What small saw should I buy?

Hopefully put it to work this weekend. I have a steel bumper spike on order but probably won't do much else to it for a while. Maybe a muffler mod someday.

 

Cool saw!

 

Oh yeah!!!

Great choice!

 

Cut some oak cants with it today. Loved how light and well balanced it is. Could use more power, but I was asking a lot of it. Should be fine for what I need it for.

 

Is that a 14 or 16" bar? I like a 14 on mine

 

14

Might just need to break in a little. I don't know really what to expect from these small saws either.

 

Once my 194 top handle was broken in it was a sweet little saw. Need to get it in the saw rotation again.

 

Just found an MS400 from a dealer on sale for just over $900 out the door. 150 mile round trip though.

 

Is a mag piston really better if they're going back to aluminum with the 400.1?

 

My guess is it’s more of a cost saving, profit protection move than anything else. You’re not going to sell many 60cc pro saws to homeowners for 1k.

 

Used it again yesterday cutting up some more sawmill cants to length. It's growing on me. Only 1 tank through it but seems to be picking up a little power. Maybe I'm just getting used to it.

It seems really lean...the H is turned all the way out but barely 4 strokes out of the cut.

 

Glad it's working out !
I'll always have a good small saw. Once I figured out where it's best used...I love it for what it is.
For anything that it's not...I grab my 562xp !

 

I had a hell of a hard time getting this saw started today. I flooded it bad...to the point I didn't even get it started until I got back home and blew out the cylinder.

I'm used to full choke, throttled locked, pull it till it pops, no choke, pull it until it runs.

Checked the manual and only difference was push bulb 10 times....I probably only did 5.

Am I just not hearing the pop because it is quiet on these small saws?

After I got it started it rain great.

 

I’m familiar with the 151tc that has a bulb and I can’t say I ever go more than 4-6. It has a choke lever on the side of the air box as well as typical switch. Never had an issue hearing it pop off or flooding it.

 

Ol' John D liked my post this am and it got me thinking. Why don't they offer mag pistons for 2 stroke dirt bikes and the like if they're superior to aluminum?

 

I don’t think I have ever seen anyone claim they are superior. They are lighter, so they presumably spin up faster than aluminum. On yt I have seen a low hour 400c opened up and the scratches on the piston made me wonder if it’s softer than aluminum.
If Magnesium is more expensive than I’d say that’s why dirt bikes don’t use them as maintenance is more important and intensive than chainsaws. IME anyway.
Could be the mag pistons are failing and we don’t know it yet.
Could be the added expense doesn’t justify the performance gain.
Could have all been a gimmick to sell a million chainsaws.
Could be the 400c is a rare limited edition hot rod that becomes the most recent legendary Stihl.
I have no desire to let go of my XS400c. That saw blows my mind every time I use it.

 

According to stihls description, they create more displacement? Maybe they can run a lower pin to crown height?


I totally understand the maintenance on dirt bikes but factory race teams don't care about money, they just wanna win. Never heard of a mag piston till this thread. It's got my gears turning.

Some good ideas as to why. I guess time will ultimately tell?

 

Don't know what I did wrong yesterday. Popped on first pull and started on second today. Got about 5 tanks through it now and it has woke up some.

 

Started on second pull again today. Still don't know what I did wrong Saturday.

Questions though:

I spent several hours cutting down small to medium sized trees yesterday (1" all the way up to 10") and noticed that when I had to walk further between trees the saw would have a little bit of bog/hesitation when I hit the throttle for the next cut. It was very slight, but enough that I wish it didn't do it. I didn't have a screwdriver with me so I didn't try to mess with it. Does this sound like it is lean or rich on the L screw? Or something else?

Cutting through buckeye trees will make any saw seem sporty, but my next round of TSI is going to be some much harder and larger diameter stuff. I cut some dead/dry stuff and wish it had a little more power. How well do these smaller saws respond to a muffler mod? I'm not looking for a hot rod, just 10% more would make a big difference.

 

That’s poor wording, the mag piston allowed them to increase the displacement because its lighter and they didn’t need to worry about the crank not holding up. The 400 mag piston is lighter than the 362’s aluminum one. Mag is more expensive so I’d imagine Stihl went back to aluminum because they split the difference on size of engine and are using the saw to fill two spots but in order to sell it they will need to make the price between the current 362 and 400 so the mag piston may drive the cost up too high for what it would gain. This smaller displacement saw has a lighter weight rotating assembly supposedly to keep its fast acceleration.