I figured it was smarter to bump this (and keep on-topic) than starting a new, similar thread of
"What are the most-aggressive, lightest 16"B&C's I can put on my 355t?"
I see a lot of posts saying/implying Echo has weird mounts...this isn't the case, when I got my 355t w/ a 14" OEM setup I immediately checked and found my 16" used Oregon "Versacut" b&c was
lighter than the 14" Echo b&c so I put it on (after verifying the pitch was OK, already knew the bar&chain were matches)
Echo doesn't make it easy to know what you can/cannot put on a 355t...for me this is all about weight, and Echo's site only lists Echo b&c setups..Sugihara's site doesn't list ONE bar for the 355t, am not doubting that many fit but they don't specify (they group Echo saws to 4 categories, but omit the 355/330/360t series saws, they do have 2511's of course...can't understand why the optimal for a 2511 would have any significant difference from a 355, you're not doing that much more w/ the extra 10cc's!!)
Would love a Tsumura or Sugihara lightweight 16" bar, uncertain on chain but think VXL is where I'll end up, the Stihl chain ("PS" I believe?) for 3/8LP / 0.050" is substantially more expensive and I've never tried a pro chain before (well, I grind my rakers so low I imagine my chains are comparable enough, will find out shortly!!) If there's another chain besides the PS and the VXL that I should be considering for this I'd love to hear it
(to be clear, it's gotta be 3/8LP, as I don't know of any sprocket-kits for 355's to go 1/4 pitch, though my understanding is that *would* be better for a 16")
Thanks a ton for any inputs
(PS- upthread, Re the mention of Echo's being 'special' and my 355t's bar&chain setup...maybe it's rear-handle echo's but the 355t definitely swaps b&c with any off-the-shelf US brick&mortar "3/8 safety setup", the ubiquitous b&c on 95% of US saws out-the-box, anyway up-thread there was concern in post#1 by
@ffchewy17 because the b&c they wanted had 1 more DL than the comparable-size Echo setup....this was also the case w/ my 16" oregon-versacut setup, it had 1 or 2 DL's less than the Echo-recommended 16" setup, but I figured they were basing that on simply covering the larger profile of an Echo bar, I've been using the 16" Versa to great effect and then realized
"duh, you have the package somewhere and it had a long compatibility-list since it was a b&c combo-kit" and sure-enough the 355t *was* listed as appropriate...this was for my $15, walmart-clearance Oregon Versacut b&c, if that's good on the 355t then all "normal"/generics are, would bet every available poulan, for instance, would readily swap b&c w/ any 355)
