Chinesium Top handle, first impressions.

I think I'll stick with my lil $20 poulan pro for limbing...

 

I know you're not "supposed" to use a top handle saw one handed. With my Hardy OWB I cut small stuff as long as possible. My left hand is 2'+ away from the bar while I cut with right hand, toss cutoff into the loader bucket with the left. Using this saw, I will take smaller diameter wood than I normally would. When this saw fails, I'll go back to leaving 3-4" stuff. Being able to drag, cut and toss seems pretty productive.

 

That's exactly what I do with my TH.

 

My Poulan was free, but it is not a "pro," lol. It has a bad coil and after it is warm it won't idle and if you shut if off, it won't restart. I use or maybe I should say abuse cutting pallets. One thing I have noticed is it tires me out quickly. The saw is balanced horribly. I can run a 660 for hours but the 42cc poulan kills my arm. That is one the differences between quality a quality saw and junk saw.

 

I don't think they are as worried about you cutting the free hand as they concerned with kick back.

If get a lot of small wood, you could build one of these.

 

Glad to see Mervin was able to help you out on a bar. Good guys to deal with!

 

Pretty nice shop, guys there were helpful and as you said before, reasonable prices.

 

Schweeeet a g2500-clones thread

Have had mine for ~1.5yrs now, I quickly swapped the 10" it came with for a 12" setup I had un-used (mine takes 'normal' bars, will get a pic up later to see if there's any big visual-differences, I know that afleetcommand has your version and on his there's also issue with the bar-nubs, on each side of the bar-stud, not being sufficient to secure the bar's placement...also not an issue on mine, I got the "scheppach csp2540" version and have zero complaints/only praise and it was $135 shipped-with-bar, same guy on ebay selling them today just checked although I guess there could be batch-to-batch variance, am uncertain if these are all being made at the same plant but doubt it)

REALLLLY important 'mods' for this saw (IMO) are:
- remove the (2) phillips-screws that are holding that big front-bumper on. Lose your dogs (oh no!) in-exchange for 1.5" more bar-length, easy choice (you could easily mount dogs to the powerhead if you had the inclination and average 'mcguyvering' abilities), and
- shave-down the obnoxiously-large handbrake-handle, I know some of the g2500 clones have a different handbrake but on the scheppach it is huuuge, I shaved-off the bottom&top quarters w/ a grinder and then carved a huge window through what remained ;D
[[- not "important" in the same way but FWIW this saw responded to muff&air-box modding better than most of my saws did, maybe that's just inherent to it being a smaller powerhead or something but it reallly makes a difference in fact I seldom use my 32cc climb-saw anymore because it's simply the scheppach up until I need >12" bar, then I use the 355t w/ 16" setup ]]

I gotta check those pics again as my interest is really piqued here, I'd originally thought all these g2500 clones were made at same-factory but now seeing these variances I'm doubting that, my chain-tensioner has never ever been anything but perfect in fact I can't fault **anything** on the unit, I mean I get that a 2511t is a superior unit but it's not $135... Will get a picture of my clutch/bar area to see/compare to yours, I knew these models differed when I saw afleetcommand's 2nd/follow-up video on his j.cutterG2500 and he's talking about how his bar moves too much, I was confused[as mine never did that] until I saw him mod his, he had to mod a pair of 'bar nubs' for placing on either side of the bar-stud so his bar would stay solidly-in-place, whereas on mine those bar-nubs *are* the right size already, and allow you to screw them out a little if you want although my bar has always been solid in it so I left mine alone!

Youtuber "love2boat92" has some vids on his scheppach-version of the g2500 posted, he did have some small issue around 1yr into ownership (which he'd already fixed before posting the video) I've been using mine in FL ie it sees some rain / only operates in super-hot&humid conditions for about 1.5yrs and going very hard with it (12" b&c with the chain's rakers filed very low so that I can "feel" the cuts and get the most of it, I hardly-ever stall/bog-out the chain when cutting this way), I'd rate the saw an A- as a unit and an A+++++ so far as value (ie, obviously a 2511t is a better saw, but it's $400...hell even 2511t owners would benefit spending $135 for a 'backup/beater' unit, whether it's one of those days w/ on&off rain or simply cutting through crappy/decomp'd wood, sometimes I've grabbed the scheppach over the 355t for this reason! But for routine/default/day-to-day the scheppach is the 1st saw I grab[well, after polesaw I guess] and use it right-up-til the 12" is too-short, then swap to the 16" on my 355t from there. If lithium weren't making sub-30cc's obsolete I'd have already bought a 2nd one of these, and even w/ lithium coming so quickly I'd still wholeheartedly urge any friends/people IRL to get this unit, am very glad I caught this thread as I'd figured the variance with afleetcommand's bar-nubs was just some fluke IE the factory had an incorrect sized bolt for one production-run, but seeing that yours doesn't take regular b&c setups (and has an iffy tensioner) it's hard to imagine they're being made at the same place, hell I would've advised people to get the $90(shipped), no-bar version because, hey, you're better-off saving that $$ and choosing a better b&c setup, but now I see the scheppach version is great and that the others are flawed, so damm glad I caught this thread!!
[FWIW, even if they jumped the price to $200 for it, I'd still certainly recommend/endorse it!!! Over $200 and, well, you may as well just save a lil more and grab a 2511t!!

