The 028 was replaced by the 026 but the 028 was equally well build mag case with bolt on cylinder just heavier and not quite the power.
ms 250/251 is the 3005 mount and a 290/291 is the 3003 mount like majority of the stihls are. Covers the 261 up to 661.
They made at least 3 sizes of the 028 over the years and old ones would have a metal tank and points or electronic ignition the newer ones have a plastic tank and usually electronic ignition. Think the first 028 was about 43cc then they made the wood boss at 45-47cc and then the super was 52.
The other german brand saw with the Japanese name. Although this one might be my fault, none of the rest were.
I always remembered mine being the super as it was written on the plate and it had an aluminum screw holding the air filter cover on. It needs some play time. Next cut its coming with me.
Is it the no parts / online sales thing? Or the double standard of selling via Ace Hardware, and especially Northern Tool stores but not HD / Lowes / Tractor Supply etc. ? I'll admit it's inconvenient for the capable but fully support their view that it's a slippery slope down to the bottom once you start catering to the (really) big boxes. I would however love to see service documentation and IPLs be made freely available. Heck, even Deere lets you use the parts lookup for free.
Yeah mostly the parts access thing. It would be one thing if they audited their authorized dealers and held them to some sort of a standard, but they don't. So I'm left in a position where I can't get parts without going grey market which is a total slap in the face.
I am fortunate to have three dealers very close to me. Closest being right around 1 mile and I drive by twice daily on my way to work. They are extremely clean and organized not overstocked with parts but have most of the basics covered and never an issue getting me what I need if they don't have it. Second has a lot more in stock but not quite as organized. Third is part pig stie and part dealer. Very unorganized and have a lot of parts if they can find them. I know the owner through a coworker so can get a little of a break if I buy from him. He has been more than fair when I bought my 500i and 550xp giving me a better price than the others. Stihl does not make it easy, but I am lucky to have options.
Why do you have to go grey? You don't have access to a dealer? KY was littered with Deere/Stihl dealers last time I went through, albeit that's primarily western KY. It's HARD going from being behind the counter to trusting someone else to lookup and get you the right stuff. Ask me how I know. I can appreciate that they are stubborn in driving foot traffic to their parts counters though. I get that not every dealer is super friendly/helpful. Especially these days as it can be a tough biz. I haven't had an issue though even after moving far away from the territory and network I knew (and they knew me). Most wouldn't call me old, but I remember how we bought/ordered parts before Amazon. For critical machines, we bought our own parts/shop manuals. Just having the illustrations was a big help in figuring out what to tell the parts counter guys you needed. It's nice that many brands make that available for free now, and as I said before, I wish Stihl would too. We can all thank ARI Network Services for that (free online lookup), as it's largely their software that has made it so fast/convenient to lookup parts that we all stopped buying a parts manual for our stuff!
The dealer in my town is an Ace Hardware and it's awful. They can't / won't order stuff, and the items they stock are totally random. For example, they don't carry files or chains that fit the MS251 THAT THEY SOLD ME. They carry like 7 models of Stihl chainsaw, why not at least stock the consumables for the saws you sell? An example of their service. I had bought the 2in1 file and the housing broke after two months. I looked up on Stihls website and carefully read the warranty. It said hand tools are lifetime warranty, though did not specify the 2in1 sharpener by name, but then a subsequent section said that things like cutting heads etc have a three-month warranty. So I felt pretty confident Stihl would happily replace it. I walked into the dealer handed the broken sharpener to the manager and she said "we don't really handle Stihl warranties." "Well who does?" "You have to take it up with Stihl" Okay so what is the point of the dealer network then? I just use hand files now. The two next closest dealers are an hour drive through some pretty awful roads. They're actually great but it's not worth the drive. It's just been one frustration after another dealing with. If I had known how things would be I would not have purchased my MS251 and BR800. I'd have bought Echo equipment. Again the hardware is pretty good, my beef is solely with their business model. I'm sure for many folks it's never a problem.
"That does not sound like the quality experience we want you to have." Ok, you've got a crappy dealer for sure. And I doubt the distributor or Stihl USA would be happy about the lack of basic consumables and I know the answer regarding warranty is def out of bounds. Having worked for a GREAT dealer, it's painful to hear about such poor attention to supporting the product since that's really the primary differentiator in todays market.
