Budget chainsaw recommendation

[harpoonlouis]

Daughter has a wood burner in her little house and it makes sense for me to chop up any small branches and timber I come across so thought about getting a budget chainsaw to stick in the truck.

 

It won't do a heck of a lot of cutting but I don't want to buy a cheapy Aldi one if I cant get the occasional spare part for it.

 

Can anyone recommend a branded chainsaw for the job?

 

Thanks

Edited April 21, 2015 by harpoonlouis

[fenboy]

As a rule most of the stuff like that Aldi sell has a 3 year guarentee .

I brought a Royobi that seems ok but I think most of the cheaper end are much of a muchness.

[loriusgarrulus]

If you just want to chop small stuff up and a safer chainsaw. The black and decker alligator chainsaw works well. We took a large overgrown leylandi hedge down with one of these. They say on the details up to 4" but you can take bigger stuff down up to 8" by cutting from both sides. As the blade is enclosed it is safer than a traditional open chainsaw so you don't need as much protective clothing. Mainly gloves and glasses.

The one we have is mains, but you can get cordless.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Decker-GKC1000P-Alligator-Lopper-battery/dp/B001ACNAFE

[hesstondriver]

what do you call budget ?

 

you can get poverty spec ones for 70 quid - you might get lucky and get a good one , but then again you might not

screwfix do middle of the road ones 100 -150 such as Makita - but these guys make cordless drills etc as their main business not chain saws

or buy a sthil or husquvarner basic for 200, knowing you will always be able to get parts any where in the country, will have a respectable build quality and will have a resale value if circumstances change.

[fenboy]

what do you call budget ?

 

you can get poverty spec ones for 70 quid - you might get lucky and get a good one , but then again you might not

screwfix do middle of the road ones 100 -150 such as Makita - but these guys make cordless drills etc as their main business not chain saws

or buy a sthil or husquvarner basic for 200, knowing you will always be able to get parts any where in the country, will have a respectable build quality and will have a resale value if circumstances change.

 

I think you will find Makita make some of the very best top end chainsaws you can get

[brett1985]

the bottom end sthil's and huskys arent up to much from what ive seen... you get what you pay for i suppose.

 

FIL has a £100 special of the bay. 20 inch bar, 58cc and came with 3 spare chains. not bad really, but it needs tensioning quite often.

 

if it really is only for light use then you'll probably find the makita ones pretty good!

[littlerob]

Im a tree surgeon arborost by trade lower end stihl stay away from there made in china and rubbish. The husky 135 is a brilliant little saw I use one for work quite a bit 2 year warranty bags of power from the 40.9cc engine light and well made ive had it 2 years now around 185-195 new The makita saws or ok but still not on par to the pro range huskys and stihls echo are good saws but not cheap

[magman]

http://www.charliesdirect.co.uk/stihl-ms170-12-inch-petrol-chainsaw

 

[ferguson_tom]

McChulloch Mac 742. Cracking little saws for the money I bought mine about 5 years ago and still going strong. Over 2 years it was used pretty much every weekend between october and march as me and a friend used to sell logs etc and got a to clear a nice big area of land over that time.

 

Even after sitting in the garage for god knows how many months it still fires up and runs well. Like any other saws the main thing is keeping them looked after with regular filter cleans etc. My friend who i did the logs with has been an agricultural contractor for years and he ended up buying one after using mine as they are nice and lightweight with plenty of grunt. From him I also took the advice to run all saws on leaded fuel.

[bigbird]

There'll probably be a lot for sale right about now at good prices thanks to Scottish Power cutting their power line clearance contract and budget ten months early. Worth checking EBay and also Tree Bay on FB if you're on it.

Edited April 21, 2015 by bigbird

[scotslad]

I'd avoid any brand or saw that is below 70cc and has an18" bar or bigger on, only there for show, the saw will struggle to pull it, see it on ebay all the time tiny or mid engined saws with a massive bar on to make it look more impressive

 

Stick to a 13" bar saw will cut better and will do all most folk need, i've felled some big timber with a 13" bar.

