I hate a tundra...

Ford

No beans

22 Hornet +++P

Stihl makes a dandy file sharpener. It sharpens the teeth, as well as takes the rakers down simultaneously. Leave the chain on the saw, clamp the bar in a vise (not absolutely necessary) sharpen the chain. You're good for many more hours of cutting. Keep the chain out of the ground, and out of the barb wire fence.

I severely dislike my Stihl. I’d run Echo all day every day followed closely by Husqvarna. I ran a commercial lawn care business before being a police officer and all I ever ran was Echo and Toro. I bought this Stihl as my first chainsaw and absolutely cuss it every time. If it starts and runs, it will get hot and puke out all its bad chain oil, usually after putting it back in the case. The solution from a Stihl? Open the fill hole and don’t put the saw in the case until it has cooled and safe to touch the muffler. Yeah, because I’m going to stand around and wait for this thing to cool

I have a Stihl 029 Farm Boss that has to be 20 years. Runs every time I need it. I had a Stihl MS180C and liked it, but when I really worked it hard for a long stretch it would overheat and shut down. Then I sort of smushed it with the tractor, got it fixed and traded it in on a MS250 with an 18 inch bar. Starts easy and never bogs down or overheats.

I also have an Echo pole saw, and it is a finicky danged saw. Hard to start sometimes, but not every time. To make it work, I dump out any gas and refill with fresh. Then it’ll start. It needs to go back to the shop AGAIN.

As for who makes the absolute best chainsaw, I don’t know. But it isn’t Poulan.

Having a set of the specialized tools for adjusting carburetor settings can be very useful, and they're not that expensive. Even the best two-cycle engines sometimes need to be tweaked to get maximum performance as they age.

We have a Poulan and an electric from Harbor Freight.

Indeed.

If my friends told me to buy echo I'd get new friends.

Stihl Stihl stihl

I have an echo cd305 and a stihl ms 170.
Both are great saws. I give slight edge to stihl.

I have a 170 and a 250.
I sold the 16” bar with picco micro mini (PMM) chain and replaced it with a 14” and 3/8” picco chain. It cuts pretty fast and I use it mostly for limbs and smaller diameter stuff. I only have two gripes. One, if you get into it too quickly from idle, a lot of times it will kinda bog and I’ll have to back off and ease into it. Two, it doesn’t have an adjustable carb. If it did, you could open up the muffler a little and retune for a tad more power. But I knew this going in and I wasn’t spending $50 more on a 180. Overall it’s a decent little saw but if I only owned one saw, this wouldn’t be it. For comparison an Echo 310 is only $200, has an adjustable carb and a five year warranty. More on Echo in a second.

I had the 250 first. It has one of the best power to weight ratios that Stihl offers without going to a pro model like a 261. It’s a powerful 45cc saw and, unlike the 170, you can go full throttle from idle and it doesn’t hiccup a bit. It’s a pretty good little saw but I’ll mention a couple things to consider. One, the 18” bar (what I use) only sticks out 16” from the saw. Weird, I know, and it’s not mislabeled either. It’s 4” shorter than the 20” bar on my dad’s 280, and I have a 16” bar for the 250 that sticks out only 14”. Two, the anti-vibe is lacking on the 250. It’s the same style as the 170 but you don’t notice it as much on the little 170. Cutting bigger stuff with the 250 and the bigger bar/chain makes you notice it. Cutting with it and then my dad’s 280 I really notice it. It’s not horrible, just that the bigger saws have way better AV.
You mentioned the 170 being cheaply made, the 250 has the same level of build quality.
If you were only going to have one saw AND not cutting much wood and just want to have a saw for occasional storm clean up, the 250 would probably be fine. It’s a powerful saw and fairly lightweight. But if you were going to have two saws, or cutting more than average amount of firewood, I’d definitely spend $40 more and get the 271 or $90 more and get the 291, if you’re set on Stihl.

I’ve left stabilized ethanol fuel in both saws for long periods and they both started up and ran fine. But they can be hard to start sometimes if hot or after they run out of fuel.

I’ve owned one Echo product. A blower that didn’t last three years of very light use. Repair shop said it needed a coil (I think) and it’d be cheaper to buy a new one. That’s not to say all Echos are bad. Their 50-60cc saws are on my short list for replacing my 250. The 490 has a magnesium case and is $350. 510 is even lighter but a little higher.

I’m also looking at Husky, but not the low end models or the Rancher.
Dolmar/Makita have good reviews but their dealer network is lacking.
Buy from a dealer, as in a saw shop, and not Home Depot or Atwood’s.

Just my opinions.

Cant go wrong with Stihl or Husqvarna for what you are looking for. I've got a 20" bar on my Husky 450 Rancher and it struggles a bit on larger hardwood. Does good on pine.

At work, we run nothing but Stihl. 250's up to 661's. I've got an 038 that started working here before I was born!

Stihl Farm Boss used one on old job many years when I changed jobs I bought one for myself It performed so well.

You don’t even own lawn equipment, your opinion is invalid.

Yep, never lets me down.

You are the only moron saying Stihl is junk because you are one of the only one's here who could [cenosored] up a wet dream... I have a Ms250, a Br400 and an old Fs76 in the garage. Think before you speak as they all work when I tell them to and need something done...

But you have to borrow the lawn guys weed eater. When you have your own equipment and actually use it, then I’ll consider you opinion

I was cutting those POS bulbs in that front flower bed out. They got big for their one week a year and went back to looking like crap. Again, my stuff works but he has the latest and greatest and it starts on the second pull just like mine does.Yea, He runs Stihl too and runs a business. Coincidence???? I think not...

Thanks guys, lots of good info to consider. Really at this point i'm on the fence still between the Stihl and the Echo and it looks like its going to come down to what I can get the best deal on, or rather the best bang of price and displacement.

Stihl or echo really is a toss up. I only run stihl fuel through mine as they do sit for a minute and I do not use them everyday. Use good gas and you can't go wrong with either. I do not like husquavara though.

Stihl or Husqvarna are the two I use and recommend.

Just avoid ethanol no matter what you get.....

I"m late to the party, but I recently bought an Echo. My decision was based on reading a ton of reading reviews for different chainsaws. It came down to Stihl, Echo, and Husqvarna for me. What finally pushed me to Echo (in addition to the reviews) was the fact Echo has a five year warranty and there is an authorized warranty service center within five minutes of my house. I haven't used it much yet, but so far so good. BTW, I don't use it to make a living, just mainly cutting my own firewood and occasional other duties as they come up.