Really small chainsaw update

JDEM

Well-known Member
I posted last week about looking for a very small chainsaw that I could pack up in an oil and gas tight container and keep in my car or SUV. We need a chainsaw quite often to open up the road to our cabin in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. We have to drive for many miles on National Forest truck roads and when trees come down they often stay that way for weeks.

I have many saws. Just none small and compact enough for what I wanted. A 25 cc top-handle Echo was what seemed to perfect. But after three trips to the local Deere and Echo dealer, I gave up. So much for trying to shop local. Very nice people who seem to be a bit clueless. NOT young people either so I cannot blame it on millennials. One guy likely near my age - late 60s, early 70s said he was the guy to speak to about saws. Keep in mind this is a John Deere and Echo dealer. I told the guy I like Echos and told him I owned a few big ones with the John Deere name on them. He argued that Deere never sold Echo saws. I found that bit of clueless-ness on his end kind of surprising. I then mentioned I even like the EFCO saws better that also were sold under the John Deere name. Strike two? He said he did not believe that was true either. So, I then asked what his price would be on the top-handle Echo 25 cc saw and he said the smallest Echo sells is the one that is over 30 ccs (he had one in stock). I then asked him for the weight of the saw he had and he could not find the specs on it. I started to leave, kind of in disgust. On the way out, I spotted a stack of Echo sales brochures. Right on the front cover was the 25 cc model I wanted. The one this guy told me did not exist. So much for shopping local here in northern Michigan.

I went back home. I found a 10" bar from an old Poulan Micro that fit my 16" Echo saw perfectly. I then cut the back of the handle off. I got a toolbox for $18. The saw now fits in the box along with tools, extra chain, a quart of gas and a quart of oil. Crude but exactly what I needed. I kind of hated to saw off the back of a good saw - but all came out fine.
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Got my dad a 14" Echo back when they were fairly new around here. Damn thing was always hard starting and if cutting on a hot day the gas kept boiling out when you tried to refill it. Still have it and still can't get it to work.
 
Our local John Deere dealer is also a Stihl chain saw dealer. They seem to be doing it right.

I bought an MS170 saw from them a few years ago. The fellow I dealt with was congenial and very knowledgeable about the saws. He even went back in the shop out of my sight to service the new saw and start it for the first time.

'Way back when, when I was a McCulloch dealer, they always told us to find an excuse to be away from a customer when you start a new saw for the first time, 'cause it would be embarrassing to have a new saw fail to start.

When I mentioned this to the salesman at the JD dealer, he laughed and said that was his practice also.

The only downside of the entire scene was my wife was with me and she insisted that if I could buy myself a new chain saw she should be able to buy herself a new John Deere zero turn mower.
 
I relate to your pain. Can't stand a salesman who pretends to know everything but knows nothing. Way better if they say, I don't know but I'll find out. O my son is a John Deere salesman. I have a Echo 5? volt chainsaw. Perfect to carry in truck or backhoe. Always starts. Try one you'll like it. Oh I have put a gas chain and bar on it.
 

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