I Know It's Been Asked but Need the Latest Word on Saws ... Best Bang for the $$

[Al_Smith]

No in fact a 346 is not cheap .However if one were to look back in history saws have never been cheap . Fact is in retrospect they are actually cheaper than they were in the 60's .

I personally don't buy new saws ,only two of same in my lifetime .

However if you say take into consideration that a 200T Stihl will pay for itself in a day or two it isn't that bad . My first saw was an S-25 Poulan which I still have .It was 139.95 on sale . That saw paid for itself in just few days because I was selling firewood at the time . The fact it that saw has likely paid me back 100 fold the original price--plus I still have it .

[gemniii]

I've started to look for a good log yard saw for 22 to 30 inch White Pine & Hemlock Logs.   

Avery

Well I've just finshed my first tank and then about another half with my John Deere CS62 (aka Efco).
It's a little heavy for me for overhead work, but waist high and lower it's great w/ a 20" bar and full chisel chain.
If you search around you might be able to find a good bargain on one since John Deere has now switched to selling Stihls.

[ladylake]

 The CS62 is one of Efco's better models, same weight as the 56cc saws and more power, built good.  There were some really good deals on Ebay a while back.   Steve

[weimedog]

I love these "bang per buck" threads. Usually they go back and forth brands smashing or ego baiting..all fun. So I have to throw my hat into the ring.

Best bang per buck depends on how mechanical you are...and how fashion driven you are.

For me? The best Bang per buck has been provided with one of three saws:

1) A $10 Dollar Homelite 540 with  28 inch bar...aquired for ten bucks and I have added a few hours of elbow grease, a carb kit, new chain, new fuel & chain oil lines, just general clean up. Oh yea a couple of helicoils to strenghten the muffler & cover mounting points. Total spent? MAYBE 50 dollars. Its a second pull starting (reguardless of weather & temps) 88cc saw that can make a pile of chips in a hurry. Proven to be reliable as well.

2) My $150 dollar Husqvarna 455. Bought from Tractor Supply as a problem customer return. Of course this was two days after an ICE STORM! So I gambled & argued and ended up with it along with a pair of 440e's for $150 dollars each. All looked brand new. All turned out to be..perfect and brand new with no issues I have found yet. One 440e was resold for $200 to help offset the gamble.....$450 minus $200...$250 dollars for two saws. The 440e has been used for countless hours reliable by my Wife, and the 455 by me for most of this summer. BOTH much better than reported here and places like this.

3) My $25 Dollar Homelite S-XL 925. It looked clean in the pile of saws I was picking over, it had compression but I didn't know at the time if it had spark..I gambled..It had spark. A fuel line, fuel filter, & carb kit later it was running really well. A new Oregon "Power Match" bar & Oregan chain later it was cutting wood. That was 7 years ago and it still runs strong as ever. So maybe $100 dollar saw...hours and hours of cutting hard maple, Ash and Hickory later its by far the best Bang per Buck saw I have.

From what I have heard and seen for "Newer" saws.

1) Those Makita/Dolmar 6400 series saws are hard to beat used or new. Especially when you can get a Barrel to build them to a 80cc power house..and yea there is that new filter upgrade.

2)Clean Ebay or used Husqvarna 266-272's or even newer 365's Usually under $350 bucks clean including mail and easy to build to what you want. 372's bring top dollar.

3) Those clean  Ebay or used 290 & 310 Stihls and other Stihl's that are the smaller CC versions of a particular class of Stihl saw. No one wants them used as they can get the bigger versions for the same money..they are better than posted about. My friends has a 310. Its been a solid machine in the harshes of environments.

Moral of this story? there are lots of great bang per buck situations out there if your mechanical enough and do a little research. Its fun as well...the hunt & gamble part at least. AND the money isn't that big so..have a little fun. It might turn into a habit.

My current project..a Husqvarna Model 61 thats loosing its 48mm barrel & topend entirely in favor of a like new 50mm top end & carb from a 268XP aquired for $50 bucks. Total dollars? When done? Maybe $150 invested total along with my time. I bet it will out cut, out last, and out run anything you could buy new for $300 dollars new.

[Al_Smith]

Best bang per buck depends on how mechanical you are...and how fashion driven you are.

   
   
 

That covers a lot of territory Walter . You gotta remember what forum you are on now . A few of us can fiddle and tinker and soup up saws that will outrun the next class size up but most can't . --or take 3 saws and come up with one but then again it goes back to that mechanical know how thing . Which I might add can be a a good thing or bad depending on how you look at it . I will say this though,it's neat to revamp a saw,maybe soup it up but you can certainly spend hours doing it .

[ladylake]

My last one was a CS5500 off Ebay with a bad coil (it was bad) and a broken case, it had one little chip out of it that make no difference. I bid $10 got it for $5.50 plus $17 shipping, put on a coil I has laying around and it ran good but kind of gutless. Then modded the muffler which really woke it up.  These Echo saws really wake up with a muffler mod.  My CS8000  is 3 saws put together .  Steve

[DanG]

Avery, unlike many of these guys, I hang out on other parts of the Forum and I know exactly what you want this saw to do for you.  I do the exact same thing you are wanting to do.  I chose the Echo CS-670 because they have the best dealer anywhere around here, and I've been very pleased with it.  I've had it for about 7 or 8 years now with no problems at all.  I know that becoming a chainsaw mechanic is not in your plans, and I've found both of my Echos to be very dependable.

[Al_Smith]

Yes indeed dealer support is very important and something that must be factored in if a person is not well adept in doing mechanical work on saws .

For  those of us who have a scad of saws of  nearly every make and model it means very little because if one is down for parts we might have 25-40 that do run . For those who only have one maybe two  ,you have to have a reliable place for both parts and mechanical work if needed . Not take in the saw and get it back two months later either .