff saws don't have, again, way more metals and machining required, plus loads more electrical and wire and so on! Four stroke mower got WAY more moving parts, again, more machining cost. Higher shipping cost due to weight and bulk. Everything is CAD/CAM now and automated factories, so that's a wash.
Saws aren't hand forged in some blacksmiths back yard one at a time, but they CHARGE like they are. Completely ridiculous. Now..ask why..ain't too many reasons why once you think on it besides price fixing at super high levels.
New saws from ANY manufacturer are a pure D ripoff, in my opinion. Over priced 300% or more. Someone is getting rich as croesus off these saws. Cartel price fixing? Can't prove it, will say it looks like it. Have to add a disclaimer, just my opinion, have no proof so can't state it as a fact...but just look at reality. the engineering reality is there, the manufacturing reality, the commodity bulk price reality, that's just data. There is NO reason for them to cost as much as they charge, and we obviously do *not* have effective saw competition, *else* we would have much cheaper saws available, in the mid size to large class. Those observations of just pure data sure don't leave a lot of reasons to choose from to explain things...
I am boycotting them, all of them, even if I hit the lottery. I've been POed all week thinking about it. I'll run used and keep em fixed from now on (no choice either...) Bought my last new saw at those sort of prices. They can bite me. I won't feed that gross ripoff scam. As long as guys keep shelling it out though, they will gladly keep taking the money! Only way to beat it is mass boycott and let them know they can't get away with it anymore.
Buy used man, from someone here on the classifieds, for that sort of money you can get *two* big saws, save your cash.
