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I use a very old macullah and a poulan... The mac is over 30 years old and starts on the 3/4 pull. It is a heavy saw!!! With a 16 inch bar, it was made for a 18inch bar. It has a manual oil bar pump!! the poulan is a 14 inch saw. My dad gave them to me becuase they did not run... I replace the fuel lines and filters and they start right up. The poulan I use for smaller work, the mac for bigger work. There are not many parts in a chain saw, a two cycle engine,(which is just a carb, piston and spark) and a clutch....which means there are not a lot of things to break,or if they do go bad replacement of the part is the better option.. I keep three sets of chains for each one, when one gets dull I take it off and replace it with a sharp one. Bar length... People have a tendency to cut or work with trees that are the size of the bar. It is really a mental thing, when they see a tree that is bigger than the bar length - they think the tree is too big for them. When you have a long bar you can deal with trees that are much too large for you and that can be dangerous... Getting a 18 inch saw an putting a 16inch bar on it does two things.. 1 it lowers the stress on all the parts, since you are not running the engine and its parts at full load. 2 mentally allows you to work on smaller trees that most people can deal with. Now to answer your question... Buy the one that your local repair dealer fixes and has parts for!! Like all small engines you will need parts eventually and you do not want to send away to get them. Local knowledge and parts are always better. If the local guy that you know and trust sells Poulan, get a poulan, if its mac go mac, stihl etc... One last thing - get a 1 gallon gas can, and use that to fuel the saw, it is smaller but oil and gas are best mixed and used fresh. The large gas/oil cans cause the mix to break down over time.. Martin
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