Light(er) weight powerhead: which would you choose?

I have a Granberg mill that can take a 30" bar and cut about 2'-wide slabs. I tried it out recently with my old Homelite 1050, and it worked very well. However, that powerhead weighs close to 23 pounds dry, and wears a very wide and heavy bar. Lugging that rig around for a few hours made the idea of a larger modern saw more attractive.

As luck would have it, the mailman should soon be bringing me a 394XP project, and yesterday I picked up an 066 and an 064, both of them cheap and very ugly. For milling hardwood around 2' wide, is there a clear winner here?

 

394

 

Any particular reason? I only have a little runtime on an 064, and none on the other 2 models.

 

394 has more grunt and is built sturdier than the older 064/066

 

Oiler, parts availability, stronger runner, better filtration, and A/V.

 

Well, that's pretty much hands-down, isn't it? Parts availability might be a little less than perfect, though. My project saw is missing the low-top air filter cover, and most sources are listing it as NLA.

 

Almost all the 395 parts cross over. That should be an easy part to find.

 

D'oh, didn't realize the 395 was offered with a low top.

 

Yeah at one time. Look in the 395 ipl for the low top.

 

I think it was on the xpg. Of not you may have to convert to HD filter.