Echo saws

Yeah my dad was in the tree biz and he does not like echo's at all. He doenst even like huskys since he says their too heavy and he is all for stihl. I more for Stihl but I like a few husky's and I don't plan on buying an echo but I just wanted to see what people thought of them.
 
I've used an echo climbing saw for the last 10- 15 years and it has been great. (I'm talking the old style model which they still sell)
It may not have quite as much power as Stihl, etc but the way it starts and runs has been superb .I can't say enough good about this saw. I have two and will buy another. Bullet proof! The bigger Echo saws are a different story. I think they run OK but they don't really compare to other brands.
rink
 
never used the bigger saws but i have a top handle i got ex demo for a good price, way less power than a stihl, and poorer quality.

BUT.. latley it has been my prefered climbing saw, mostly i remove spruce these days. this saw has enough power for the cuts and is so light its like a powered silky saw! i love it.

granted its made of tacky plastic, the chain brake is stiff and the off switch is backwards. no dogs either.

my verdict?
if its a second saw for those lighter pruning jobs, and it wont break the bank, give it a go. otherwise stick to the 020 t.
 
I have an old echo cs330 16" saw. I bought it a a yard sale, guy said it hadn't been used for 15 years. I went home, put gas in it and it fired up on the 5th pull. I haven't cut wood with it yet, only scared kids and adults with it at Halloween. Only time it didn't strat on first pull is when I forgot to switch it on. I have made people piss themselves the last 2 years with it
grin.gif
. FWIW I only paid $1 for it.
 
Apparenty Echo is owned and made in Japan. The owner was a partner with a man who went on to build Honda cars. I'd say they are good quaity cars. But go to a real chainsaw shop if you are buying one. Home Depot had the top handle Echo but for a few extra bucks you get more ccs, power and a parts desk. I started with one and it did fine, it's still ready to go to work. Of course I've went to Stihl. I went into my local shop who sells both Stihl and Husky and asked about a new Husky model I had seen. The mechanic said why don't you just stick with Stihl. Good enough for me.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have an old echo cs330 16" saw. I bought it a a yard sale, guy said it hadn't been used for 15 years. I went home, put gas in it and it fired up on the 5th pull. I haven't cut wood with it yet, only scared kids and adults with it at Halloween. Only time it didn't strat on first pull is when I forgot to switch it on. I have made people piss themselves the last 2 years with it
grin.gif
. FWIW I only paid $1 for it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You got a great deal on it then.
 
I've owned a number of the Echo Top Handles most recently the CS-360T This new version does have steel dogs so it works better than the the older model with the plastic "bump" dogs.

I also have a Stihl ms200t and find the echo comparable in power.

price to longevity ratio is pretty good, assuming you don't have a bone head who thinks it's ok to drop the saw on his 5 foot lanyard every time he is done cutting.

Biggest down side is the wrap handle terminates on the starter cover and if the user is careless in dropping the saw the starter cover warps and becomes useless.

I've had 4 of the CS360Ts and all served well until our bone-head got a hold of them.

At about half the price of an MS200T I really do prefer the Echo CS360T

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to grab a couple more MS200T's if I could get them used under $300.

Biggest downside to the Echo? If you ever need it serviced the cost of labor and parts for minor repairs approaches the cost of a new saw. So, if you don't do maintenance and repairs in-house the CS360T may not be for you.

As for the larger Echos though I've never used them for trees the fire departments around here had very good luck with them. Again, pricing gives you a good bang for the buck.
 
I won a top handled echo climbing saw (not sure the model) at a comp a few years back. Used at work a few times but definitely preferred my 200t. I ended up giving it to my dad when they had a big ice storm last year. He loves it, the only saw he had prior was 1970's Stihl (not sure of the model, but big and heavy).

For the money I think Echo makes a good saw. I am partial to the 200t and if you are going to use it on a daily basis it is worth the investment.
 
We have an Echo cs-520 that I like. Got it second hand from a local rental business. The saw had been run with straight gas or wrong mix gas but wasnt that old or beat up. I rebuilt the engine by replacing the piston-rings, bearings and seals. The piston was torn up very badly but the cylinder cleaned up well with muratic acid. Echo must anticipate these failures because their engines are always set on the lean side to please the EPA air pollution standards. Opened up the muffler a little to let it breath and redialed the carb to get enough fuel to it. Nice and light weight, .325 bar and chain. The saw has good power now that its broken in and breathing better.
 
I just got finished building a 680 hotsaw for echo to use at demo's , the new 600's are not to bad of saws , the 680 gained alot over stock and is fairly well built , they have very large transfer ports but very small ext. and intake ports but feel this is cause of the EPA rules they need to pass ,
 
Hi EHP,
What all did you do to the cs-680? I just bought a parts 670 which has a scuffed cylinder, so it will need a piston at the very minimum. Ive never used one of these before what can I expect?
 
I ported the jug , cut the head to raise compression, did a small pop-up piston as it had lots of compression , I built a pipe for it plus opened up the muffler , It runs at 14500 rpms but can cut alot of wood with out getting hot , sure I could build it alot faster but they wanted a saw that could cut a ton of cookies , run on pump gas , very low up keep and not get hot
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom