Early Christmas - New MS261!!!

"Earlt" is tired-type for "early".

Well, after much thought and ponderance, I pulled the trigger on a new 261 today to replace/accompany my 30+ year old Mac 610. Thought the pro model was worth the extra $$ over the 291. 16 in bar same as my Mac has.

Excited to spin it up tomorrow!!

Thanks for all the feedback from you guys during my search. Appreciate it.

Congrats on the saw, and you will be rewarded for making the (far) better choice for not a lot more $$$. I am envious!

Be aware that they take about 10 tanks of gas before they seat the rings and deliver full power. You will get about 90% of the power on the first tank of gas. No real need to throttle back during break-in. With a 16 inch bar it will scream. You could get a one larger size rim running that size bar on that saw once it is broken in. Or... you could run a 20 inch west coast long bar on it as well.

You'll love it. Another 30 years before you'll " need" another saw. ("wants" don't count LOL )
Good choice!
Congrats

Very good! Enjoy

You must have been a really good boy this year to have deserved such a prized possession. Keep up the good behavior and maybe a 361 will come your way next year!

I'm not sure if my feedback helped you with your decision, but I have had this saw now for about 6 months and can't say 1 bad thing about it. I've been running an 18" bar with a yellow chain and it handles that bar length just fine. StihlHead is right on the money - I've got about 15 tanks through it now and definitely notice a difference now that it is fully broken in. I cut some Black Locust with it the other day which IMO is one of the tougher woods to cut around these parts and it was like a hot knife through butter. Enjoy!

I haven't purchased a new saw in so long, is it still advised by dealers to return the saw for a tune adjustment after 10 or so tanks?

Thanks - I'm eager to fire it up today. Yeah I read that break in info in the manual last night. (Yes I READ THE MANUAL!!)
I prolly shouod know this, but what are you referring to when you say "rim". Thanks SH.

LOL. Wife and I were talking last night. In 30 years I'd be 86, won't likely care too much about using saws at that point

I just purchased one as well, but stopped reading the manual because of all the danger signs in it. I got scared. Kidding, read it too - lots of good info.

Your and others' feedback def helped me decide. The dealer also was very knowlwedgable and helpful explaining the features/benefits of both the 261 and 291. This came with the safety chain so I'll run that and see how it is. I think that is all I've ever run before.

I know! The first 1-15 pages are all DANGER/WARNING CAUTION signs. IMO, if you need THAT much warning, maybe you shouldn't be using pwer equip anyway.

The manual does say something about it after 100 hours, but the dealer said to keep an eye/ear on things and if it's working well don't bother.

I have had mine for almost a year now and it is just a great saw. Plenty strong for most applications.

Some do, yes. It is good advice. I do my own tuning and have never taken a saw back to the dealer to retune them, but they usually do that for free.

Rim is the chain drive mechanism on most Stihl pro saws. It is on a spline attached to the clutch/brake drum. There are two types of chain drives: one is a spur sprocket drive that is forged/welded onto the brake drum/clutch drive. The other type of drive is the rim drive, and that has a separate brake/clutch drum and a rim that slides onto a spline shaft. The advantage of the rim type drive type is that you can swap rims so you can go to a larger rim to get higher chain speed (at the cost of torque), or to a smaller rim for more torque (and slower chain speed) or change chain type rims, say from 0.325 to 3/8. You can also just get a new rim when they wear out (for less money), rather than having to buy the whole clutch/brake drum and spur.

That is another advantage of Stihl pro saws. Pro saws like the 260 have rim drives, homeowner saws like the 290 have spur drives. The 290 can be upgraded with a 360 drum/rim drive though (like I upgraded on my 310). And of course on these Stihl saws, they have inboard clutches, so you can swap rims in a jiffy w/o having to remove the entire clutch mechanism.

Here is a typical clutch/brake drum and removable rim drive:



Here is a typical clutch/brake drum and spur sprocket:

Thanks so much for that excellent (and illustrated!) explanation. People like you are the reason I'm glad to be a Hearth.com member! Thanks again.

Hey by golly, just so ya know I wan't fibbing, heres a couple of pics of the new Stihl and my old war horse 610. I'm liking that new 261 a lot!!

Congrats on the new saw!
Be sure to wrap it up like the banner ad picture and put it under your tree! Hehe

I am hoping to pick one up this month also but I have to buy others gifts first!
I'll definitely swing by the dealer soon to try one out and ask some questions about it and some other equipment.

I think the ten pages of warnings are inserted at the beginning of the manual by lawyers. It's to protect manufacturers against people who don't have any idea how to use the equipment cutting their legs off and then trying to sue the manufacturer for faulty equipment design.

If you don't tell me, shame on you. If you tell me and I ignore you, shame on me. Those warnings are pretty inexpensive, commonsense advice which may even help save someone's life.

When I get ready to buy something (chainsaw, digital camera, vacuum cleaner, etc.) I download the manual online and read it before I ever open the box. First, it gives me something to do while waiting to receive the item. Second, I figure that even though I already know everything, there might be something new in the world...

Yeah, my dad had a 610. I hated the thing even though it did cut some trees. My dad is brutal on gear and it has been retired for quite a while. I got the MS261 last summer and love it. Used another guy's 290 Farm Boss and the thing was so heavy and I could not notice a difference in cutting power. I was so happy that I paid the extra for the MS261. Really like the MS660 too.

You are going to love the MS261 compared to the 610. My dad made the mistake of using my saws last summer when we were cutting some 2 foot oak and other trees and now he is looking at Stihls every time we go to a dealer. He is also mentioning them when he sees them in ads in the paper while he is at my house. Probably going to end up getting him a MS261 for his birthday in June. We got him a snowblower for Xmas already that he does not know about. I keep telling him that he is welcome to use my saws whenever he likes, but he feels the same way as me about the splitter, it is just a pain to drive the 30 minutes to get it when we need it.

Anyway, congrats on the saw and look forward to hearing about how much you like it. Oh yeah, first thing I did was replace the safety chain with full chisel chain.

Buy a man a chainsaw for his birthday and he'll happily cut wood for the rest of the weekend. Buy him a snowblower and the first snowstorm he'll be out there burying the neighbors mailbox.

Try buying your wife a brand-new top of the line vacuum for x-mas.

My wife buying me a chainsaw or other tool for Xmas would be akin to me buying her a vacuum. Those sorts of gifts can come from my brothers and dad, not my wife. We have an understanding that she has no clue what I want when it comes to hunting, fishing, shooting, cycling, tools, and cars/trucks, so those would never be presents. All these chainsaw gifts for Xmas and a friend of hers getting an IPad out of the blue from her husband got me thinking about the subject. We were talking about it, and I asked her what she would get me if she were to try to surprise me for Xmas, and she shocked me to a degree. Lego Millenium Falcon or the Lego Death Star. Guess she has seen me eyeing the Star Wars collection when we are at Target.

Thanks for the feedback and thoughts!

My 610 has been a good workhorse, the only saw I've ever used so it's all I know rally. But the new 261 is much lighter and easier to handle. I've only had a couple of days using it, but so far very good. I'll probably take the 610 in for service and keep it as a spare/ second saw.

I'm still using the safety chain, again that's all I've ever used.

Oh man is that ever the truth