New Makita 6401 Report

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marum017

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A couple of weeks ago, my dad was over to help take out a large tree near our house. Long story short, after a day of work, I decided I needed to get my own saw. The two he brought over were a Stihl 029 and a Stihl 066. I needed an 066 for sure!! NICE Saw!

Well, after researching on this site, and learning the 066 was WAY out of my budget, I managed to snag a brand new (not refurb) Makita off of Ebay for a cool $353 shipped!

It finally showed up today, and I'm pretty impressed. I gave it a pretty good workout after warming it up on some 18" pines. The stump of the above tree was still left about 9' tall. I cut around the whole perimeter and had to pull it over with the dozer (there was about an inch left in the center). With the bar buried, I was able to bog down the saw if I pushed it. It really kicks the crap out of the 029 my dad left for me to use until this showed up. That thing is a toy....but oddly feels almost as heavy as the makita !?!?

One thing I'm not too impressed with is the chain adjustment. I just like the Stihl method better. Seems like the screw can be difficult to turn at times (espescially when loosing). And yes, I did loosen the nuts enough...

Overall, I'm really happy for what I paid. I was a little worried that I'd want to upgrade right away to the 7900 p/c, but I think this will work fine until I use some of that warranty up.

I'm not too impressed with the chain, any suggestions?
 
A couple of weeks ago, my dad was over to help take out a large tree near our house. Long story short, after a day of work, I decided I needed to get my own saw. The two he brought over were a Stihl 029 and a Stihl 066. I needed an 066 for sure!! NICE Saw!

Well, after researching on this site, and learning the 066 was WAY out of my budget, I managed to snag a brand new (not refurb) Makita off of Ebay for a cool $353 shipped!

It finally showed up today, and I'm pretty impressed. I gave it a pretty good workout after warming it up on some 18" pines. The stump of the above tree was still left about 9' tall. I cut around the whole perimeter and had to pull it over with the dozer (there was about an inch left in the center). With the bar buried, I was able to bog down the saw if I pushed it. It really kicks the crap out of the 029 my dad left for me to use until this showed up. That thing is a toy....but oddly feels almost as heavy as the makita !?!?

One thing I'm not too impressed with is the chain adjustment. I just like the Stihl method better. Seems like the screw can be difficult to turn at times (espescially when loosing). And yes, I did loosen the nuts enough...

Overall, I'm really happy for what I paid. I was a little worried that I'd want to upgrade right away to the 7900 p/c, but I think this will work fine until I use some of that warranty up.

I'm not too impressed with the chain, any suggestions?


+1 on everything, especially the chain adjustment, but I think it will loosen up a little as usage pass by.

Oregon 72LGX or Stihl 33RSC are good alternatives to the original goofy chain.
 
saw

put a 24" bar and semi skip chain on it and enjoy:clap: also check out the muffler mods on as they are a great cheap way to wake up a saw:)
:cheers:
 
I'll look into the chains mentioned, I think the stock chain will be reserved for dirty wood...

As far as the muffler, I really want to do the mod. But, I think I'll hold off until I get 15 or so tanks of gas through it (if I don't need the warranty by then, I should be good to go).
 
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