Brett the reason ur chains need tensioning will probably be because there rubbish cquality chains, or slight chance chain not sharp enough and running hot.

 

I'm not 1 to usually reccommend H&S courses but a basic cross cut and maintence course would be well worth it, even if just to learn how to sharpen and mantain ur chain right, , about 10 years ago down south they were charging 10er a chain, u could almost buy a short chain for that in those days

[Paddy Galore!]

 

I think you will find Makita make some of the very best top end chainsaws you can get

didn'y they take over the sachs dolmar brand? they do make a good saw, even my electric makita C/S had a lot of guts

my ms 181 although a budget stihl, is still a good saw especially as it's now run in, and is ideal for cutting logs.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Paddy Galore!

[southeastpete]

The stihl ms170 Is I think the cheapest saw they do. I got one for similar to you, light, occasional cutting. I've done way more than tht with it over the last 4 years, still starts great, and cuts brilliantly with a sharp chain.

[guss109]

 

I think you will find Makita make some of the very best top end chainsaws you can get

They own dolmar so it's a dolmar in a blue suit so far from rubbish

Beat me to it paddy

Edited April 21, 2015 by guss109

[littlerob]

Dolmar have some differences to makita even there the same company dolmar is the better one different carb different exgusht to give them anbit more ummph compared to the blue twin . Like I said earlier im a arborist by trade and used loads of brands and size of saws

Edited April 21, 2015 by littlerob

[guss109]

 

Dolmar have some differences ro makita even there the same company dolmar isnthe better one different carb difrent exgusht to give them anbit more ummph compared to the blue twin . Like I said earlier im a arborist by trade and used loads of brands and size of saws[/quote

 

Same as me rob but I just stick to the main two more husky and sthil for my big 880

[harpoonlouis]

Good stuff, got a few models to search out, see if I can get a fleabay locally

 

Thanks everyone

[littlerob]

Guss109 im with you the two kings if the industry husky n stihl but more of a recent convert to husky. Stihl in my opinion have gone down hill of some of the stihl gear in the last 10-12years the qauitly have dropped while the prices have rised

Edited April 21, 2015 by littlerob

[guss109]

I'm all husky to apart from the 200 and 880

[Ricko]

Stihl MS 170 had one for several years now, can recommend. £150 approx.

 

Serviced a Makita for a friend, didn't like the build, even though they took over Sachs Dolmar.

Husqvarna very good, although the 135 doesn't seem to be as robust as the larger models.

Only just acquired a Jonsered, will be rebuilding it at the weekend, so can't really comment on them.

[zx10mike]

yep go with the stihl ms 170 loads of spares and a reliable saw for domestic use.

[rovercoupe]

What the pros have been uing round me, chippies had a ms171, oak frame company had a pair of ms181s and the tree guys were bucking with a ms171 the other day and they rated them as a great little saw for light work, still had 361s ect for the main work.

 

so lower end stihl is still doing the rounds, I had a few 017s and for the money they were pretty good.

[krowe79]

I had a Aldi one used it abused it took it back after 2years and they gave me a new one Aldi don't mess about with you when you return any off there products used it for my log burner and for some ripe out jobs good bit off kit

[Carman06]

McChulloch Mac 742. Cracking little saws for the money I bought mine about 5 years ago and still going strong. Over 2 years it was used pretty much every weekend between october and march as me and a friend used to sell logs etc and got a to clear a nice big area of land over that time.

 

Even after sitting in the garage for god knows how many months it still fires up and runs well. Like any other saws the main thing is keeping them looked after with regular filter cleans etc. My friend who i did the logs with has been an agricultural contractor for years and he ended up buying one after using mine as they are nice and lightweight with plenty of grunt. From him I also took the advice to run all saws on leaded fuel.

I took got the mcCulloch 742. Chopped all sorts from little branches to 2ft wide trees with it.

[Rst1990]

Stihl ms181 gets my vote, have cut hundreds of logs up and really took the biscuit with cutting a fair sized tree down. Have had it for 3 years and has never caused me a problem.