Long bar on a top handle saw.

JTree said:
.....

If I had it to do over I would have forked out the extra cash for an 880 instead of the 660. When I reach for the 660, I am really wanting an 880, every single time.
....
Click to expand...
When I pick up an 880, I wish I was holding a 660 instead!

It has its place (I don't own either...by biggest is a 12 year old 385XP), but I try really hard not to do big removals so I don't have need. But man...those are heavy suckers. Most of the timber cutters I work with on the forestry side are using either a 661 or 395XP. They have an 880 or 3120 in the trunk, but it doesn't come out unless the tree goes over 40" dbh.
 
ATH said:
When I pick up an 880, I wish I was holding a 660 instead!

It has its place (I don't own either...by biggest is a 12 year old 385XP), but I try really hard not to do big removals so I don't have need. But man...those are heavy suckers. Most of the timber cutters I work with on the forestry side are using either a 661 or 395XP. They have an 880 or 3120 in the trunk, but it doesn't come out unless the tree goes over 40" dbh.
Click to expand...
Last 3 removals I did were over 60" in diameter. I was using practically all of the 36" bar on both sides to get through the heartwood. All of them were oaks (1 white, 2 post).....so yeah, an 880 would have been really nice......and a longer bar. 36" wasn't enough to do the thing properly.
 
I never had an 880,always wanted one though,are they worth the money?If you had to chose would you take two sharp 660s or one sharp 880 ,like if your doing municiple job removing 6 or 8 36+ dbh hardwoods
 
JTree said:
Last 3 removals I did were over 60" in diameter. I was using practically all of the 36" bar on both sides to get through the heartwood. All of them were oaks (1 white, 2 post).....so yeah, an 880 would have been really nice......and a longer bar. 36" wasn't enough to do the thing properly.
Click to expand...
I have always felt that pound for pound and cc for cc a Husky will pull a longer bar than a Stihl. This is a very important factor for me. I have been running a 42" on my bone stock 395XP's for years with great results. On paper a Stihl 661 should pull a 42" bar, but in my limited experience it didn't do so well running a 42". Why is that?
 
Wrangler said:
I never had an 880,always wanted one though,are they worth the money?If you had to chose would you take two sharp 660s or one sharp 880 ,like if your doing municiple job removing 6 or 8 36+ dbh hardwoods
Click to expand...
For multiple city trees at 36" dbh, I'd take the two 660s.

1) Trees that size usually have metal in them near the bottom when they are growing in town. When you hit metal, you hand the saw off to a good groundie to sharpen and he hands you the other one.

2) at 36" dbh, you are only going to need the big guns for a little bit of the cutting. It's fine to let the machine struggle and bog for a little while, but if the tree is giant and the saw is going to be eating all day long, I'd want something that doesn't bog down when I am digging in the dogs and ripping through clean wood.

3) redundancy keeps the down time to a minimum. If you only have 1 big saw and it goes tits up, you may as well cut the groundies loose early and have a beer while you wait on parts. You can minimize that by havin a few spare parts in the tool box, but nothing is as fast as pulling out an identical piece of equipment and keeping the job rolling.
 
rico said:
I have always felt that pound for pound and cc for cc a Husky will pull a longer bar than a Stihl. This is a very important factor for me. I have been running a 42" on my bone stock 395XP's for years with great results. On paper a Stihl 661 should pull a 42" bar, but in my limited experience it didn't do so well running a 42". Why is that?
Click to expand...
I've run a 42 on a 660. It works, but you can bring it to a dead stop easily if your rakers are even just a *little* too low. Never had the opportunity to run a large husky.
 
JTree said:
I've run a 42 on a 660. It works, but you can bring it to a dead stop easily if your rakers are even just a *little* too low. Never had the opportunity to run a large husky.
Click to expand...
7 tooth sprocket and chain slightly on loose side also seems to help,thats been my best luck with long bars on 660,never ran the husky but sounds like more torque even if specs say otherwise
 
Wrangler said:
7 tooth sprocket and chain slightly on loose side also seems to help,thats been my best luck with long bars on 660,never ran the husky but sounds like more torque even if specs say otherwise
Click to expand...
Yeah one of these days I want to go play around for a couple of days with the local harvesters and see what's what on the big saws. I've always been a stihl guy but if the big husky saws really are better I'm willing to have my mind changed.
 
