So I bought the 500i last December, after having had to search a bit to locate it, due to supply chain issues. It came with a 32" ES light bar on it, but in that configuration, it is "nose heavy", meaning the tip of the bar hangs much lower than the saw, when suspended from the top handle. I have 20 and 25 inch ES light bars for it as well. Either of the shorter bars mitigate the nose heavy trait.
We have a lot of hiking trails, forest service roads and 4x4 trails in the mountains near Blewett Pass in the state of Washington. I live 17minutes from that pass and regularly snowmobile up there in winter and hike/hunt/dirtbike/4x4 in a SxS Talon, during all the other seasons up there. The highest elevations are 7000 feet.
There have been significant forest fires within recent years (2012) and the burned timber has become weakened from rot over the ensuing years. Some dead, barkless trees come down due to gravity, but many come down due to the high winds from the storms of winter and fall. So the hiking trails, roads and 4x4 off-road trails invariably have many deadfalls blocking the routes. I typically use an ancient McCulloch Mini-Mac 35 with a 14 inch bar to clear hiking trails and single track motorcycle trails. And an old Stihl 041 Super with a 25" bar for the bigger stuff which blocks roads. I clear the forest service roads after elk hunting season has come and gone and the storms of Autumn have brought down the rotten trees. Often I ride my snowmobile in the early part of the winter, before the Forest Service commences grooming of their roads, which become groomed snowmobile trails, those give us high-speed access to the deep powder off in the trees and the steeper slopes. I carry the Mini-Mac in a large day pack with a quart of premix and a pint of bar oil and the tools needed to sharpen the chain, adjust the chain and the carburator. ( I can't believe how sensitive to altitude changes the little minimacs are.) I remove a lot of blocking deadfalls to help the mechanical groomer machine make faster progress, when they begin their work, at the start of the season. In fact, the road/trail groomers in the area, request the "user groups" (Snowmobilers) to cut the deadfalls out. They ask that we make at least one cut in the middle of the log and then one at either side of the road, so they can push the sawn logs out of the way with their front blades, as they groom, instead of having to get out and saw/remove the deadfalls themselves.
Last November, before the winter snows arrived, there was a mid-autumn storm with very high winds that brought down stands of fire-burned timber. One of the Forest Service roads was blocked by literally hundreds of dead larch and fir trees, in the space of a mile and one half. I had begun to remove many of them with my old 041 Super when two families in 3/4 ton 4x4 pickups came up to cut loads of firewood. The fathers introduced me to their Stihl 462 and 500i models. It was quite an education. The 500i was clearly more powerful and lighter in weight than the 462, so I had to have one. My 041 Super quit working due to a failed SEM ignition system at that time and because I'd had the 041 for more than 40 years, I thought I should upgrade to something new and more powerful. Hence the purchase of the 500i.
Well, I hadn't had a chance to use the 500i until today, when one of our favorite hiking trails had become blocked by a huge Ponderosa Pine. The pine was about 27 inches across, where I began to cut it in to rounds to roll out of the way. So I packed the 500i with it's 32" bar lashed to my elk meat packframe to get it to the downed Ponderosa.
First impressions of the saw. Reading everything I had, on the Arborsite.com forum, I had expected the saw to be like Luke Skywalker's Light Saber and speedily cut through any wood fed to it. But it did not! Oh, it cut very fast, with the clear authority of a powerful saw, but it was still possible to bog it down when leveraging the bar downward into the wood using the bucking teeth as the fulcrum. I thought from the reviews I'd read, it would have phenominal power, and it does, but it will still bog when fed too much wood to chew through. Admittedly, it was a 32 inch bar buried in a 27 inch pine, but, still, I was a little surprised it bogged, after having read such glowing reviews on this forum. I guess every saw can be bogged, given the right conditions.
I should mention it makes beaucoup woodchip piles very quickly! The wood chips just stream out of it.
Was it easy to start? Yes, prime it, hit the decompression button, pull the starter handle/cord briskly a couple of times, and it caught and came to life. When it was warmed up, I could start it on the first pull without hitting the decompression button. Starts first time, every time, after it has been warmed up. I love the kill switch button, compared to the manual toggle switch on my 041 or the slide switch on the older mini-macs.
The exhaust note: I usually bring earplugs or muffs to use, this time I did not. I ran the 500i gently at first, allowing it to warm up and then began to feed it wood at a greater rate. I'd say the exhaust note upto about 3/4 throttle or 80 percent was tolerable and not at a hearing damaging level. But the 500i has an RPM range above the 3/4 throttle point that develops the exhaust note into a sort of scream which is definitely at a hearing damaging decibel level. At least to this man's ears. So wear ear protection! I will in the future.
The 500i even with the 32 inch bar, is several pounds lighter than my 041 super with a 25 inch bar.
So... For first impressions: it is a powerful saw, easy to start, and will handle the longer bars, but it is not an 880.
I have no comment on fuel consumption, haven't used it enough. Bar oiling appeared to be sufficient, even with the 32 inch bar.
I like the captive bar nuts, one less thing to keep track of in the forest. I like the push button kill switch. I like the primer button. I like the decompression button. It is easy to start. I like the bar/chain tension adjustment screw, as it is perpendicular to the bar, rather than aligned with the bar and close to it, as on the older saws. Easier to adjust the chain. The 500i is a keeper for sure. If it lasts as long as my 041 super, I'll be dead before it is worn out. Haven't checked my air filter yet, to see if there are any fines gettng past the filter, but I doubt I'll have that problem because the fit of the filter is very snug around the venturi opening and the rubber sealing surfaces are flat and mate properly to the adjacent surfaces. I will report back if I find anything made it past the filter.
