I haven’t bought any chains in about a year until today. I usually ask santa for them. Man the prices for stihl seemed noticeably higher than usual. I paid $29 for an 18” chain how’s the prices in your areas?
For years I used Stihl chain pretty much exclusively. I ended up with a Husky 32" loop and like it but it only comes out for special occasions. The Stihls as you mentioned have just kept going up in price around here so I have been trying the Archer on my MS250 this summer. It seems to hold a edge OK so far and has been working out fine. My last Stihl chain on my go to 25" bar is on it's last leg and I have a couple loops of Archer coming to try on that. They should be here in the next couple days and I'll get them converted over to square filed and give them a go on the 362. I've been busy cutting the last couple weeks and have gone through 3 gallons of fuel in the last two weeks. Some of that was at walt 's GTG.
I say that every time I go to the Stihlership. Ugh. I think they just try to see what the market will tolerate. I quit buying stihl b&c oil years ago. No way I'm paying 25$ a gallon for stihl oil when i can get tsc or rural king for 5-7$
I just bought some Oregon bulk chain. 1st time trying it this way it will come to about $16/18" chain. Could have been cheaper if I bought the 100' roll but its my 1st trying it so didn't want to go too big.
I know inflation is a country wide issue. Maybe I’m wrong but the prices almost doubled from when I last bought a chain. Guess I’ll try harder to avoid rocks and such and sharpen and resharpen as long as I can at these prices.
A few years ago I built a Husqvarna 266 with a hyway 268 popup I only had 40.00 in it. And I needed a loop of 24" 84dl .50 That loop of Stihl chain at my dealer was 36.00 plus tax So basically the same 40.00 for one chain. So I didn't buy it. I've run Stihl chains since the 80s they were my favorite But in no way are they worth what they are asking now to me personally. Oregon, Carlton and total is good chain to But the price has raised on them also. You never know when you'll hit metal or rock and junk a chain. I went to bat country 84dl .50 10.00 a loop full chisel And have tried 8ten,Archer,longer and even unbranded ebay chains They all basically appear identical. And have raised in price since I bought them also lol And after a handfile they have cut and held up great I'm just a firewooder now and they Suit me fine. My neighbors had me get them chains I bet I've gotten 40-50 china chains for them they usually just give me the dull chains Instead of sharpening them. Upstart has been very good chain but they only offer it in 20" and shorter lengths. I've got 16 of those left I sell them on used saws.
Somehow the stihl dealer in amish country can sell 'em reasonable. They've been gettin' $34 for one, but if you get 2 or more they've half price. I haven't got any for a year or so 'cause I bought three every time we went.
I gave up on Stihl chain long ago. I couldn't bear to give that much for it. I definitely like it best but it's not gold. This is a great place to buy from. 72LGX066G 18 The new Oregon EXL is a bit harder than the old LGX so they are getting closer to stihl. Not quite there yet, but still excellent performance.
I have bought all of my chains from Loggerchain.com for 3 years. Sometimes they have 2 for the price of 1 deals on popular drive link counts . Last time I bought a 3/8 84 driver chain from the Stihl dealer it was just shy of 50$ .
