mid range saw - husky or jonsered?

crackcrack30

Which make or model in light mid range for farm use? thanks

GY A1

husqvarna 365 is a great saw, great power for 18" or 24" bar

lidl have a 40cc saw on thursday for 100 euro wonder would that be any good

Bizzum

GY A1 wrote: »

husqvarna 365 is a great saw, great power for 18" or 24" bar

I would agree. The 365 is a powerful saw but it's a big heavy saw at 65cc. A 45cc or 50 cc Husq with an 18" bar is far easier used, easier on juice and more than enough for 95% of farm jobs.

btb

My local dealer (main dealer for both husky and jonsred) recommends jonsred, small husky's give too much trouble in his opinion, that said went with stihl for a midrange saw, better value pricewise

Eleganza

GY A1 wrote: »

lidl have a 40cc saw on thursday for 100 euro wonder would that be any good

That's a good saw for occassional use made by the same people who make Jonsered and Husqvarna saws.

BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are a lot of red and orange saws being sold at markets with Husqvarna and Jonsered badges on them. These saws are Chinese junk and have nothign to do with either Jonsered or Husqvarna and I'd take a 99 euro LIDL saw in preference to them.

Eleganza

pop down to lidl and buy chainsaw early.
I hear it is stormy in ireland tonight and chainsaw mechanics/sales people are overrun with people the following days after big storms.,

LostCovey

GY A1 wrote: »

lidl have a 40cc saw on thursday for 100 euro wonder would that be any good

No it will be rubbish.

Started with LIDL (their brand is Florabest), moved on to Stihl, and not going back!

LC

PS this is my humble opinion having bought an absolute turkey off LIDL, which eventually went in a skip after no more than 2 hours work

LostCovey

Eleganza wrote: »

That's a good saw for occassional use made by the same people who make Jonsered and Husqvarna saws.

BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are a lot of red and orange saws being sold at markets with Husqvarna and Jonsered badges on them. These saws are Chinese junk and have nothign to do with either Jonsered or Husqvarna and I'd take a 99 euro LIDL saw in preference to them.

Yeah, spot on there. I also saw STHIL (note spelling) power tools on a market stall, that looked crappy quality, and were as crappy as the spelling of Stihl on the blade!

When you are buying something that can cut your leg off, buy a good one (I am a late convert to this policy - you can save what I squandered on cheap trash).

LC

btb

had one of them Lidl saws for 4 years, felled and delimbed a lot of timber with it before it blew up (just put a decent bar and chain on it), definitely got my money's worth. Also you get a 3 year garuntee with it. Might buy another one just for delimbing as got a stihl ms291 for felling (expect this to last many years).

blue5000

Jonsered voter here. Seriously fast saw.

Would agree with LC, if you're buying something that will/can cut yer leg off, buy a good one!

Whatever you buy don't lend it to ANYONE not even your brother. Use a clean new petrol container, not one that worm dose or roundup came in!

polod

btb wrote: »

had one of them Lidl saws for 4 years, felled and delimbed a lot of timber with it before it blew up (just put a decent bar and chain on it), definitely got my money's worth. Also you get a 3 year garuntee with it. Might buy another one just for delimbing as got a stihl ms291 for felling (expect this to last many years).

I got my first welder in lidl and it blew up after 2 months work
never bought a thing again in lidl after that

LostCovey

blue5000 wrote: »

Whatever you buy don't lend it to ANYONE not even your brother. Use a clean new petrol container, not one that worm dose or roundup came in!

.............especially your brother. To quote whelan1, you can't tell your brother to fook off if he breaks it

Other sacred commandments, learned the hard way.

There is nothing as secure to stand on as the ground.

No oil works as well on the chain as chain oil

Mind that multitool that comes with the saw like a family heirloom

If you need to cut something above your head, cut it lower down first.

Learn to sharpen the saw with a file. there are a million other gadgets that will do it, but this one costs less than a tenner, fits in your pocket and doesn't need batteries.

If you touch it up regularly you never need to SHARPEN it

Please feel free to add more.

LC

Rovi

Another vote for Jonsered here, I've had one for many years now, purchased second-hand, and it's never missed a beat and has cut a LOT of timber for me.

