chainsaw selection opinions

The cheap bird beak saws is what i'm talking about. The only reason I own one is for a pole saw.


The older wide tip 14-16" Stihl Rollomatic E bars that were Swedish made were awesome! the ones pictured above are junk.

And yes they have flippy caps. I keep 12 of each size in a drawer and order more about this time of year... Another reason I don't like the stihls. The older 044/460/064/036 series was great and had very little problems don't get me wrong... I just like long term reliability for me and my peeps. Take a look at the 066/660 they all had screw in caps and the reason is that loggers and pros don't like stuff that breaks. The 661 now has flippy caps...

 

Ahhh, when I picked up my 180 it was pho, I put a .050 bar on it. No flippy caps on this one either.

I think we're arguing the same point based on the other saws you recommended. They all can be had for a fraction the the price of a new 241.

 

yea my bad... the stihl line tends to blur all together on the sub 50cc size. I usually only get the 026/260 and above in for work... The last sub 026 I had in the shop must have been a ms-181... flippy caps and beak bar. grrr...


And if we are throwing ideas to the wall and seeing what sticks... The best sub 50cc saw I have ever run is a 38cc Redmax 3800/4000. A friend of mine sent one off to Mastermind to be ported and it was determined that their ports are already maximized for timing from factory. They are also the most beautiful cast cylinders I have seen to date. Made by Zenoah/Komatsu Japan. I'm sure Randy did some other tweeking on the saw to make it even a little better but they are AWESOME little saws. They were made in Ryobi colors too. It's too bad that Husky the sister company to redmax didnt pick the 3800/4000/4500 up for one of their production line saws.

 

My vote is the 421 as well. IMO the only place that the 241 may be better is the mtronic. For the average cutter it's always gonna be in tune. However if you like to work on your own saws you will greatly appriciate the simplicity of the dolmar line up! The biggest down fall on the 421 to me is the dam primer ball. Not a fan. Lol. But you will not go wrong with either saw. Both excellent choices.

 

Long time reader first time poster. I went through the exact same debate with the same two saws. I had both good stihl and dolmar dealers near me. I actually settled on the dolly first. Ran it at the dealer and liked it. Bought it and took it home. Wasn't until then that I realized as my small saw it weighed almost the same as my 50cc echo 500p. I ended up weighing them because it actually felt the heaver of the two! Needless to say I was able to return it and purchased the stihl 241 c instead. I have put about 15 tanks through it and couldn't be happier with it! I love how the saw feels very strong (for a 40cc saw) in the cut. I did pay 15 under msrp and got 1 loop of rs chain and 2 loops of rm and a 6 pack of ultra mix oil thrown into the deal too. If you can swing that deal maybe the extra money won't sting so much. I wouldn't call the dolmar a pig exactly but it did feel chunky. Ultimately though that is personal preference. It was a quality saw. I see no reason you wouldn't be able to work on them yourself too. Go check both saws out and handle them as much as you can and go from there.

 

Don't hesitate on the Dolmar - the 421 is on my short list for a small limber and the price is hard to beat with respect to the quality you get. My 510 is a work horse for a 50cc saw - had her for about 6 years now - not a single issue and lots of cord behind her. If it were me, I'd save the cash and go with the 421 - use the extra cash for a couple extra chains and enjoy! As for dealer support - most work can be pretty easily learned and done yourself + it feels better knowing your machines and doing the work yourself. Cheers!

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Thanks! Learned enough from the forums felt like I could give a little back here.

 

Honestly I'm not a forum person. Don't like them. This one is the only one I contribute too. Great bunch of guys here.

 

I have a Dolmar PS-421. It is my go-to saw for 75% of my firewood cutting. For the rest, especially the bigger stuff, it's my Stihl MS361. I probably would have stuck with Stihl instead of the Dolmar if the price of the MS260, at the time, had been reasonable in comparison to the Dolmar. However, I found out that the Dolmar is an awesome saw. Lightweight enough, good anti-vibe, starts from cold with two or three pulls, well balanced. Given the choice again I would still take the Dolmar.

 

+1 for the echo! I sure do like my 500p. Modded the muffler and deleted the limit caps and retuned the carb. That really woke it up! There is plenty of grunt to it now. Incredibly well built and we'll balanced saw. I have run my buddy's 400 and it seems to be a nice machine as well. I see them from time to time on CL used for dirt cheap after storms around here.

 

thanks for the responses everyone. i do my own tuning, but if the 241 can tune itself fine, then it's just one less thing to worry about. i'm not really concerned about being able to work on the 241, since in general it's probably like working on any pro grade stihl. my question about dolmar is if there is some kind of design feature that makes them worse to work on, such as the clamshell design of non pro stihl saws. i still haven't had my hands on a dolmar, i guess i might this weekend, since it looks like it's going to be pouring for the third weekend in a row, and i won't be able to do much else.

 

A

I am sorry but a bit more is quite the understatement. A carb for a 241 is $167.

 

Is it not feasible to rebuild that carburetor?

 

It is. Kits are in the $60 range. That was a ballpark from the the dealer. There were external factors; the 241 is a work saw. I literally flipped a coin in my head at the counter. A kit should fix it. But the saw has been down for weeks; you put a solenoid in the saw and that didn't fix it and then it was looked at by the dealer who sold the saw and they charged $80 and didn't fix it. If you buy the kit and it doesn't fix you will be out $60 and another week waiting on a really expensive carb. Order me the carb..

 

I have a Cat-less PS 421. It cuts with the 241 that I tried, and costs about half as much. It is a great pro built saw and easy to maintain.