Tell Me About a Stihl 291

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What, in a chainsaw, is a "platform"?


It is a new term for chainsaws but Stihl now uses a bunch of common parts for obvious reasons. Typical of them they put quality first and ignored price point (evidenced by the $100 jump to the 291 from the 290). Pretty much the handles and saw chassis (frames) are common and of course that makes all the small things the same as well like triggers, control switches, caps, etc. Should make stocking parts a breeze as well. These saws are NOT all the same saw with different bores/strokes as someone stated. That was how the MS290/310/390's were tho.
 
The Germans are not dumb...... they realized, all they had to do was put a larger cylinder and piston on an existing saw and though it cost the same to them (maybe a tiny amount more for the actual raw materials), they could charge a higher price.

210/230/250
290/310/390

But for the price and good marketing ("farm boss" is one of the greatest buzz/marketing words in OPE history), there was never a good reason to buy anything less than the top saw in the "platform" series because they were the same weight with less power.

Husqvarna/Jonsered and Dolmar have all done the same type of thing with the 365/372 and 6400/7900.
 
If your craftsman had enough power for you why not go for a ms271 instead of a ms291 and save some bucks. bought a 271 and love it!
 
If your craftsman had enough power for you why not go for a ms271 instead of a ms291 and save some bucks. bought a 271 and love it!

Thanks! Somehow I hadn't noticed that the weight and HP are about the same, the bars and chains are the same, but the 271 is $40 cheaper. Sounds good...
 
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