I am in need to buy a chainsaw. I have an old 14" Craftsman(older than me!!) that I got from my grandpa. It runs great but I think I need one that is bigger and more powerful. I was thinking between 40cc and 50cc. From what I have read I really like the Husky 445 but want some imput before I decide. Any help would be appreciated.
I will tell you my story, hope it helps.
I bought a outdoor wood boiler last summer and knew I wasn't going to have time to get enough wood before winter by cutting on my property, so I bought 12 cord of birch and maple in 8' lengths. I already had a chainsaw my wife had bought me 10 years or so ago a Homelite 23, 38 cc I think.
I cut up the 12 cord with the homelite, but at the very end It wasn't idling good and I figured it wasn't worth fixing and was hinting around to my wife that I may need a new, better saw,not expecting or wanting her to buy me one but just preparing her for the fact.
Well being the sweet wife she is, she surprised me and bought me a husky 445.
I cut a couple of cord of wood with it from the woods on our property and thought, wow I can't believe I cut that 12 cord with that pos Homelite, wellll, it wasn't long before I thought, this saw is nice, buuuuuut I wish it had a little more power, so off to the local husky/jonesrud dealer, who informed me that he would let me trade the saw in on something he had in stock minus $30
I thought that was a pretty good offer and the dealer is right next to where I work so at this point I was pretty much limited to a husky or jonesrud, knowing nothing about chainsaws I came home and found this site and began researching, I decided I should get a pro grade or close to pro grade saw in the 60cc range, back to the dealer, only pro grade saws he had in stock were the 359 husky, 2165jony, 2171jony, well I almost bought the 2165, then I figured if I want a saw that heavy I may as well get the 2171,but now I am way over my original budget and the 2171 is way more saw than I will ever need so I settled on the 359.
In the meanwhile I bought another 12 cord of 8' birch for next winter, put a chisel chain on my new 359 and went to work, wow I couldn't believe it, I thought it was normal to kind of have to push the saw a little into the wood, this thing feeds itself and pulls through the wood, I almost have to hold back, this is fun.
What I learned is, originally I was very concerned about the extra weight of the 359 over my little Homy, but it is actually a lot less work and even fun to cut wood with my 359.
By the way after all of this, I took a look at my homelite, the only thing wrong with it was the needle bearing in the srpocket was gone, causing the clutch to drag and making it not idle, $3 later, good as new LOL.
I did buy a non cat muffler for my 359 but have not installed it yet.
By the way Saw Troll, from what I've read I know your not a fan of the 359 and I would have bought a 361 if it were not for trading in the 445, also I've never run a 361 or many saws at all for that matter, but I really like my 359, and it's about $150 less in my area.
Last piece of advice once you have decided and bought a saw, delete this site from your favorites and never come back otherwise I think you'll never be happy ie (a part of me wishes I had gotten the 2171 LOL)
It's to late for me but you may still have a chance Gooooo
The dealer closes at 5:30 mon-fri and 1 on sat. I work till 5:30 everyday so and have to go out of town this weekend.
