New player in town

My local STIHL dealer in Sandersville is Cullens Supply. Stopped by to get a couple chains for the pole saw.
Noticed a new sign hanging up as we went in.
Very nice display, with plenty equipment.

Saw section, so far. He is planning to get the biggest saws soon.
He had told me awhile back he had talked to Echo about becoming a dealer.
His dad also runs Cullens Supply in Dublin, GA. Been a Stihl dealer for 36 yrs, but he said the SE Regional distributor has gotten REALLY slack on the common items, last fall, he couldn't get but a few saws, lost a lot of logger business, this spring he is having trouble getting trimmers and blowers...
They want him to order 12 units at a time, then limit him to 10 trimmers
Now my dealer has been lucky on getting the hot new items, he has sold several MS500i's, he was 1 of 3 dealers to first get them in GA and he just sold the new MS881 a couple days ago.
He was talking to the rep a couple weeks ago about the problems, he was told to "Just deal with it"
So I guess he did...lol...said the Stihl rep saw the Echo display yesterday....
On a much better note, he had a CS-2511T sitting on the counter, told me it had been sent as a demo unit, and "Would you like to take it and try it out?"
Does a fat kid like donuts???

Wants me to give a review of likes/dislikes...
I am honored and humbled....
Just looking it over, I like the 3/8 picco chain and oil adjuster screw on the top is easy to access.
It will be my first time with a top handle. We have a PILE of post oak and hickory limbs to process on the jig.
Wish I had the man lift, trim some trees around the house.

 

Nice ! Hard to walk out of a place like that empty handed isn't it.
Believe me I know!! That's why I don't go that often to a place like that.

Good luck with it

 

Hard part will be taking it back later...
Asked if I could keep it till next year...lol...

 

Yes, sir. For sure.

 

I have a hunch it won't be going back.

 

I'll take that one back, it's twin might follow me home...

 

Why yes, yes I do!!

 

Wonder what the deal is with supply. You'd think they'd make it a priority to sell units.
Good deal on the top handle.

 

I love my 2511T, it’s light & nimble. It sees about as much use as any of my other saws. I use it to limb with, clean out fence lines & trim trees off the back of terraces. It’s small enough I can carry it in the tractor cab & not be in the way during planting & harvest season to work up trees that have fallen from the field edge

The only 2 things I didn’t like was the VXL chain that came with it, it really liked to chatter after a few sharpenings it wasn’t near as bad

I swapped over to Stihl & Carlton chain it’s not as chattery. I also took the 14” b/c off & put a 12” bar on it that way my chains are all the same for the Stihl & Echo pole saws & the 2511T.

The other thing I didn’t care for was the felling spikes that they make for it were not to great.
I had my buddy fabricate me a set of spikes combined a case guard.

 

That's different and a great idea.
Have to put that in my memory bank.

 

Nice job

 

Good for you & your dealer both Jeff! Echo makes good power equipment & an OPE shop needs inventory. Might give the Stihl rep a good kick in the pants. My local dealer was real low on inventory as well, said the same thing about the supply. Enjoy that saw, I think you'll like it.

Your buddy might want to consider marketing that set up for some popular saws, that's slick!

 

Covid. If it isn't one thing now in the supply chain, it's another. Components in general are hard to get, unless a company had stock previously, or has an unaffected supplier. Then there's the container and freight issues in general. Hell, right now there's shortages of chassis', the trailer that the containers go on to get hauled by the semi truck.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

This all makes my occupation not so easy right now.


Nice looking saw T.Jeff Veal . Let us know what you think of it. I was looking at the echo's myself the other day at fleet farm, but they only had the 590 and a few smaller ones, no pro type saws.

 

Sounds like a great deal coming down the pike Jeff and you'll know how that saw was treated.

 

Love my cs310 and cs590 echos, also have their trimmer and 2 of their blowers. Stihl has always been a little pricey for my level of use so echo is the perfect balance for me.

But gosh you'd think stihl wouldn't poopoo all over their customers and tell them to just suck it up and be grateful. I don't care how great your product is the brand can only take so much bad customer service.

 

Covid doesn't care about customer service.

 

Nice! I looked at one at my OPE dealer. Tiny saw. I had already bought my 194T. They carry the big 3 mfrs. Once you get used to having a top handle you will love it. Very handy saw for limbing and smalls. Working safely in tangles vs. lumbering with a bigger saw.
Dontcha wish you could try everything in life first!
Looking forward to your feedback on it Jeff.

 

I have 2 Echo blowers and they have basically been bullet proof. About 8 years ago or so, I inquired about their chainsaws and was told by my small engine shop " here take this 59cc saw for a test drive. Bring it back when you dull the chain." I really liked the saw and thought it had a lot of power for a 59cc so when I returned it that day, I asked what their biggest saw was...80cc was the answer so I said I will take one. A few days later, I had the saw in hand. It had the power and smoothness I was looking for. Issue though: no decompression switch made for very hard cold starts which caused me to snap a few pull cords and the pull cord assembly broke down 2-3 times as well. It's built into the clutch cover so the whole thing needed to be replaced. Also, the fuel line has gotten pinched to the point of needing to be replaced multiple times (part of this could be blamed on me for leaning on the saw too hard in big wood) but I also feel the design could be better. The saw has cut a lot of wood but those parts didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. As you know Jeff, my dealer now carries Husky and I just purchased a new big saw, the 390 which cuts like butter. I'm not sure if those smaller saws will hold up better than the 8000 I have or not but I'm hoping you like it.

 

I have an Echo handheld blower thats the same. Gets rained on in the PU and im not gentle with it. Same model ive bought when others die from falling off the roof! Starts without issue all the time.
Based on this id take an Echo saw over Husky. Thanks for the saw insight though.