Does your clutch-cover's bar-interfacing have a metal-plate? Will snap a pic of inside-clutch-cover on mine later when I get a pic of my clutch//bar-stud....am really curious how (and *why*) j.cutter's facility would go and change that part.....maybe it's the other way around? I don't know where zenoah is from, perhaps the j.cutter version uses the zenoah-spec'd bars, which aren't 'western bars', and the scheppach version realized this & set it up for standards? Mine 100.0% takes standard setups, *all* of my b&c setups swap-onto all my saws, zero incompatibility and all 'basic/generic' 3/8LP//0.050"//the type you could go buy at home depot or walmart and be sure it'll fit

[oh and Re startup, mine's the 2nd-best powerhead I own, starts better than everything except my echo polesaw(which is, by leaps&bounds, the smoothest 2-stroke I've ever had the pleasure to use ]

Would love to hear how things are going now that some time has passed, tensioner-issues are the worst my tanaka was a very extensive rebuild of a 'destroyed' unit and part of the process was creating a tensioner setup, ended up doing a front-adjusted (old-school) style tensioner but it works

SUCH BS!!!!!!!! Feel really bad for you man because for me it was the best-deal I've gotten in as long as I can remember....I'll post pics of mine and I do have calipers, would be happy to take any measurements in-addition to the pics if they could help anything (you can order replacement parts from scheppach so you may be able to simply swap-out a part(s) from your j.cutter version with the scheppach pieces and be able to use any regular old bar!!)

I'm 99.9999999999% the zenoah is the original, they've got like 4 top-handles available so they'd be quite the innovative 'clone operation' if they aren't the creators ;D
[hmm, was curious where they were from / thinking they must be from an area w/ different "generic bar dimensions", anyway just found that zenoah is actually owned by husqvarna group now:
About

lol so many questions
Curiosity is piqued, why mention a poulan w/o a model-#?
Since when did poulan pro make top-handle saws?
No saw is $20, phrasing it that way is silly (I guess my echo polesaw was free, by a similar metric )

I've got a lil old (1977) poulan 25d top-handle that I hope to finish restoring sooner than later, what are people's thoughts on using a climb-saw that doesn't have a chainbrake? Obviously wouldn't be using it routinely but, when I finish it, am certainly gonna wanna bring it on a job or two

Embarrassed to post but hey it's the web so- Is it dumb to think that, so long as I'm out of the bar's "kickback-area", that I'm basically safe? IE I've made some cuts (as I'm sure we all have) that would make a viewer[even if it were me watching myself on vid!] cringe, but I am always/subconsciously-aware-of the bar's "backward-area" ie where it'd end-up if it was flipped back at me.....this basically assumes that kickback/flip-back events are "vertical" but, for all I know, they fly sideways as much as rearward[have never experienced a bad kickback in my life], so would be appreciated to know if that's a worthwhile 'motion' or false-security to think "hey if that bar flips-backwards, it's not gonna hit me it's going to go beside-me"!

Yeah regular poulans are heavyAF, I've got the poulan pro 42cc and it is a dream, it is a bit heavy but it's a groundsaw so I've never found myself bothered by its weight but can tell it's a lil heavy for a 42cc/18" setup, still though it outperforms my 36cc 355t so it's my go-to when chunking stuff

(could you elaborate on 'horrible balance' of your poulan? Feel silly saying this but have never quite understood what, specifically, leads to/causes saws to be 'balanced'/'unbalanced', have held&used a ton of saws and never once thought "this feels unbalanced")

 

Sure, because you haven't been given a scheppach csp2540 and been told to test-review it, I've zero doubt you would conclude that it is a solid 25cc top-handle, and that so far as value-per-dollar it has basically got the entirety of the market beaten.

Re not being interested because "it's a chinese clone of a chinese saw"....I swear I am not "trying to bait you" or be rude or anything but do you think that chinese people are somehow worse at assembly than americans? A TON of crap comes out of any country that manufactures, as well as high-quality hardware. This should be self-evident, I'd think...Yet there is this constant, nationalist-tinged "oh, it's *chinese*? It is inherently worse because of that" mindset...I don't know if it's xenophobia, or inability to realize that a production-plant in china is doing what the company is asking them to do (or realize that the company is the "final say-so" on quality, echo is going to have a quality-control system and, once in-factory, there's no reason that system would change if it was a factory of americans in MA or a factory of chinamen in beijing)

And FWIW, Re your "chinese clone of a chinese saw" line, am guessing you mean "chinese saw = zenoah" right? And presuming the clones are all built in china as well (which I'd imagine is correct) Did you know that zenoah is part of husqvarna group? For the hell of it, the following companies have plants in China:
- Stihl
- Husq/Poulan/Zenoah
- Echo
- Jonsered
- Remington

