MS 462 R vs MS 462 R C-M (m-tronic vs traditional carb)

[Hatchville Homesteader]

Does anyone here have both saws and prefer one over the other? Did I make a mistake purchasing the traditional carb?

I've been trying to get my hands on a MS 462 R C-M (wrap handle/m-tronic) for the better part of a year, but my local dealers kept telling me they were "un-orderable"....I'm just outside of Boston, MA. I would check with 3 different dealers, every 2-3 weeks to see if they were back in stock. Finally I got a call that an MS 462 R (traditional carb) was orderable so I decided to get one. I picked it up Friday night. Should I have kept waiting for a MS462C and the m-tronic carb? There were plenty of non-wrap handle 462c's available but I wasn't going to pay extra to switch one over to a full wrap handle.

 

[huskihl]

There is an M Tronic wiring harness shortage. They are made in Ukraine and have become difficult for them to source since the conflict started. For over a year now, dealers haven’t been able to order any mtronic saws other than the 201 and 400

 

[Dennisthemenace]

I like my 462 cmtronic now.
I have made the muff dual port and
put a better air filter on it.
Later I advanced the timing 6 or 7 deg and lastly gutted the intake boot divider.
It now has torque as well as snappy revs. The mtronic didn't seem to mind.

 

[Hatchville Homesteader]

There is an M Tronic wiring harness shortage. They are made in Ukraine and have become difficult for them to source since the conflict started. For over a year now, dealers haven’t been able to order any mtronic saws other than the 201 and 400

Good to know! In that case I'm not nearly as disappointed anymore. I was thinking all the wrap handle m-tronic saws were being sent to the west coast.

 

[James Sawyer]

The West Coast is having the same problem, but a few dealers finally got some Mtronic models in ms462 or ms661 the last time i was looking for a bar. Most dealers had a few carburetor model because we just couldn't get any saws in 70cc and up. There is a shortage here on saw of any brand...Stihl light weight bars in 32 or 36 inches especially. Personally I like the carb. saws better, I keep a screwdriver in my wedge belt next to my scrench. If you're not good at tuning you can get a digital inductive tach on Amazon for <$50. Once your saw breaks in retune... if your not changing elevation much you probably won't have tune it much any way. Just keep your chain sharp and let it idle a bit to cool down before shutting it off, just don't shut it off after a big cut. And do you saw maintenance check the air filter daily, do the normal pull the cover off and blow out the dust once in a while and lubricate the clutch bearing as needed. If your saw going into storage for over a month on that last cut dump the fuel and run it out of fuel. Work safe and make sure you saw has enough fuel before your start your back cuts if your not use to your new saw fuel usage. Nice saw I'd be perfectly happy with that saw and I like the WC dogs! Oh on new saw make sure your oiler is adjusted to your needs.

 

[bwalker]

I just saw a 461R C at my local dealer.

 

[Hatchville Homesteader]

I just saw a 461R C at my local dealer.

Yeah, I keep hearing about saw shops that have them, but none on the east coast.

 

[bwalker]

Yeah, I keep hearing about saw shops that have them, but none on the east coast.

This one just arrived in the last week.

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

There is an M Tronic wiring harness shortage. They are made in Ukraine and have become difficult for them to source since the conflict started. For over a year now, dealers haven’t been able to order any mtronic saws other than the 201 and 400

Stihl is tooling up to manufacture the mtronic wiring harnesses at their Virginia Beach facility as we speak.

 

[thomasinvancouver]

I would rather have the m-tronic. It’s like 60’s/70’s muscle cars. Yes they’re fun, but fuel injection is superior. Period.

 

[ericm979]

I would rather have the m-tronic. It’s like 60’s/70’s muscle cars. Yes they’re fun, but fuel injection is superior. Period.

I hate how old carbed muscle cars pump raw gas out the exhaust. That **** stinks. I don't know how we put up with that back in the day when all cars did that. Now, you spent $80k on restoring your Chevelle or whatever, put an FI kit on it so it doesn't reek when you're idling it at Cars and Coffee.

Mtronic is great. It's as simple and dumb as can be and yet it works pretty well.

That said if I'd ended up with a regular carbed saw I would not mind much. The only difference is tuning it myself a couple times a year vs letting the Mtronic handle it.

 

[huskihl]

I would rather have the m-tronic. It’s like 60’s/70’s muscle cars. Yes they’re fun, but fuel injection is superior. Period.