I spend a lot of time aloft chunking millable logs in the 32"-42" range and having the ability to make clean undercuts and backcuts without resorting to walking around is a very big deal to me. I know a lot of folks around here like to run big powerheads with smaller bars, but I come from the school of running the longest bar possible on a given powerhead. If a 16-17 lb, 90-95cc saw can't do a good job pulling a 42" its pretty fucking worthless to me. Hell I run a 28" on my lowly little bone stock 59cc 562XP and it sings like bird. Will a 59cc 362 do a good job of pulling a 28"? Maybe someone can answer this question. Stihl's are obviously beautifully built saws and I would love to love them, but in my experience they have not been able to do what I need them to do nearly as well as a Husky.
 
JTree said:
Yeah one of these days I want to go play around for a couple of days with the local harvesters and see what's what on the big saws. I've always been a stihl guy but if the big husky saws really are better I'm willing to have my mind changed.
Click to expand...
I took a couple homeowner saws in on trade for a pickup i was selling,one was a 455 rancher,its acctually pretty nice on 20 some inch spars,its quiet,the dising of the dogs is really nice and it runs 3/8 chain,i gotta say its not bad especially for $200
 
rico said:
Hell I run a 28" on my lowly little bone stock 59cc 562XP and it sings like bird. Will a 59cc 362 do a good job of pulling a 28"? Maybe someone can answer this question. Stihl's are obviously beautifully built saws and I would love to love them, but in my experience they have not been able to do what I need them to do nearly as well as a Husky.
Click to expand...

I’ve slapped a 28” on my 361 more than once. I was actually quite impressed with it, but not as impressed as I was with the 20” from my 361 on the 440.
I do get your point, and agree. I’d likely go with a 395 over a 661 IF I can find a good shop within a hour from me.
 
rico said:
Hell I run a 28" on my lowly little bone stock 59cc 562XP and it sings like bird. Will a 59cc 362 do a good job of pulling a 28"? Maybe someone can answer this question. Stihl's are obviously beautifully built saws and I would love to love them, but in my experience they have not been able to do what I need them to do nearly as well as a Husky.
Click to expand...
I've even run a (gasp) 32" .050 lightweight bar on my little 562XP and it just buzzed along - in softwood mind, but it got me quick, nice clean felling jobs with no fuss. Wouldn't do it all the time but in a pinch it came thru.
 
evo said:
I’ve slapped a 28” on my 361 more than once. I was actually quite impressed with it, but not as impressed as I was with the 20” from my 361 on the 440.
I do get your point, and agree. I’d likely go with a 395 over a 661 IF I can find a good shop within a hour from me.
Click to expand...

Same here, if I buy husqvarna I get a new mechanic every time. If I buy stihl, I get one of the same four reliable guys. They look a little inbred, but they're solid AF with my saws.
 
Well I have a whole quiver of Huskys and I cant remember the last time I went to see a saw tech for a repair? Over a decade for sure. Just sayin.....

As far as a 395XP and worrying about a tech, there aint much to go wrong with it. Put high quality fuel in it, keep your filter clean, keep a good edge on it, and it will treat you right...
 
The only saw that spent many hours in the shop was a Dolmar. If it was more heavy it would have been a better mooring than a saw, alas it sucked for any use.
 
RyTheTreeGuy said:
Then you my friend are in need of a financial advisor....not advice on Stihl vs Husqy
Click to expand...

[emoji1787]

I don’t Need Stihl vs. Husky advice.

I did attempt to add a bit of humor to the discussion.

I’ve had poor experiences with multiple Husqvarna OPE so I stick to ECHO or Stihl these days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom