Get me up to speed on the best saws of today

[Mick!]

I think the husky is a 536 or something, they only make one so that must be it.

Great for pruning, small TDs etc. I'm a big fan (as I've said before)

Tiny little chain, bar is made of cheese.

 

[SeanKroll]

Thanks for the input, Mick.

 

[Levi]

"Bar is made of cheese" yep

 

[Nutball]

I forgot about spikes, my 271t doesn't even have plastic dogs, it sucks in that way but still chews through wood pretty well. It's about time I mod some of my stuff. I think there's a muffler mod for the 271t just like most any saw. I might take apart my 2188 soon if it isn't too much trouble, but hope to learn how to port it. I might also add some surface area to the cooling fins, that thing gets hot all over.

A month ago I had a job through the night taking a blown over tree off a house. Now I just want to work at night, it's so much better in many ways, I'd think electric saws would be quiet enough if sound laws are the only limitation.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

I forgot about spikes, my 271t doesn't even have plastic dogs,

It's like the ms150T. Her problem is that the case's seam in the middle of the front often touches the wood first and tends to swing the saw to the right. The bar doesn't agree of course and there's a little conflict in the stability.
I saw a dog on the parts list, so I ordered one.
Well better.
The dog hits first and stabilizes the saw as it should be. It's light enough to not impair the balance. More important, you get a fulcrum point to rotate the bar in the wood. The wrist and the forearm are thankful, even on this light baby saw.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Kinda thing where you want to go for several appliances for the same power supply. How does the blower work?

Battery blower works great for smaller applications. (As in if you wouldn't use a backpack blower for more than 7 minutes.) I'm probably going to keep one with my chipper to blow off radiator screen and out the fins after every chipping. (Right now I have to borrow the one I bought my wife for a birthday present - when I'm around the house.)

 

[r0ck1r0ck2]

anybody got anything to say about the jonsered 2188 or the dolmar 7910?

 

[Nutball]

I don't know about the dolmar, but my 2188 had almost all I wanted which is why I got it: Husqvarna 390 at a discount, outer rim sprocket, good power to weight ratio, I like the 3 setting oiler which does about either 1/3, 2/3, or >1 tank oil per tank of gas. Only down sides are parts availability, I wish it had an upgrade filter like the 372, bigger spikes would be nice, and it had trouble keeping a 42" bar oiled well, I'd say 32" max for decent oiling. I'd also like to see more heatsink surface area, it gets pretty hot, and the exhaust blows right up the handle which about burns my hand.

I'm very happy with my 2188 and Echo 271t setup. The only thing that would be better is if they were ported and had light weight bars. I'd quickly get another 2188, I gave up a good 660 I had to get mine.

 

[r0ck1r0ck2]

the 2188 and its accompanying 390xp are both exceptional saws from what i've been able to tell

these dolmars tho'

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sH95A5xSl5s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

i'm pretty interested and would love to get my grubby hands on one.

 

[SeanKroll]

Roger B likes dolmars.

 

[stig]

Find me a pro logger who does!

 

[Magnus]

I Know 4-5 loggers here that do...

 

[stig]

I've never come across one, personally.

 

[Nutball]

Did Husqvarna make them? That wasn't even broken in yet, it looked like 30 seconds through pine with 24" bar. Comparing to my 2188 which maybe on it's 5th tank of gas was cutting around 24"oak with 20" bar in just over 20 seconds, so they seem pretty close.

 

[Jonny]

Any of you guys running the ms261 with m-tronic?
I think my mind is already made up, but wondering if there's any negatives about it at all.

 

[Nutball]

I'm hoping to find one without the M-tronic, though people seem to like them. I too have recently decided to get a 261. Not now, but it's on the list, and it will be ported by Master Mind. I was going to get a ported 362, but the 261 is so much lighter while having more power than a lot of stock saws up to 60cc when ported. It will make a great in tree and ground limbing saw between my 2188 and a top handle saw. I saw it cutting 14-19" of wood in 5-9 seconds, over 2" per second.

In my opinion, for normal circumstances you don't need anything other than a ported Hus 390, MS261, and top handle saw.

 

[Jonny]

I like the mtronic on my 441 so far.
I use an 026 with a 20" when I need bigger than the 200t in the tree. I don't mind sacrificing a little power/speed for the weight saved in the tree. I want another 50cc with an 18" for ground work.
A ported 261 sounds sweet. One of these days I'm gonna spring for some professional mods.

 

[Nutball]

I heard the stock 261 is way better than the 026 even though older saws seem to be more powerful than the newer designs these days. HP specs put it ahead of the 291 I think. I've got a 2511t getting ported next week. It should about keep up with a 201t. Porting is just the way to go in my opinion. If I'm waiting for my saw to finish a cut, then it's too slow for me. That's why I use my 2188 with a 20" bar so much on the ground. It will about cut faster than I can keep up with when bucking firewood. It puts a smile on people's face when they see how fast it is.

 

[Bermy]

I just got a 462...wow! I think the weight is close to my 260 as well. I will probably get an 18" bar for it too, it's fabulous.

 

[Stumpshot]

Nutball, eager to hear how it goes with your ported 2511T. Of course saw August's videos on it and the "Saw King's" work, but def. want a 2nd opinion of it vs. a 200/201T before we drop $$$ on one. Do you have someone local that can do the work? Can you do it, Kevin (Cut4Fun)?

 

[mike in pa]

I forgot about spikes, my 271t doesn't even have plastic dogs, it sucks in that way but still chews through wood pretty well. It's about time I mod some of my stuff. I think there's a muffler mod for the 271t just like most any saw. .

Echo makes a spike for the 271T. I got it for mine but it's not on yet. There is an after market muffler for it to that does not have a cat, it's about $20. I'll probably pick one up and see how it goes.

 

[Cut4fun]

I dont mod saws. Mitch does some wonders on the 2511 etc.

He is in that taking in bean and corn season. So he isnt been doing much right now for saws.

 

[Nutball]

I kept wanting to put spikes on my 271t, but It doesn't have much power worth levering on. I wouldn't ever want to use it for big cuts in a tree, though I have, and yes I did kinda want the spikes to lever on then, but I just waited while the saw did the work. I did a minor muffler mod on it too, but after looking at the exhaust port, I figured why bother just making it loud when the port is so tiny. Terrible design in my opinion. It's a port that turns 90 degrees, so it gets squished down by around 50% or more in diameter. It would be great to figure out a good bypass straight to the bottom of the saw without risking burns or getting dust back in the engine when it's off.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'd install them!

 

[stig]

I just got a 462...wow! I think the weight is close to my 260 as well. I will probably get an 18" bar for it too, it's fabulous.

20" light bar balances it really well.
It is also almost a pound lighter than a normal 18" bar.

Costs a bit more, but how often do you wear a bar out.
Not like us 8 hour a day saw users.
We've gone through an unbelievable amount of bar and chain this year.