Seems you can stick w/ Makita/Dolmar if you wanna avoid made-in-china so badly, with them it's just some parts-from-china but assembly is in europe. Yes, I am aware that the chinese facilities for the mentioned companies are not their *only* facilities --- but they've got them for a reason, and - as corporations - their goal, both ethically and legally, is profit....am guessing these companies use their cheaper-labor chinese facilities for all-they-can, it's hard to fathom they wouldn't, though if you/anyone has figures I'd be curious to see them. But so far as I can tell, you can get "china-made" from any of the major companies but, again, this shouldn't concern you because whether it's stihl or echo the *company* is ensuring quality-control, the workers are just working-by-rote assembling as they were instructed to. Denigrating china almost-every time that production/manufacturing is brought up is just silly/misses the point and does more harm than good.


Re the actual product, it sucks that OP's Jon Cutter version has those faults (IIRC "jon cutter" is part of that farmertec/hutzl camp, the group that sells these clones & clone-kits that are often of such poor-quality that even the guys undertaking the projects refer to lists of parts that they have to obtain OEM versions of because it's a waste of time to bother w/ the crappy farmertec part, am thinking of many parts of the 660 builds...), but the Scheppach version is outstanding. If, upon receipt last year, I was somehow deceived into believing it was an Echo unit, I never would've guessed otherwise. I am always assembling/dissembling something so it's not just "the scheppach kicks-azz on the job", it's also that it's just made smart with good attention to detail, there's PLENTY of areas where it's obvious a cheaper solution would've "worked"[perhaps like the bar-tensioner worm gearing on the j.cutter version, it seems..], yet the scheppach has it done 'the right way' for instance it's the only 1-piece clutch-cover I've seen that has (3) mounting/mating points in-addition-to the bar-stud, it's got a great/modern air-box, besides my 355t it's only saw I own w/ an ergo-grip, startup/idling is amazing I mean it never gives issues, a great machine I'd eagerly point a friend to if they'd said "I can only spend $200 and want a good climb-saw", would say get the scheppach/put a 12 or 14" on it with a VXL chain, do standard muff/air-box modding, and you will be set"

 

Oh had forgot to mention, and I know it's pretty trivial, but the factory-manual that came w/ my scheppach is the BEST manual I've ever gotten w/ a powerhead, like 5X as good as the manual that came w/ my 355t, it's got a full exploded-parts diagram in the manual which I've never seen but love

Also wanted to mention that, recently when re-greasing the hard-grease I'd washed-out from the clutch's roller-cage bearing I was able to really inspect everything and was VERY impressed at the 1.5yr quality of sprocket, of the oiler's worm-gear, the clutch itself etc everything removed was flawless (NOTE--- the worm-gear that lets the shaft drive the bar-oiler was *plastic*, its threads were in flawless shape but still figured it's worth-mention because I'm uncertain if they're typically plastic or metal, ever since getting a rope stuck in a jug while jamming a piston I've been super hesitant to mess w/ clutches, only removing them if/when they've gone dry/squeel)

 

Since my OP, China sent us a little present. I will avoid spending another cent on Chinese made stuff everywhere possible. I'll continue to use the one functioning saw, out of the two I bought, and use parts from the second. Once they are exhausted, into the trash they go.

 

Amen brother!
Stopped at Menards tonight...looked for USA (or at least non chinees) made options for all purchases...one item on the list was a new dryer vent/cover/louvers...white one was chinees made...brown one was USA made (complete with flag decal)...I like brown...

 

Weird, I worked on our dryer yesterday too. I cleaned up the contacts in the timer on our Kennmore. Going to order the invesys (sp) one to keep on hand in case it happens again. At least it's made in Mexico.

Only pic I have, I took it for reference. Cleaning the, fused together contacts, inside the timer wasn't that big of a deal.

Monday I need to get a new exterior vent/cover/louver thingy too.

 

I'm going to get the Scheppach gsp 2540 for $142.13 including 10" b and c and free shipping. Sounds like a good deal for a good saw. My wife thinks that I lost my mind getting another saw. Btw, reviewers (on ebay)state that it is German made. Could it be??

 

Bought a unbranded version a few months ago
Works great I just had to tune it
I leave it on my atv so it's sunfaded now
I loaned it to my brother a few weeks ago to cut up a bunch of tops
From tree work at his house.
This is actually the 4th one of these I've owned
My friends had to have the last 3 after trying them
I told everyone I'm keeping this one.
Handy little saws they were 74.00 shipped with bar and chain
They are near a 100.00 now.

 

Clam shell or removable cylinder?

 

That makes me wonder if they are all the same. Joncutter, Scheppach, ebay etc. They all look the same, but I'm going by Gabrielfreeman's write up assuming better quality checks on the details and thinking that Scheppach is the way to go. But then again, $40 dollar saving is something. I'm only getting this saw for fun and to have a top handle saw.