In the market for a bigger saw

[David Ellis]

Probably this:

"Older with a proven track record would be saws like the stihl 066/660 or the husky 395xp and both will have no problems running a 28in bar or bigger."

I have a couple Husky 350s with no base gasket and muffler mods, and a Husky 372xp with a 24" bar. The smaller saws get used MUCH more often, but I do cut some big old oak too. The 372xp IS a more powerful saw and I am extremely happy with it in the old oak. But a larger 066 or 395xp would be welcome - especialy if you want a 28" bar in oak.

I am affirmatively in favor of generally reliable tools that are more maintenance friendly. I learned to work on saws when my terrific local saw repair shop (Minneapolis Saw) got busy and my only saw (several years ago), was in the shop for a month.

 

[Bill G]

Well I would go with a NOS Stihl 660 from a member here or a Husky 372 or 395. You will save money and have a saw that will meet all your needs. The beauty of the 660 is if you do decide to play around a bit you can put the 18" off the 261 on it.

 

[thompsoncustom]

The 500i engine has been in use many years for a concrete chop saw. Should be no reliability issues using it for a chain saw. If anything, concrete dust is more damaging than sawdust.

many years? the 500i hasn't been out long what maybe 5 years? at best that just says if it's well taken care of it will last 5 years. once it hits the 20 or 30 years mark that's a track record.

not saying there a bad saw it might be a amazing long term saw but only time will tell but that's part of buying anything new.

 

[JD Guy]

I’m going to go off script here and recommend the Stihl MS 400. I have a 25” light bar on mine and as I understand it you need a “bigger” saw on somewhat of a less regular basis. Mine will do absolutely everything I need unless I want to run a 36” bar which is pretty close to never

 

[Hermio]

Brand new out of the box might have been the problem. Not broken in. This was before the 500 was available here in the states.

Maybe. I have not used the 462. I did carefully break in my 500i. I sharpen with the Pferd 2 in 1 kit on Stihl RS chain. The Pferd gives a slightly more aggressive cut than the stock RS chain. I cut through 12" white oak in 5 seconds and 18" red oak in 10. Not a hot saw, but fast enough for me.

 

[sean donato]

many years? the 500i hasn't been out long what maybe 5 years? at best that just says if it's well taken care of it will last 5 years. once it hits the 20 or 30 years mark that's a track record.

not saying there a bad saw it might be a amazing long term saw but only time will tell but that's part of buying anything new.

The same engine has been in a concrete/demo saw for years before it was released in a saw. It's been a very reliable engine with minor issues.

 

[sean donato]

Maybe. I have not used the 462. I did carefully break in my 500i. I sharpen with the Pferd 2 in 1 kit on Stihl RS chain. The Pferd gives a slightly more aggressive cut than the stock RS chain. I cut through 12" white oak in 5 seconds and 18" red oak in 10. Not a hot saw, but fast enough for me.

The 500i isn't leaps and bounds better in performance vs a 462. Not that it's a bad saw by any means, but it's not better enough to justify getting one if you already have a 461/462.

 

[HumBurner]

The same engine has been in a concrete/demo saw for years before it was released in a saw. It's been a very reliable engine with minor issues.

Only issues I ever heard of was when they first came out, which I believe has been at least 7-8yrs, maybe 10 by now. Injector leaked and created potential fireballs. They fixed it fast, as they had to. Haven't heard of that happening since. I'm not really in the Stihl-loop, but everybody was talking about the potentials for fuel injection when they hit the scene.

 

[sean donato]

Only issues I ever heard of was when they first came out, which I believe has been at least 7-8yrs, maybe 10 by now. Injector leaked and created potential fireballs. They fixed it fast, as they had to. Haven't heard of that happening since. I'm not really in the Stihl-loop, but everybody was talking about the potentials for fuel injection when they hit the scene.

Time frame sounds about right, I think it was out at least 4 years before the chainsaw came out. At any rate it's been very reliable engine.

 

[PA452]

Been running the 261/462 combo for several years. Good 2 saw plan. Ran the 500 and wasn't super impressed compared to the 462. Not sure how close you are to York Co but you're welcome to come over and run my 462.

Greatly appreciate the offer, but I'm on the other side of the state near Butler.

