More on Chainsaws...

As some of you know I"ve been looking for a good used saw....well, I"ve gave up on a used one around here as they all have been used up. Except I did find one Stihl MS 170 that looked new at a pawn shop, they also wanted $179 for it....same price as a new one, and they wouldn"t budge on the price.

The local Stihl dealer is a whack off, blames any and all engine problems on "bad gas". So I"m leaning a little more towards the Husqvarna"s. I was wanting a 340, but it"s the old model and none of the dealers here locally have one left over. So now I"m looking at a 435, 440, and possibly a 445. I"m on a really tight budget and am only looking at cutting 3 or 4 truckloads of firewood a year, plus random clean up jobs and such. Looking at a 16 or 18 inch bar.

Has anybody had any experience with the 435 in particular?? Of course it"s the cheapest......

no experience with husq. and if u mean pick-up truck for truck loads, i know my 16 inch poulan that i got for $100 5 years ago has been great. i have cut so far with it 50 trees and it still runs great. it starts everytime for me and goes till i am done.

Yep I bought a Poulan about 6 years ago. cut about 15-20 pickup loads of wood each year + sume extra clearing and such.
I am very well pleased.

A guy gave me another older poulan a year ago. I replaced the fuel line and it is my backup now, but I have not needed it.

sometimes i wish i had a older back-up, use that for the dirty cuts, when its in the dirt or u know there might be a good chance the bar could get bound up.

Get an Echo. Tom

Well, I've considered the Poulan as I've read on here than a few guys have had decent luck with them, Price range on the Poulans are $180 to $200, that's the 18 and 20 inch saws. The Huskys range anywhere from $230 to $300. The 435 Husky is about $230. If it's really that much better than the Poulan, than I don't mind the 30 extra bucks. All of the Husky's come with a 16 inch bar, .325 chain. But according to their website, they recomend up to a 20 inch bar on all of them. Thanks for the suggestions...

$150 Poulan Wild Thing. I have one that is 8 years old and always starts on the third pull. Other than chains and 1 bar (my Fault) the only thing I have ever done to it is put an oiler in it earlier in the week. $14 reapair in 8 years aint bad.

I run a Poulan Wild Thing with a 22" bar so you don't have to stoop over so far. Chain stays sharper longer because there is more chain.

Roger in Iowa

I sell husqvarna stihl and jonsered saws for a living any husky saw smaller than the 353 is a piece of junk!! dont get the 170 stihl either you wont be happy with it... the ms210 stihl for 269.00 or the ms250 for 319.00 well worth the money. run way from the poulan your throwing money away!!!!!!! RANDY (power equipment dealer for 16 years)

where u looking at for the price of the poulans? check walmart and sears. the sears craftsman is made by poulan. like i said, i got the saw, a case, and extra chain for $100

After being in the logging industry of over 25 years have some exp. in the state of rape pill. [idaho] I would have nothing but a Stihl I don't mean thoes little things you may call a saw, hell if you want somthing that will do the job at least get something that is at least a saw myself I use a 044 for firewood and for felling, same saw but diff. set up.I have had the same thing about dealers and around here they don't last long in this area.Its to bad you have a dealer in your area tha's a but.

I've been doing firewood both for my own use and at one time for sale for 27 years and also once worked for a tree service. I've ran several brands of saws including Stihl, Homelite, Husky, Poulan, McCullough. Chainsaws, in my opinion, still have a "long ways to go". The most dependable and trouble free saw I've ever owned/operated was a little Poulan Super 25 with a 14' bar. I used, and abused that little saw for many years til it finally wore out. Bought it new in'85. Though small, it was the best chainsaw that I ever had my hands on. Now I have 4 newer Poulans and the guy I cut wood with has a Sthil 280. None of them including the Sthil are as trouble free as that little old Poulan was. Basically any brand is often times a "pain in the donkey" a large part of the time.

The only decent saws are the pro lines made by the "big three". All other brands and the "home owner/hobby" saws by the "big three" are built cheap and cheap is what you get.
Sorry but the saw you want is going to cost $500+.
The gasoline story does have some merit. A chainsaw engine is a lightweight high output race engine. If you compromise the engine by causing detonation/knocking. The engine will fail.
What causes detonation/knocking that you can't hear but scores cylinder walls, breaks rings, pounds bearings and burns holes through pistons?
Somebody being cheap and saving 25 cents on chainsaw gasoline by purchasing 87 octane instead of 91 octane. Goes the same for snowmobile engines and other small aircooled two stroke and four stroke engines.
Those little engines are tuned to the last inch for max power per pound of weight. Now add warm weather, too lean mixture and lugging the engine. Even the best engine will bust.
A common cause of too lean mixtures is a tinkerer tweaking the load screw.And dirty gasoline partly plugging the main jet.
Tell me, how many saw operators wipe the dirt away from the gasoline cap. Then filter the fuel through a coleman lantern filter?
Then there is also the cheapskate that trys mixing fourstroke engine oil with gasoline for a two stroke............duh. Can you say "low ash oil"?

i bought a poulan about 8-9 yrs. ago 16 inch have used it quite a bit with no trouble.i really dont take proper care of it but still runs-cuts yeah lately have heard theyre junk think some outfit in india bought them out. have an echo hedge trimmer that is basically a chainsaw engine with shears been mostly trouble free but coil did go bad once

there are a couple tree guys around here , and they swear by the husqvarna . they said its the best saw they have owned..