It's a fun topic, everytime it gets brought up here, there is never a shortage of responses as well as variances of performance experiences in a wide array of applications.
Now I suppose I'm a fan of the Stihl line, though I've had others, started with my fathers late 60's 08S Stihl which was a decent saw for a farm and for doing moderate work, like a couple of cords per year. I use a MS390, my friend has a MS361, both about the same size and = HP, both get moderate use, firewood and some tree cutting. After a few years neither has been much trouble, MS361 is probably the better of the 2. They don't get used everyday 8 hrs/day throughout the year, but still get some heavy use at times.
It seems that with so many different applications and arrangements of saws, you need to set one up to your specific needs, using a reliable model as a platform. Hard to say what I'd want different if I was cutting everyday, more HP, more aggressive chain and minimizing maintenance.
On that note, the MS390 I have, think it's an '02 model, does get a little tempermental, can be hard starting...... now why is that, well they do need to be serviced regularly. 1 week ago, during that high heat and humidity, which is the worst kind of weather I want to run a saw in to cut wood and handle same, this one made 2 cuts and would not start eventually, would run then stall, like it was fuel starved. Some would immediately condemn the saw for that.
Removed the air filter, (was heavily restricted with sawdust) cleaned same with compressed air, vacuumed up particles that fell onto the carb choke flap when I removed it, don't want a speck of that in there. Removed spark plug, cleaned same, checked fuel tank filter, was clean, tank had been flushed earlier this year, chain was just sharpened, tension good. Also move that black plastic air breather cover was set on the snowflake position, I reversed it to the sun position ( Winter/ Summer )
1 pull it fired on full choke, move lever up and it fires on the next pull, stays running, have chain brake on, hit the trigger to release throttle so as not to strain the clutch and it's running like when it was new. It cut and performed like new.
People have different ideas of maintainance, I think a chainsaw has to be maintained with a certain degree of detail and meticulous'ness that not everyone subscribes to, for it to perform well. It's one of the pieces of equipment that gets an attentive eye around here, because it's also a very dangerous thing to operate, prior to doing any serious cutting, I'll give it a full service, knowing that if I don't it could let me down. I do cut some dry and dead wood, that creates a lot of dry dust that loads up the air filter, even with the intelli-carb, it eventually chokes out, so it's really a must to keep up on maintainance. It's also good to keep it in a field ready condition at all times, we get lots of wind at times and trees go down, nice to have a saw ready to go.
Bar Oil, I'll totally disagree on that, used motor oil is nasty, the physical properties of each are significantly different, my father used it in his 08S and the bar shows it, ( I've yet to re-furbish that saw for back up, needs a few things). Bar oil clings more than motor oil, does not have metal fines and other contaminants in it, and I firmly believe it outperforms used motor oil contrary to any cost savings My MS 390 with Stihl Bar Oil in it, with the oiler set on max, using correct weather grade, keeps that chain well lubed, ( it does help to clean that chain groove on the bar ) it's set on max. oil, and at high rpm, will leave a slight oil spray pattern if you check it. Not sure if that oiler has any restriction, can remember it flinging more oil when it was new, though maybe that was before it was broke in a little. Would have to research that, but thinking it must be working as designed the chain does stay well oiled, it uses about a tank of oil to a tank of fuel on this setting when doing heavy cutting, sometimes a little less, I'd have to cut a lot of wood to use 2 gallons of bar oil per year, no way I'd use anything else, it's a matter of a opinion, but after looking at a worn out bar on a saw that got similar use, does not seem, feasible to run.
