Second Saw Recomendation

Of all the saws Echo is the easiest to get parts for online. I have never had any problems with my 7 echo saws and the quality is top notch.
To be fair I have not had any problems with my 8 Stihl saws either.

 

I personally like the customer service aspect of getting parts and repairs as well as the initial purchase locally.

is there delays some times? Yop. But more times than not, my mechanics have pulled stuff out of the bottom of the toolbox, more times than not, to get me back up faster.

 

From what I have read about what you are cutting and your situation personally I would consider either the 261 or 550xp husky.

Good choice with the 261 , as far as parts like RCBS mentioned you won't need them anytime soon.
Good fuel and oil mix ; keep it sharp, occasional air filter cleaning and it will be good to go for a while.

 

Lehman can correct or clarify me but I had explored the idea of converting my 250 from .325 chain to a 3/8” sprocket/clutch 18” bar to match with the 261 & 362. I have too many chains in .325 to do that though.

Maybe it was the bar mounting was what derailed that idea?
It’s been a while since I thought about it.
Not to derail a thread…

EDIT I think the reason for not exploring it further was the consensus from people who know said that <50cc saw really does not have enough oomphs to pull 3/8” in hardwood making it hard on the saw.
Lenny


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The 250 takes a 3005 mount and the 261 is a 3003 you could do .325 on both saws but the drive counters are different. Also need to watch out for the newer saws with a light 04 bar and fancy paint job because your old chains won’t fit. The new light 04 is a .050 gauge instead of .063 like the older ms250 had. The new bar is slightly narrower with thinner rails to lighten it up a little and the .050 chain is a bit thinner kerf for faster cuts. 15-20% they claim and from what I hear it’s probably true, the new chains have a 23 on the front of the box.

 

If the new bar on whatever saw you choose looks like this it will be the thin kerf .050 chain, you could buy this bar for your 250 in a 3005 mount and use the new chain on your 250, may even find this enough of an upgrade in speed to stay with the 250 for now. But I’m all for you buying at least another if not 2-4 more saws.

 

The new .325 RSP chain is very good. So far I like the bar on my 261 too fwiw.

 

My head in spinning. LOL! What a good problem to have.

All really good points. In the past 14 years, my MS250 has flooded twice, needed a few air filters and one spark plug. Chains, bars….have all been my doing; pinching or dulling. The saw has been very reliable.

That being said, I’m pretty handy. I don’t fancy doing a top end job, but I have done it on one of our air cooled snowmobiles. So the know how is somewhat there.

I now have to see what some of these are going for used on Marketplace.

Oh! Random question on these saws. Can the carbs be adjusted with regular tools? I know my MS250 can. I do have an Echo Leafblower of the same vintage that I had to source a special tool for.

 

The new stihls with autotune cannot be adjusted neither can the 550 husky the echo can be adjusted most saws need special tools to adjust you can buy a whole set of them online for@ 20.00

 

RCBS glad you have had good luck with your saws the older ones were easy these new autotune ones are a little different I am a husky dealer and if I could charge for the time I have spent on the phone after regular hours helping people with their saws problems I would have much more billable time like a Saw Hotline most times I get them up and running but these new saws can be frustrating when the electronics go haywire if you do need anything I am open saturday until 3:00 might be a drive for you !! I am only open part time in the evenings during the week and I hear that all the time that the dealers are not open when you need them when I go full time next year here I am still staying open late always glad to help JB

 

Yep I know why Stihl does it for selling more sizes but the 311 would be the last saw I’d buy in that range

 

The Mtronic Stihls require no carb adjustment. Great feature as ive tried to do this on other "carb" saws and suck at it.

 

Only 14" wood? You need a 50cc hotrod. A ported 350/346 would be perfect. They're light and easy to handle with around 5hp when ported.
I use mine for 90%+ of my cutting.

 

Or a ported ms 261 since your thinking about another stihl

 

Unfortunately they need to play that comparison game with husky and echo so they need all the different top ends on same chassis. If someone asks me about the 271 or 311 I usually push them towards the 291/391 but some people will insist on saving the 50-70$. Where my wife works they sell a ton of ms271’s and husky 450 ranchers. But for homeowners saws I’d say the ms 250 is at or near the top every year.

 

I know one small tree service that used 290’s and 390’s for his big saws and a 192t for climbing. Made lots of money with plastic saws

 

When I ran a ROW crew we had a half dozen 025’s for main ground crew saws. Sure we had bigger nicer saws but not everyone had access to those. The 025/250 was cheap and easy to replace should they meet a bad end. Which they frequently did. They are surprisingly robust for what they are.