Small chainsaw echo, stihl or husquvarna ?

Climb

Echo cs310 for €320 , stihl ms181c-be for €359 or husqvarna 135 for €290 ! Anyone have one of these or any opinions on which is better ?

greysides

Moved to the Chainsaw forum.

kay 9

I'd have the echo in homeowner spec any day. 5 yr guarantee I think. Just fuel it, oil it and cut.

gyppo

This might be of some help to you - even if its not in English!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1NPIDHHPCU

My ranking of your choices:
1 Echo (I own an echo CS350TES top handled saw and its excellent)
2 Husqvarna
3 Stihl

The reason I put Stihl at number 3 is because I used a MS180, and it had the horrible tool-less chain tensioner, which I found utter muck. It would be a nice little saw with normal bar studs and nuts (as in the youtube video)

BreadnBuddha

I got up close to all these saws today at a multi brand dealers today. I can only say that to my eyes and hands, the Stihl is the pick of this bunch. It's the best finished of the lot, although the Echo is equally sturdy from what I can tell. Not sure I'd pick it myself, there's something I didn't take to about it but more than that I couldn't say. To my disappointment the Husky would be bottom of the pile. Too much plastic by far, either of the others would stand up to more use/abuse.

So, MS181 but the standard bar tensioner type, not that quick/easy adjust stuff. It's plastic and I think that part of a saw works perfectly fine with a locknut and slotted adjuster. If you can't use that, should you really be the kind of person running a saw!?

The standard type 181 sells for about 290 in my neck of the woods.

Climb

Thanks for the replies ! Leaning towards echo even though the 135 has an extra 10cc . Both in my local dealer and echo's 5 yr warranty is pushing me that way . Gonna take a look at both tomorrow and decide !

CJhaughey

No contest for me, Echo.
They have the same Parent company as Shindaiwa, Yamabiko. Very well made machines IMO.

ford2600

gyppo wrote: »

The reason I put Stihl at number 3 is because I used a MS180, and it had the horrible tool-less chain tensioner, which I found utter muck.

Isn't that the truth. I have a ms250, lovely saw, if a little gutless, and I had to get rid of that tool free junk and fitted a standard bolt system

Kevin McCloud

Stihl for me anyway, toolless caps, excellent anti vibrations, see through tanks, toolless air filter access and very easily modded to side wrench and screw driver tensioner.
Echo may have a company in Japan but their stuff is not made in Japan, that cs310 looks away too plasticy.
Its a no brainer, buy the stihl and cut some wood.

IreJohn

The word is, "Buy a Stihl" buy once!
ðŸ‘

CJhaughey

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Echo may have a company in Japan but their stuff is not made in Japan, that cs310 looks away too plasticy.
Its a no brainer, buy the stihl and cut some wood.

Plasticy? Most of the consumer grade Stihl saws have plastic crankcases!
I don't worry about the outside plastic thats not the issue, the difference between the Echo and the Stihl is the Echo has an Alloy crankcase not plastic.
Nothing wrong with the MS180 they are a good saw for what they are but they are not the same grade as the Echo which are made in Japan.
Maybe assembled in the USA but the parts are all Japanese.

Kevin McCloud

CJhaughey wrote: »

Plasticy? Most of the consumer grade Stihl saws have plastic crankcases!
I don't worry about the outside plastic thats not the issue, the difference between the Echo and the Stihl is the Echo has an Alloy crankcase not plastic.
Nothing wrong with the MS180 they are a good saw for what they are but they are not the same grade as the Echo which are made in Japan.
Maybe assembled in the USA but the parts are all Japanese.

The echo CS310 has an alloy crankcase are you sure, because i have several pics opened up here and its plastic, don't forget echo has a manufactoring plant in China

CJhaughey

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

don't forget echo has a manufactoring plant in China

So do Stihl....

Kevin McCloud

CJhaughey wrote: »

So do Stihl....

Big difference in the quality of manufacturing between Qingdao Stihl China and the rubbish coming out of Shenzhen Echo China now to be fair.
Is them crankcases alloy for sure?

CJhaughey

You are correct, the 310 does have a plastic crankcase, I assumed it was the same chassis as the 370 which is alloy.
I stand by my assertion that they are good saws regardless.

http://blog.stihl.com/stihl-worldwide/2013/11/stihl-china-quality-made-stihl/

Kevin McCloud

Echo were good in my opinion but quality has gone down hill in build quality over the years imo. I had big mass in them before.
Sometimes trying to build a product for as cheap as possible and marketing it cheap is not always the best move maybe.

CJhaughey

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Big difference in the quality of manufacturing between Qingdao Stihl China and the rubbish coming out of Shenzhen Echo China now to be fair.
Is them crankcases alloy for sure?

Echo don't make their chainsaws in China only strimmers.
Chainsaws are still made in Japan.

CJhaughey

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Echo were good in my opinion but quality has gone down hill in build quality over the years imo. I had bir mass in them before.
Sometimes trying to build a product for as cheap as possible and marketing it cheap is not always the best move maybe.

Thats a universal problem, I see it in the new saws, Stihls new tophandle MS201T has a crappy carb, impossible to get to run right.
Manufacturers build down to a price now not up to a standard.
I agree that older stuff was much better in general.

Kevin McCloud

CJhaughey wrote: »

Echo don't make their chainsaws in China only strimmers.
Chainsaws are still made in Japan.

Find that hard to believe, just because a company is in one country does not mean its manufactored there, yes they can say its manufactured their if they add something to it, a bit like ama claiming to be italian when they are chinese.

Kevin McCloud

CJhaughey wrote: »

Thats a universal problem, I see it in the new saws, Stihls new tophandle MS201T has a crappy carb, impossible to get to run right.
Manufacturers build down to a price now not up to a standard.
I agree that older stuff was much better in general.

I have a 201T and its running sweet, the older 200T had carb problems for sure, it was the accelerator pump that used wear.

Climb

Bought an echo 352 . My local dealer who has echo, husq and jonsered reckons no echos come back .Whatever any one thinks it has to be better than the erman (Polish brand I think) I had last but in fairness that was only €95 new . Top brand with a 5 yr warranty , echo wouldn't give that if they didn't have a bit of extra confidence in it . I started out with the intention of going stihl but found bad reviews about stihls new saws especially the small models . Then I was gonna go husq 135 but couldn't find many reviews at all but was still temped with the 41cc engine . Decided with my head not my heart , hope it pays off !

BreadnBuddha

How is the Echo working out for you?