Larger Chainsaw Advice

dsptech said:
I have the 620p as well and I love it, can run a 28" bar with a full skip on it.
I run a Husqy 390xp for larger wood up to 42" bar.
I'm thinking on buying the new Echo cs-490 as a lighter saw for in the tree rear handle to replace my cs-400.
Check it out here... Echo CS-490

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Have heard good things about their pro grade 501p. Bought one for my brother, on sale $400 with 20” bar and a bit over 10lb iirc.
 
Dsptech, I bought a 490 to replace my 400 a few years ago. It wasn't nearly as well built. It was a waist of money.
 
Thats what I thought... I ran both the 400 and the 362 for about a half hour on a job last week.. Both are light for 60 something cc's and cut very well with a 24' bar. To be honest I couldn't tell much of a difference between the 2, and in the end I felt like my 562 with a 28" kinda kicked both of their asses. The shining star among all the Stihl's I have recently run is the 462..Crazy light for a 72 cc saw, and cut like a raped ape..I would own one if I could find one with a full wrap...Going to give the 500i a run this morning.
 
rico said:
Thats what I thought... I ran both the 400 and the 362 for about a half hour on a job last week.. Both are light for 60 something cc's and cut very well with a 24' bar. To be honest I couldn't tell much of a difference between the 2, and in the end I felt like my 562 with a 28" kinda kicked both of their asses. The shining star among all the Stihl's I have recently run is the 462..Crazy light for a 72 cc saw, and cut like a raped ape..I would own one if I could find one with a full wrap...Going to give the 500i a run this morning.
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These IS hope for you yet! On a serious note though, I appreciate your opinions of all these saws, even if you are a Husky fan. And I can’t talk down too much about Husky saws, I’ve run, very briefly, a couple from @Colin1234567 ’s collection, and have no complaints about their performance. Especially the worked saws, those run!
 
The difference between comparable Husky's and Stihl's is real....My single biggest issue with Stihl has been their lack of low end grunt when I bear down on them, and the fact that they struggle with the longer bars that my comparable Husky's easily handle. The new Stihl's certainly don't lack in chain speed/rpm's, smoothness, and weight/power ratio though...
 
treegongfu said:
Dsptech, I bought a 490 to replace my 400 a few years ago. It wasn't nearly as well built. It was a waist of money.
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Isn't the CS-490 a new saw in their line-up this year?
You can't compare it to the CS-620P or 590 as far as build quality.
It's a more plasticy saw but really light weight and more power over the CS-400 which is similarly built.
For the price it seems hard to beat with 10 more CC's at the cost of just 5oz over the CS-400.
 
I'd have to verify but I'm pretty sure it was a 490 and I bought it 3 years ago. I just gave up on it after one season.
 
dsptech said:
Isn't the CS-490 a new saw in their line-up this year?
You can't compare it to the CS-620P or 590 as far as build quality.
It's a more plasticy saw but really light weight and more power over the CS-400 which is similarly built.
For the price it seems hard to beat with 10 more CC's at the cost of just 5oz over the CS-400.
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Cs 4910 is the new homeowner 50cc that is super light.
 
We use 2 echo 620p saws and couldn't be more impressed. They are 2 and 3 years old, run every day. Shit I haven't even changed a spark plug. With a sharp chain they cut like an animal. Plenty of power and relatively light weight. My 362 cm was great...for 2 months. My 201tcm was great... for 2 months. Now both saws sit in storage collecting dust because they are total junk. The echos don't cut quite as fast but they run run run run run. Actually my 620p cuts as fast as my friends 562xp.

I have an older 660 which we keep a 24 inch bar on and take it out when needed. On our truck every day are the 620s. I routinely cut trees up to 40 inches with our 20 inch bars on them.

Stihl seems to add new technology to sell a new product and every time unimprove. The new 500i sounds nice but there are just as many horror stories as there are happy customers. They cannot even produce a sound running top handled saw which is the back bone of countless tree services across the world. Okay maybe that is not true...some people are lucky enough to get a great running one. Well I have brought them in to be fixed which worked for a little while and then blah dog dog dog.
 
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Yeah all we run are sthil and the saws hardly ever have to be taken in to the shop. My boss have ran stihl for 40 years. Won't run anything else. I'm surprised to hear of your misfortune with sthil really surprised. I'd be open to try other brands but I never have just because I've never had a problem serious enough to even think about it.
 
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