We have a lot of hiking trails, forest service roads and 4x4 trails in the mountains near Blewett Pass in the state of Washington. I live 17minutes from that pass and regularly snowmobile up there in winter and hike/hunt/dirtbike/4x4 in a SxS Talon, during all the other seasons up there. The highest elevations are 7000 feet.
There have been significant forest fires within recent years (2012) and the burned timber has become weakened from rot over the ensuing years. Some dead, barkless trees come down due to gravity, but many come down due to the high winds from the storms of winter and fall. So the hiking trails, roads and 4x4 off-road trails invariably have many deadfalls blocking the routes. I typically use an ancient McCulloch Mini-Mac 35 with a 14 inch bar to clear hiking trails and single track motorcycle trails. And an old Stihl 041 Super with a 25" bar for the bigger stuff which blocks roads. I clear the forest service roads after elk hunting season has come and gone and the storms of Autumn have brought down the rotten trees. Often I ride my snowmobile in the early part of the winter, before the Forest Service commences grooming of their roads, which become groomed snowmobile trails, those give us high-speed access to the deep powder off in the trees and the steeper slopes. I carry the Mini-Mac in a large day pack with a quart of premix and a pint of bar oil and the tools needed to sharpen the chain, adjust the chain and the carburator. ( I can't believe how sensitive to altitude changes the little minimacs are.) I remove a lot of blocking deadfalls to help the mechanical groomer machine make faster progress, when they begin their work, at the start of the season. In fact, the road/trail groomers in the area, request the "user groups" (Snowmobilers) to cut the deadfalls out. They ask that we make at least one cut in the middle of the log and then one at either side of the road, so they can push the sawn logs out of the way with their front blades, as they groom, instead of having to get out and saw/remove the deadfalls themselves.
Last November, before the winter snows arrived, there was a mid-autumn storm with very high winds that brought down stands of fire-burned timber. One of the Forest Service roads was blocked by literally hundreds of dead larch and fir trees, in the space of a mile and one half. I had begun to remove many of them with my old 041 Super when two families in 3/4 ton 4x4 pickups came up to cut loads of firewood. The fathers introduced me to their Stihl 462 and 500i models. It was quite an education. The 500i was clearly more powerful and lighter in weight than the 462, so I had to have one. My 041 Super quit working due to a failed SEM ignition system at that time and because I'd had the 041 for more than 40 years, I thought I should upgrade to something new and more powerful. Hence the purchase of the 500i.
Well, I hadn't had a chance to use the 500i until today, when one of our favorite hiking trails had become blocked by a huge Ponderosa Pine. The pine was about 27 inches across, where I began to cut it in to rounds to roll out of the way. So I packed the 500i with it's 32" bar lashed to my elk meat packframe to get it to the downed Ponderosa.
First impressions of the saw. Reading everything I had, on the Arborsite.com forum, I had expected the saw to be like Luke Skywalker's Light Saber and speedily cut through any wood fed to it. But it did not! Oh, it cut very fast, with the clear authority of a powerful saw, but it was still possible to bog it down when leveraging the bar downward into the wood using the bucking teeth as the fulcrum. I thought from the reviews I'd read, it would have phenominal power, and it does, but it will still bog when fed too much wood to chew through. Admittedly, it was a 32 inch bar buried in a 27 inch pine, but, still, I was a little surprised it bogged, after having read such glowing reviews on this forum. I guess every saw can be bogged, given the right conditions.
I should mention it makes beaucoup woodchip piles very quickly! The wood chips just stream out of it.
Was it easy to start? Yes, prime it, hit the decompression button, pull the starter handle/cord briskly a couple of times, and it caught and came to life. When it was warmed up, I could start it on the first pull without hitting the decompression button. Starts first time, every time, after it has been warmed up. I love the kill switch button, compared to the manual toggle switch on my 041 or the slide switch on the older mini-macs.
The exhaust note: I usually bring earplugs or muffs to use, this time I did not. I ran the 500i gently at first, allowing it to warm up and then began to feed it wood at a greater rate. I'd say the exhaust note upto about 3/4 throttle or 80 percent was tolerable and not at a hearing damaging level. But the 500i has an RPM range above the 3/4 throttle point that develops the exhaust note into a sort of scream which is definitely at a hearing damaging decibel level. At least to this man's ears. So wear ear protection! I will in the future.
The 500i even with the 32 inch bar, is several pounds lighter than my 041 super with a 25 inch bar.
So... For first impressions: it is a powerful saw, easy to start, and will handle the longer bars, but it is not an 880.
I have no comment on fuel consumption, haven't used it enough. Bar oiling appeared to be sufficient, even with the 32 inch bar.
I like the captive bar nuts, one less thing to keep track of in the forest. I like the push button kill switch. I like the primer button. I like the decompression button. It is easy to start. I like the bar/chain tension adjustment screw, as it is perpendicular to the bar, rather than aligned with the bar and close to it, as on the older saws. Easier to adjust the chain. The 500i is a keeper for sure. If it lasts as long as my 041 super, I'll be dead before it is worn out. Haven't checked my air filter yet, to see if there are any fines gettng past the filter, but I doubt I'll have that problem because the fit of the filter is very snug around the venturi opening and the rubber sealing surfaces are flat and mate properly to the adjacent surfaces. I will report back if I find anything made it past the filter.