Electronic fuel injection like in today’s vehicles is far superior. But saws don’t have anything that sophisticated going on.

 

[Hundred Acre Wood]

Electronic fuel injection like in today’s vehicles is far superior. But saws don’t have anything that sophisticated going on.

And at the rate they're going battery saws will replace them before they ever get there. Fuel injection has been around for almost 100 years? And the 500i is the first one.

 

[dmb2613]

battery saws will never be powerful enough to cut huge trees. you would need a battery big as a timber jack
I have a few of the wiring harness for the most popular Stihls. loggers tend to destroy the harness on saws from time to time when they run over them with the skidder , throw trees on them and fall out of the back of trucks.

 

[huskihl]

And at the rate they're going battery saws will replace them before they ever get there. Fuel injection has been around for almost 100 years? And the 500i is the first one.

And with only 3 sensors. 1 of which has nothing to do with operating the efi

 

[Hundred Acre Wood]

battery saws will never be powerful enough to cut huge trees. you would need a battery big as a timber jack
I have a few of the wiring harness for the most popular Stihls. loggers tend to destroy the harness on saws from time to time when they run over them with the skidder , throw trees on them and fall out of the back of trucks.

Agreed that durability will need to be improved / reinvented for the new technology. But never say never. The MSA 300 already equals the 50cc 261 in cutting power but it takes too many batteries and is too expensive. The next generation of solid state batteries in ~10 years will have 2x the energy in 1/2 the size and weight. And in 20 years that improvement will happen again. 70cc saws will be replaced by batteries in ~15 years, and 90cc saws will be replaced in < 30 years.

In 2 more generations the kids will be wondering why we ever loved the stinky, noisy, vibration monsters that we love today. Change is inevitable.

 

[Hermio]

Agreed that durability will need to be improved / reinvented for the new technology. But never say never. The MSA 300 already equals the 50cc 261 in cutting power but it takes too many batteries and is too expensive. The next generation of solid state batteries in ~10 years will have 2x the energy in 1/2 the size and weight. And in 20 years that improvement will happen again. 70cc saws will be replaced by batteries in ~15 years, and 90cc saws will be replaced in < 30 years.

In 2 more generations the kids will be wondering why we ever loved the stinky, noisy, vibration monsters that we love today. Change is inevitable.

I am not that optimistic. Battery engineers say that we are nearing the theoretical maximum energy density in today's battery technology. I doubt it will ever double. And gasoline has at least 13 times as much energy density as the best batteries on the market.

 

[Hundred Acre Wood]

I am not that optimistic. Battery engineers say that we are nearing the theoretical maximum energy density in today's battery technology. I doubt it will ever double. And gasoline has at least 13 times as much energy density as the best batteries on the market.

Re-read my post. I'm not talking about today's technology. I specifically said "solid state batteries" which is the next gen battery technology in early production today. 2x the energy, 1/2 the space and weight. e.g.

https://www.samsungsdi.com/column/technology/detail/56462.html
And I'm basing my predictions on the previous technology trends we've already seen. I'm not making pie in the sky prognostications, I'm observing the past and following the trend line forward.

 

[bwalker]

I would rather have the m-tronic. It’s like 60’s/70’s muscle cars. Yes they’re fun, but fuel injection is superior. PerPeriod

I completely agree.

 

[Hermio]

Re-read my post. I'm not talking about today's technology. I specifically said "solid state batteries" which is the next gen battery technology in early production today. 2x the energy, 1/2 the space and weight. e.g.

https://www.samsungsdi.com/column/technology/detail/56462.html
And I'm basing my predictions on the previous technology trends we've already seen. I'm not making pie in the sky prognostications, I'm observing the past and following the trend line forward.

Maybe you should re-read my post. I said that battery engineers have stated that we are nearing the theoretical maximum energy density possible in any foreseeable battery technology. It is not possible for a trend of doubling to continue indefinitely. If it were, we would be able to power a city with one small battery in a few decades. There is an upper limit, and the experts say we are near it. Doubling the current capacity is unlikely, and even if we did so, gasoline would still have 6-7 times as much energy. I am not saying battery powered saws are useless. The are convenient for light tasks of short duration. I use a battery-powered pole saw and a Kobalt 18" 80 volt chain saw for such tasks. But I do not see battery-powered saws replacing gasoline powered saws for serious logging. I expect I will continue to use my 500i for the heavy duty work.