Has anyone tried one of the Chinese saws, I have

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WiscWoody

Minister of Fire
Dec 24, 2011
2,078
Winter WI
Last year I bought one of those little JonCutter G2500 25cc top handle arboris saws on the recommendation of a saw mechanic on YouTube who really Liked his little branch cutter And I see good reviews for them on Amazon too. For the $99 I paid for the thing and it does start easily and runs great. It also cuts good on what I use it for , mostly branches and honeysuckle I’ve cut out of my woods. I see you can get them for only $83 if you buy four On Farmertecs web page If you know a few others that’d want a cheap good limber. I have about $2700 into my other three pro ported saws and I really don’t need another saw now but I. Tempted to get another one of their bigger saws just to try it out. I’ll see...
 
I have, was a 33cc poulan I picked up new online as a trim saw. The vibration and lack of quality had me brooming it off on Craigslist in one big hurry. I hated having it in my hands, it ran fine, but was gutless, and the lack of balance and vibration made it intolerable. For the price, and occasional use, some of them are probably a good bang for the buck.... but I hated the cheap quality no matter what the price, it was a turd.
 
I've run enough chinese equipment to know I don't want to try one. I find there's three categories for chinese equipment:

1. It's an exact clone of another manufacturer, and they are decimating western business for their own profit.
2. It's a reasonable design, but when combined with poor chinese quality control and no serviceability it's still not good.
3. A chinese design by someone who's never used such a device, built and sold extremely cheap. Barely works, and never lasts.

This of course excludes western companies that manufacture to westerns standards in china, I wouldn't necessarily consider made in china the same as "chinese".

I'm a big believer in paying more for quality and service. I paid 5 times more for my saw, but in 20 years my saw will likely still be going, and if not I will still be able to get parts for it. Most of those chinese saws will have been in the landfill for 15 years already at that point.
 
I’ve been wondering about these. There was a website a couple years ago selling knock offs of Stihl 661s and 461s. They looked identical except for the stihl name on them. They were being marketed as actual Stihl saws of course. I ended up with a Jonsered 2166 as my “big” saw I got on eBay. There are tons of YouTube videos of folks reviewing the cheap chinese saws too.
 
I've wanted to get one to learn how to port and work on small two stroke engines. Parts are easy because OEM parts will fit the clones.
 
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I have, was a 33cc poulan
I would expect that from a Poulon though And I’ve has some of the late model McCulloch saws recently that were left at the dump too, they ran fine but they were junk to me so I sold both of them for $40 to someone that would only use them every once in awhile but the little JonCutter I got isnt bad but it will be some time to see how long it lasts but for $99 I’m ok with it if it dies in 5 years or so.
 
Where do you get chains and parts?
 
Where do you get chains and parts?

Depending on the saw, they're often a stihl copy, or Chinese parts for them are on ebay.
 
I watched some YouTube videos of some the bigger Chinese saws and I think I’ll just stay with the little 25cc saw I have now. It seeme that the bigger saws would just stop running after a short time or they had ring problems etc. etc. So I think my next saw will be a 572XP and I’ll get it ported I’m sure just like all of the other pro saws I have now. Can’t hardly wait!
 
I like my ECHO saw. When i saw my local equipment rental place only rents that brand i was sold. They been in business for long time and tend to go with equipment that can take a pounding. Processed some big trees this year and i havnt had to sharpen the chain once yet.
 
I like my ECHO saw. When i saw my local equipment rental place only rents that brand i was sold. They been in business for long time and tend to go with equipment that can take a pounding. Processed some big trees this year and i havnt had to sharpen the chain once yet.
Why haven't you sharpened the chain? You would probably be very surprised what a good filing will do, especially for a chain that has never been sharpened. I hate cutting with new chains now.
 
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Why haven't you sharpened the chain? You would probably be very surprised what a good filing will do, especially for a chain that has never been sharpened. I hate cutting with new chains now.
Because it screams through everything i cut with it. Why would i mess with a very sharp chain?
 
If your happy with it, that’s all that matters. Enjoy
Yeah I’m happy with it but I’ll go back to my old haunts and get a new Husqvarna for my next saw. I’m thinking in the 572XP flavor with a woods porting topping. It should be yummy! :p
 
Why haven't you sharpened the chain? You would probably be very surprised what a good filing will do, especially for a chain that has never been sharpened. I hate cutting with new chains now.
I sharpen to but love to open box with a new Stihl chain.
 
I got a G660 With a 36” bar to mill up some poplar. I’m happy. It has its issues, soft metal in the chain tensioner screw and bar studs. Not a three pull starter. For what I have into to it it’s been worth it. I don’t expect to hand it down to my kids. The table maybe.
 

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I got a G660 With a 36” bar to mill up some poplar. I’m happy. It has its issues, soft metal in the chain tensioner screw and bar studs. Not a three pull starter. For what I have into to it it’s been worth it. I don’t expect to hand it down to my kids. The table maybe.
The table looks great! My little JonCutter is a one pull starter. I’ve been using it a lot lately around the yard and cutting out Honeysuckle from the woods.
 
I got a G660 With a 36” bar to mill up some poplar. I’m happy. It has its issues, soft metal in the chain tensioner screw and bar studs. Not a three pull starter. For what I have into to it it’s been worth it. I don’t expect to hand it down to my kids. The table maybe.

Might just need a carb adjustment to start easier.
 
Yep, I got a 52 cc 20" saw from Home Depot when it was on slickdeals for $100. I have an 14" Husqvarna from Home Depot and my Dad's 80's heavy as hell 16" Stihl. But I needed a 20" inch saw that was going to have some power to cut through 2 foot thick oak trunks. It worked like a charm. I'm not going to win any gear-envy contests with it, but I could have bought 5 of them for the price of one of the name brand saws.