Hello gang, Let me be clear on this thread, I'm NOT into the Chinese saws but I had to ask this question to you all who use a saw almost daily. The guy I get a lot of my wood from has many, many stihls and they are his main, "go to" saws. I was at my gun club yesterday and he does work for us trimming branches so they don't fall on our club roofs, and his (Bucket guy) was using a saw, I had heard of but never seen up close, It was Blue and white. It was a real small top handle Holzfforma. Almost looked EXACTLY like a Stihl 200 series. He said he got it from a Company called Farmertech and it was only about $250.00. He also said he's been running the S#!T out of it with no problems. My next question I asked him was one I knew, but he's running regular gas at 50:1 synthetic oil. I noticed he had many bottles of the Husqvarna XP oil in his truck and he said he'll buy cases of it when TSC has it on sale. His crew, (mostly NOT American) only know how to mix the little bottles with a gallon of gas! Anyway, I got long winded. Any experiences with the Holzfforma saws? Curious to hear?
I have had one (Farmertec) for 7-8 years now...its been fine for me, but, full disclosure, I bought it before they got ballsy enough to sell the whole knockoff saw...so I basically bought a "MS660 Lego kit" and weeded out the known problem parts as I built it...that, and I don't put tons of time on it...that's why I was willing to take the chance on it. I really just wanted a cheap older big bore saw, but in this area people wanted more for a worn-out bucket of parts than what I spent for my kit. I named mine "Mu Shu 660"
Seems like a double standard when it comes to emissions. Big boys have to abide by things the clones don’t. Dum Ding Wong
Since my dolmar 6400 is becoming obsolete with less parts available I bought a holz 372XP last year. It's been great. I used it last summer to process a whole log truck load of fuel and it did just as well as the dolmar. I don't want some super expensive modern low emissions, non adjustable carb, plastic thing. The old models are perfect for me. I would not hesitate to buy another. Like if I needed a little top handle saw. I think the next thing might be a backpack blower, they are making clones of them too.
I would probably buy another second hand...but as far as buying any more of them new, I think I'm personally gonna pass...too much china made stuff on the store shelves already anyways, no need to reward them further for making "good knockoffs" (which is probably 75% of what they make anyways )
The loggers I use who cut daily use farmertec copies of Husky says. He says this I can screw up then I can drop a tree on $800 dollars saw or a $250 dollar saw either way I am One way I don’t need to tell the wife!!
I have never used one. If for some reason I lost all my saws in a natural disaster, I might consider buying one. The price of new Stihls is insane and I don’t see that trend changing. Several members this group have met my buddy Jeff. He has a tree service and doesn’t mind using china saws for work, so he can spare his good saws from the abuse. He bought one of the cheap Amazon top handles and said it performs well enough.
I have used one. It was a 660 clone and ran just like a real 660, just a different color. I like to have the real deal, but for those on a budget or who will likely drop a tree in it or blow it up, it’s perfect.
I have a g666 and a g444. Have probably bucked 35 cords between the two of them. Had need of a big saw occasionally, but didn’t want to spend the money for a stihl that only gets used occasionally. Had no problems with the 666 so ordered the 444 about a year later. Both have been completely reliable with zero problems. The 666 wears a 32” bar and the 444 wears a 28”. Both have the power to pull more length if I needed it. Only wished for more once. Had a big American elm a couple years ago that was 84 inches across the 3 foot tall stump. Got over 7 cords out of that tree, plus about 3 cords of punky stuff that went to the dump…but yeah for a big saw that you need occasionally, I think they are a great choice. If I was making a living with saws I would probably buy OEM.
Interesting thread! I've been thinking about getting an Echo CS-7310P with a 32" bar for the 2-3 days/ year that I'm going to be cutting really big stuff. For the same money, 2 Holzfforma G466 saws w/36" bars & chains will be shipped to my door. Very tempting! The current freebie score has a bunch of 36"+ oak logs & there's two very big ash trees that will be coming available. The Echo saws that I have work great, especially the CS-620P & CS-355T. It would be nice to have a 7310 but for $465, a G466 goes to the head of the line.