Jonsered, Husqvarna, and Stihl all do ranges of medium-duty/farm saws and professional saws, so I'd suggest going with whichever of those three your closest/best chainsaw dealer carries.

johnstown

Had a good jonsered for years. The mother got in a lad one day to do a bit of sawing for her (despite telling her never to let anyone near a saw) and he put unmixed petrol in! anyhow, asked a forester i know what brand, as was thinking jonsered ire stihl and he said deffo go for the stihl. They are more expensive but should get a lifetime with correct maintenance. Bought new during the ploughing match week and got a great discount.

kay 9

Wouldn't touch anything but a still for reliability and ease of maintenance after having huskies, echo, partner and oleo mac. Have an ms 180 which I get the most use out of and an ms 260 that is for more felling than limbing. Would love a ms 660 for the heavier stuff though.

flatout11

tis not something your gonna buy every year so it may as well be a good one a stihl (genuine one) would be my pick

O.A.P

crackcrack30 wrote: »

Which make or model in light mid range for farm use? thanks

Husqvarna 346xp , not cheap but about the best 50 cc saw out there.

barryoc1

Small bit off the topic but i want to get a new bar (18") for a Husqvarna saw. Any recommendations on websites for parts. Will also try a local dealer but would like to shop around.

countryjimbo

blue5000 wrote: »

Whatever you buy don't lend it to ANYONE not even your brother.

Great advise there!

Jonty

husky 346xp

Mickey H

O.A.P wrote: »

Husqvarna 346xp , not cheap but about the best 50 cc saw out there.

I'd go for the Husqvarna OP, but this is based on the following:

They're a very good saw O.A.P. Got a 262 XP second hand about 8 years ago. It was 2 years old and just out of the forest with alot of work done. It has done as much more since and never gave 1 minute of trouble other than the start cord detaching from the pulley*.

* Lesson learned: The start cord is shorter than my arm!

Eleganza

The majority of saws recommended here are too expensive for the needs of most occassional chainsaw users.
The manufacturers have done the research and the 99 quid saw from LIDL is the result of their research.
Please don't recommend certain brands. My experience of them is that everyone o the good brands has had good and average saws in their range.
262XPs are pulpwood saws and not suited to use on a homestead. Find the right saw for the job because they are not all the same.

BTW Nomadic people absolutely love chainsaws even though they own no trees.

Rovi

For anything more than very occasional 'garden' jobs, I'd be strongly suggesting the purchase of a 'proper' chainsaw from one of the well known and respected manufacturers.
I'll cite my brother's experience as an example: after several tries at the budget end (the €99 LIDL, chain-store, 'no-name', etc saws), he finally called it a day and bought a mid-range Husqvarna. He hasn't looked back; the saw has proved utterly reliable and robust, and has so far done twice as much work as all the cheapies put together without missing a beat.
Of course, this learning experience has cost him the price of two good saws

Juniorhurler

OP, IMO if you spend €99 ona saw you get €99 worth of saw.

I know SFA about saws but here is my tuppence worth anyhow. The old man bought a stihl in 1980. I don't know the number but it got nothing other than 2 stroke mix, chain oil, guide bars and chains in 29 years. In 2009 I needed to clear ditches and gripes that were out about 4-5 metres on 40 acres of land that I bought. I was going to be using a saw all day and getting into awkward spots too so I traded in the old stihl as it weighed a tonne and had no anti kickback bar. I bought a stihl MS290. I old €8000 worth of firewood and have about half that stored, all cut with the new stihl. It has got nothing done other than a new guide bar and chain. It does get quite heavy when you are on it all day but anything smaller I think would have been a waste of money for me.

99nsr125

kay 9 wrote: »

Wouldn't touch anything but a still for reliability and ease of maintenance after having huskies, echo, partner and oleo mac. Have an ms 180 which I get the most use out of and an ms 260 that is for more felling than limbing. Would love a ms 660 for the heavier stuff though.

MS 180 is a cracking little saw, it's so
useful it's ridiculous sometimes

Ideally you want the lightest saw you can get away with
The replacement version of the MS 260 is I think the MS 250
can be got with an 18 inch bar too.