 

[farmer steve]

I’m going to go off script here and recommend the Stihl MS 400. I have a 25” light bar on mine and as I understand it you need a “bigger” saw on somewhat of a less regular basis. Mine will do absolutely everything I need unless I want to run a 36” bar which is pretty close to never

Haven't run a 25" on mine yet. The 20" takes care of most of my current cutting. If I didn't "need" more than 1 saw the 400 would be it.

 

[farmer steve]

Greatly appreciate the offer, but I'm on the other side of the state near Butler.

Went to some vanfests at the Butler fairgrounds back in the 80's.

 

[Hermio]

many years? the 500i hasn't been out long what maybe 5 years? at best that just says if it's well taken care of it will last 5 years. once it hits the 20 or 30 years mark that's a track record.

not saying there a bad saw it might be a amazing long term saw but only time will tell but that's part of buying anything new.

The MS 500i seems to have been around at least 5 years. The TS 500i concrete saw predates it by several years; I have not been able to find out the exact date of introduction. But I can tell you this: most mechanical products that are destined to have problems will have them within the first 6 months. Though I do not cut wood as a professional myself, the local timber harvesters here say that almost no chain saw lasts more than 5 years in daily use. Mine have lasted longer because I don't use them year round. I cut about 6 cords of firewood per year plus some timber stand improvement work. I was content with my MS441C until I wrecked it by getting sawdust inside it. That scored the cylinder walls and it had poor compression, stalling out when warm. Since it does not have a sleeve, repair would have required a new block. The dealer quoted $1100 to fix it. I bought the 500i for $1180. So far so good. My only complaint is it is hard to start cold, and usually stalls out after 2-3 seconds. Once it gets going the microprocessor will adjust it so it runs well and starts easier if it is shut down for any reason.

 

[HansFranz]

660

 

[JohnBPittsburgh007]

I have a 660 and my friend has a 462, I live outside of Pittsburgh (30 minutes max from Butler) if you want to cut up some trees with some big saws

Lol, I have an inordinate amount of bars if you want to see how heavy a 660 with a 32 inch bar feels like. Lol, I think I have a 25 on it right now, which isn't too unwieldy. He's getting am 880 this week for a big tree. Lol, we just need to get a day off!!! But I have a 100 acres with many trees we can sacrifice in the name of fun

 

[fields_mj]

I have a G660 (Chinese clone of the 066). You're not wanting something to work on, so I'm not recommending it. That said, I love the saw for what it is. It normally wears a 28" bar and runs .404 chain. I can't lean on it hard enough to stall the chain when it's in wood that has any size to it. The only time I can bog it down is if I'm noodling and I bury the ejection port for too long in the pile of noodles. All of that to say that an 066/MS660/MS661 may be over kill, but you probably won't ever be in a situation where you don't have enough saw. I do most of my cutting with an 036, and some with an 026. When the wood gets much over 20" across, or the rounds are too heavy to safely lift onto a splitter, that's when I use my big saw. I've often thought about trying a 441 or 460/461/462 (or a clone) to see if I'd like a lighter saw better, but 93cc just sounds so good in the cut....

 

[bowenp]

I bought 25 acres with 95% wooded. I run a Husky, 254 XP w/ a 13" bar, a ported 371XP w/ 20" bar. I also have a 245 clearing saw. I've cut a couple thousand trees, if you count 1" or larger, in the last 5 or 6 year.

I ported my 371 for top end with the extra horse or so it's on par with an 80cc-85cc without the weight penalty.

Txnintn

 

[JustPlainJeff]

I've got all three saws that you have/are considering getting OP. The 261, the 462 and the 500. I didn't "need" the 500 as I already had the 462. I just bought it because I wanted it. Several people have already commented about there being little difference (performance) between the 462 and the 500. I mostly agree with them.

I can say this though, I've got a 25" light bar on the 462 and a 28" light bar on the 500. I buck most of my logs on a log bucking table that I built, so I'm cutting across several logs at a time while bucking. The 462 bogs quicker with the 25" bar buried in the cut easier than the 28" equipped 500 does in 3" more wood. I like both the 462 and the 500 a lot, but for me right now, the 500 is my favorite saw. It could just be because it still scores "cool points" for me.

 

[PA452]

Thanks everyone. I ended up buying a 500i R yesterday. Tried just a few cuts on some large shingle oak today. I've never run a saw that would go through an oak log that fast. I'm sure it helped it was a brand new chain, but I think I went through those cuts in a third of the time it was taking with the 261, maybe even a quarter of the time. Crazy fast.

 

[Seachaser]

Congrats!
No replacement for displacement!