Chinese 43 cc chainsaw?

Anybody know anything about them, such as which saw they copied?

I bought a 5.5 hp motor and installed it on my snowblower. Seems like a faithful copy of a Honda 5.5 at 1/3 the cost.

When I lost an imported set of bolt cutters and tried to replace them at the local Home Depot, they wanted three times the price for basically the same product. I refused and went to Princess Auto for a replacement. It works fine.

My pneumatic nailers: flooring, framing, palm, finishing and stapler, all are Chinese made. The overall level of quality is pretty good. My $35.00 reciprocating saw has seen me through a major house renovation. I've had it apart a few times, but it is still going after three years of use. The $85. router works at least as well as the $250 brand name item I bought to fit my dovetailing jig.

I'm curious to see if they can make a chainsaw which will work. I have a couple of other saws on their last legs because of obsolescence in one case and a lousy dealer attitude in another. The local sports shop will sell the saws, but they give me the impression that, unless you want to spend 20K on a boat or motorcycle, they would prefer not to be bothered.

JT advocates buying American. From my perspective in Canada it is much easier to buy Chinese: no oppressive brokerage fees at the border as the products are shipped from B.C., and no vendors who will only ship to the lower 48.

Pricing is quirky, but interesting. Ebay seems to sell Chinese imports for about 65% of what the local stores get for them, i.e: a 2" gas-powered trash pump sells at the local store for $300. A buy-it-now in B.C. sells it for a total of $200, including handling, shipping and insurance.

I paid over $300. at the local store for my Chinese compressor, then found the same one on eBay for about $75. plus shipping. It's a good product and worth the money I paid, but I'm not sure I got additional value for the markup.

So the saw is an experiment and a protest against retailers who feel entitled to high markups.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Rod
Sawdust-Ink

Vanguard Twin Cylinder Engines Daihatsu Briggs & Stratton Joint Venture Ryuo-cho, Japan

Vanguard 3 Cylinder Engines Briggs & Stratton Daihatsu LLC Ryuo-cho, Japan.

Second - I was - besides other things - a small engine mechanic during the 1960s. I went to many service schools for Briggs, Tecumseh-Lauson, Clinton, Wisconsin, etc. and was kind of disappointed to find out the engines that these companies made for European use were MUCH better quality than the stuff made for the US market. Why?? Because we are a throw-away society. It was not until Honda, Kawasaki, and Yanmar began to make small engines for the US market - that companies like Briggs had to offer better quality in the US. That's where the Briggs IC engine got it's start. Wisconsin, at the outset, made a deal with Subaru and began selling their Wisconsin Robin line of Japanese engines. In regard to any American product outlasting a Chinese product - that's silly. First - you have to find a product that you know for sure IS pure American - good luck on that. At the moment - Honda and Toyota cars sold here have more US content than Fords. And - there are many Chinese engines that hold up very well. Problem is, our market is also flooded with their poorly designed crap - and it's kind of hard to figure out what is good and what is not.