OT: Stihl MS 290

Were these pretty good saws? Anything to look out for? Might have acces to a lightly used one...2 or 3 seasons old. What would be a fair price?

If in good shape about $200 - $250

I've got one I bought new 8 years ago and havn't had any problems with it and with a chisel chain on it like all should have , it'll fill all your pockets with chips real quickly. I took out the spark screen and opened up the two little oblong outlet holes in muffler and use 90 octane non-ethenol fuel and this is all the saw you will need unless you are cutting professionally every day / all day. This saw has cut a LOT of firewood including a 100 yr old barn with huge dry oak beams.My son also bought one 6 yrs ago and heats with wood, no problems either. Neighbors Husky 455 rancher won't hold a candle to it. When's the last time you saw a Stihl in a "big box" store. Just my experience, I'm sure you will hear from all the brands before your post is done. I've been told they are doing away with that particular model after all these years so obviously the corporate "bean counters" have decided it's too good a value to make the spread sheets look good. Paid $329 for mine, they are still under $400 I believe.

They are very good mid range saws. The pro saws are better, but just depends what you want to spend.
Josh

I bought one new about 12-13 years ago and it continues to serve me very well. It has seen a lot of use and being that osage orange is the firewood of choice around here a lot of that use hasn't been easy. The price for today's comparable model is approaching $500 so if you can pick up a lightly used one in good shape for $300 or under I'd jump on it.

Great saw if a bit under powered for a 20" bar.

I had an 029 for 18 years and it performed very well with very little trouble. I replaced it two years ago with a 290 even though the 029 was still performing well because I wanted to get the 290 before it was replaced with the **1 series with the EPA nonsense that no one wants. I sold the 029 for $200 and bought the 290 for (IIRC) about $450 with case.

The 290 appears to perform as well as did the 029. So far so good.

Dean

They are pretty heavy saws compared to their commercial counterparts such as the MS 260. I have a twenty-one-year-old 029 that still runs good, but if it blows up I'll replace it with an MS 261.

1127 series well maintained, or relatively new, its a decent saw. If it starts and runs well, good mid range saw that should do quite a bit of work without much trouble, that is if its meticulously maintained, or at least reasonably well looked after.

Fuel lines can dry and fracture over time, I think more so than the other parts of the same material. Any mechanically inclined person should be able to change a fuel line out on these, the overall saw is really not all that bad to work on, few tricks here and there. You can rebuild 1127's, also can modify the muffler, reset the carb, check rpms with small engine tachometer etc. Apparently the overseas version is built that way?

If you suspect, its got issues, pull the muffler, ( check to see if the screen is clean), inspect the piston/bore through the port, check for scoring etc. Bright Led flashlight works well to inspect.

Take the recoil cover off, slide a regular business envelope between the flywheel and the... (magnet/coil.. thing) slips my memory at the moment, spin the motor around, (spark plug wire disconnected) see if it binds, if so, the motor may need crank bearings. There is a you tube video that demonstrates replacing those. In a sense, you can build one of these from scratch still, new plastic included.

Seems to be enough parts around for these, quite a bit on ebay, dealer too, overall not a bad saw for moderate work, amongst whatever else comparable in the other brands. I can't complain about my 390, its well taken care of, but thinking of the work its done in 12 years, these prove to be great mid range saws if taken care of.

Price.. few hundred for a nice one I suppose, kinda hard to say, if its a low hour saw, maybe another hundred. You can tell a lot by appearance on these, they can be pieced together.