Huskey 346 very good also

Huskey and jonsered are now the same company served by the same dealers

Eleganza

Juniorhurler wrote: »

OP, IMO if you spend €99 ona saw you get €99 worth of saw.

If you spend 250 quid on a brand name saw you get a 99 euro saw with 150 euros of branding. you need to be going to 500 euro to get a quality saw but a quality saw is in no way worth 500 euro. they are just the simplest two stroke internal combustion engine you can buy with bar and chain attached.

reilig

Eleganza wrote: »

If you spend 250 quid on a brand name saw you get a 99 euro saw with 150 euros of branding. you need to be going to 500 euro to get a quality saw but a quality saw is in no way worth 500 euro. they are just the simplest two stroke internal combustion engine you can buy with bar and chain attached.

You can buy a Quality husqvarna 236 from a husqvarna dealer at €200. Its light yet powerful in comparison to the cheap Lidl saws. Cheap saws tend to be very heavy and they fall apart at under 50 hours of sawing - bearings and sprockets wear out. The husqvarna will do thousands of hours of cutting before any parts need replacing and even then you can go to any chainsaw repair centre and have your saw serviced and repaired cheaply. If you buy a saw for €100, no repair centre will want to work on it, parts are hard to get and they are expensive!!!

Tora Bora

Anybody, who has the ways or means or connections in USA, to purchase a chainsaw, should consider it.
You can easily purchase at about 40 / 45% of Irish price. Equivalent of €350 will get you a top range saw.

JohnBoy

have to agree with everyone here, the sole advantage of the lidl saw is that it's cheap, and has a three year no questions asked replacement warranty.

I got one as my first saw, and killed it at just over the three years, it had only done maybe two gallons petrol of work, did the job for pruning or cutting smaller stuff but was very heavy for it's size, a friend has an older husqvarna either 365xp or 395xp, real beast of a yoke and the lidl saw was nearly as heavy.

I replaced it with a Husqvarna 460 rancher last year which in 12 months has done a similar, maybe slightly more work than the last one did in three years.

I paid €550 the week of last years ploughing, bought from my local husqvarna dealer and have been back once for a small service problem (my own fault) with no issues.

There may well be similar offers at this years ploughing. (and last year the offers were in all husqvarna dealers on the week of the ploughing, you didnt have to go to athy)

Eleganza

reilig wrote: »

You can buy a Quality husqvarna 236 from a husqvarna dealer at €200. Its light yet powerful in comparison to the cheap Lidl saws. Cheap saws tend to be very heavy and they fall apart at under 50 hours of sawing - bearings and sprockets wear out. The husqvarna will do thousands of hours of cutting before any parts need replacing and even then you can go to any chainsaw repair centre and have your saw serviced and repaired cheaply. If you buy a saw for €100, no repair centre will want to work on it, parts are hard to get and they are expensive!!!

same parent manufacturer using the majority of the same componets as the LIDL saw at half the price and that is exactly the model of saw that I was thinking of when making the comment along with it's jonsered and mcculloch siblings.
there are only a handful of decent chainsaw repairers in the country and I guarantee you that the distributor has ensured that there is no such thing as a cheap repair on a Husky or Jonsered.
Parts prices are an absolute rip off and the dealer isn't to blame as they only have 25% margin.
disclaimer. I had over 20 years experience in the business and family business was dealer for various quality brands including Husky, Partner(back in the good days), Jonsered, Stihl(amongst the good they made some awful ****e in their day just like VW these days), Shindawia, Homelite(back, back in the good days), Echo(back in the good days), Poulan 3400(rest of the brand were ****e), Tanaka and a few more on top.

When I see a saw for 99 euro that I know to be well engineered and coming with a 3 year warranty I'm happy to recommend it over more expensive saws.

Eleganza

JohnBoy wrote: »

did the job for pruning or cutting smaller stuff but was very heavy for it's size, a friend has an older husqvarna either 365xp or 395xp, real beast of a yoke and the lidl saw was nearly as heavy.

I don't believe that a 99 euro LIDL saw with a plastic body would weigh anywhere close to the weight of a 365 or 395. A 24 inch bar and chain alone would weight the same as a small plastic bodied 40cc saw.