Stihl-fings aint what they were...

Silvadavid

Treehouser
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
37
To be clear,I dont start this as a stihl 'hater',but more of a loyal user,latterly, I'm encountering more and more issues with their products.I tend to buy their brushcutters/clearing saws-The odd forestry chainsaw,and some of their 'home owner' smaller chainsaws,and towards the top end or mid pressure washers.In the last year, I've sent back a 129 plus power washer-the lance failed,(it was sent back to me repaired)untouched.Bought the ms 181 c-be small chainsaw-never oiled the bar-never will,awaiting repair.As a big fan of the old fs400 clearing saw (2 bought new and now 1 amalgamated as a daily runner),thought I'd best buy a fs 410 c.Horribly back heavy engine-I loathe the thing-its an ergonomic disaster area+its heavier than the old fs400-w.t.f?And then we have the debacle of the stihl 'twist'fuel/oil caps.It smacks of an under-employed designer coming up with a cunning plan to solve a problem that never even existed!I write this more in sadness+ bafflement than anger,but as I explore the brave new world of battery powered tools,makita gets my budget,I simply cannot/will not trust stihl anymore. 🤔
 
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No mick,stihls loss-makita's gain.I'm a firm believer in you buy cheap-you buy twice.I've got a lot of makita workshop stuff-Impact drivers/wrenches/drills and lately hedgetrimmers/brushcutters and chainsaws-zero failures.Admittedly I'm talking about lion battery stuff here,but with stihl-both fairly top end and low end petrol stuff its edging towards 30% issues/ bad dealership/ergonomic failures.NO Way can I commit to a whole new battery system with a brand I can no longer trust-,and of course we now have the new issues of locked-down carbs to consider-not that that is a particular stihl issue,but,its got to the stage if you have a carb issue-I'M looking at you stihl ms 250-just bin the carb,buy an £8 carb from china,and wow,Im now allowed to tune my own carb so it will work both at sea level AND 1500 ft above sea level-end of rant.....🤨
 
:thumbupold:

As I keep pulling and pulling and pulling to try and start a 441C that came in. About 20 pulls later yes. Good thing I charge by the hr :lol:. If any of my saws acted like that I would be pizzed.
Walked over pulled my old school 70.7cc poulan off other bench to show him and fired first freaking pull. He goes thats what I want. ;)

441 is better now, still not poulan better but better. Soon as 20" bar for it comes in going to compare the 2 saws in a dry ash log.

hoping some of the poulan rubs off on them and they run better :P

s441026etc.jpg
 
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Yeh,is old better? I've a extremely old stihl 038 super in my shed,which sits idle most summers,I can top it up about Oct-3d pull,off we go.The newer 250,if I pull that out weekly-its a bloody miracle if it starts and runs reliabily -tho much better with a cheapo chinese carb on!
 
As a pro logger with 40 years experince in running saws daily, I must say that you guys crack me up.

Makita:lol:
 
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Soz stig,dont get your point there,you admit modern stihls are shit!?Or you're too stuck in your ways to change,or you're not prepared to look at battery stuff,or possibly you just use top-end stihl forestry saws and look down at oafs such as I?Or possibly you're A dyed-in the wool black and decker drill user and view honda and makita machinery with deep suspicion 😀
 
My next rear handle saw that's 50cc or less will be an Echo. Hard to pass on a 5 year warranty.
 
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Stig,just to gently point out out,you've got bleeding awful taste in lopping tools too-ars? Felco for men,ars for ladyboys 😋
 
As I get older one of those 462 with regular carb be looking good though. weight to cc.
 
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Likewise,echo stuff seems pretty decent.I found tanaka pole hedgetrimmers pretty damn good too.
 
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Wow, this is hilarious. First thread and you come in here touting homeowner brands while dissing a man who has been logging linger than you've been alive? He cuts more wood in a single day than you do in 3 years, and you have the audacity to tell him he doesn't know what he's talking about?

Sorry, I'm not wasting any more time on your sorry ass. Go enjoy your hedge trimmers and battery saws for pruning crepe myrtles. Landscapers might be taking over this forum, but just remember there are still a few real tree men here.
 
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Oh god its a big hunky logger(bear with me whilst I don my loincloth+ashes outfit) bows down,bows down..........
 
It's kind of funny that you're posting in a chainsaw forum dissing Stihl when you aren't even really talking about their saws. Maybe their weedsmackers and pressure washers suck ass. Most of us probably don't know. But their chainsaws definetly do not by most all accounts I know of. I have a 038 too, Brian knows the one. Top saw, a pleasure to use.

Regardless. Welcome to The House. You'll find a lot of opinions here and not anyone counts for a smidgen more than anyone else's. Except for maybe Butch as it's his bar we've all pulled up to. 8)
 
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Soz if I've upset anyone-and nope I'm totally not a serious climb up big trees bloke,but-I've spent God knows how many thousands of pounds on mainly small engined machines,so,I've learned what is good,what is hyped,and what is absolute crap,as I see it,dont matter what it runs-the engine is the engine,and when I see it,it seems eminently reasonable to point this stuff out to prospective buyers.Particularly young users agonising what to spend their limited budget on.The beauty of forums like this is surely their diversity?If you want to be a purist and toe the party line,you will surely end up in a marvelous forum with 3 members where you perpetually echo each others opinions ad infinitum.Saying that,I do have a sense of humour,and forgive me that the medics havnt yet bypassed it yet.Love+peas to all.
 
To me Stihl is just not right. The biggest brand in america with the shortest warranty and the highest prices, and not all the best stuff. Just not right. But they do have some good stuff. Husqvarna seems to really be going down hill when it comes to quality checks. But, according to statistics, it is possible to only get the good or defective products.

I think the problem is with modern business. Old tools tend to be longer lasting and more reliable. New tools should last longer and be better in every way with new technology, but that new tech is used to find how cheaply something can be made. It's all about profit. And how can a mega business do a good job of quality control? They need so many workers they get a lot of people who don't care about building chainsaws, they just want a pay check. The people who quality check the quality checkers don't care about checking quality, they want their pay check. The few people who sit in their garage and meticulously tinker with saws and machine quality modifications, could easily scratch build top quality tools, but they can't compete with big business. Their products would be better because they enjoy what they do, and quality issues would hurt business really fast. Now mega businesses can loose thousands of customers who got angry from defects, but thousands more will still buy, and thousands more have no alternative. The good ol brands want money or die off and sell out to bigger brands that just close down their product line so that we're left with cheap modern junk. My new table saw is made of plastic, my new bands saw is made of sheet metal. Once upon a time they would be solid cast iron.

I've learned to mix and match brands. I bought a bunch of tools this year expecting to get mostly only DeWalt. I've never owned DeWalt, but they seem to be one of the biggest brands and high quality, or so I thought. I ended up with barely just one DeWalt tool, but otherwise got the best model of each tool regardless of brand. I even got a Porter Cable tool which really surprised me. I started out with having made the decision I would never get any Porter Cable junk, but the particular tool was the best rated of it's type and price. I have not got a 6amp electric planer yet, I couldn't find any rated well enough to feel safe getting one. Every brand will have it's good and bad models, and will have occasional quality issues, even makita. I thought I'd get a lot of makitas since that's where I was headed after buying 2 in a row, but only got 2.

It can be a turn-off to a lot of people when you just join up and start hating on tools we use everyday, but I guess your frustration brought you to the forum after searching for fixes or quality issues or something.
 
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