Chainsaws, off-brand

[Edward Weber]

Has anyone bought or had any experience with any of the off-brand or import chainsaws?
I have a Stihl and I love it but I need something much larger for occasional use. I don't know if they're worth it or not but the price looks hard to beat, at about 1/3 the cost of Stihl or Husky.
Thanks for any input you may give

[Jim Becker]

Can your current Stihl handle a longer bar for occasional use or are you talking "really big"? I've gone inexpensive for my electrics, but the very reason I bought the Stihl long ago was burning up a lesser saw on a single maple tree. I did put a larger bar on it too, although only 2" larger.

[Jack Frederick]

I chose to not buy a larger saw. I went to the rental place and picked one up there. I had to buy a chain for it but the chain hung on the wall of the shop and I’d rent the saw as needed and mount my chain on it. That worked out pretty well for me.

[Jim Becker]

That's a really good idea, Jack.

[Edward Weber]

My Stihl is maxed out at 20", and yes I need to go 36", so price is a factor. Not to mention, at times, a longer bar (single cut) can save wood.
I have quite a bit I need to slice or cut "cookies" off of that are in the 32"+ range, along with rough cutting for handling, if nothing else.
The log on the left is 32"-36" in dia, (one of a dozen or more) even the burls are getting too big for my Stihl
IMG_1053 (600 x 400).jpg20231210_142730 (600 x 450).jpg
Santa needs to bring me some bigger tools and bigger muscles. Some of these logs are kicking my butt.

Jack, I never thought of renting one, I'll have to look into that and see if the costs are worth it.

[Dan Barber]

i like the thought of renting that Jack mentioned. I will say when it comes to big saws, it hard to beat a Stihl. Take a look on eBay, I've bought a couple of pro graded Stihl's for pretty decent prices. I think sometimes guy's buy the pricey saws and then when times are tough, they sell them.

[Richard Coers]

Never bought an off brand, have never regretted my decision. Husqvarna 3120 with 36" bar. This things sounds like a dirt bike and is basically unstoppable in big wood. Set the bucking teeth and pull with both hands!
.biglog2.jpgbigoakchainsaw.jpg

[mike stenson]

Yea, I like my Swedish import saws.

[Edward Weber]

Well, I did look at Ebay and for the prices I saw, ($1k and up) I would just buy new and avoid other peoples problems.
Richard, nice saw and log but I did say occasional use. I don't think I can justify a $2k saw for a couple days of use per year. At least not now.

Thanks for all the input, we'll see what happens.
BTW, the knock off I'm looking at can be had for roughly $450, so I'm still undecided.

[Richard Coers]

See, a big saw is a good investment. I paid $965 for that Husqvarna about 20 years ago.

[Edward Weber]

See, a big saw is a good investment. I paid $965 for that Husqvarna about 20 years ago.

Good one,

Now, if I could just borrow someones Time Machine

[Jim Becker]

My local rental place is actually a Stihl dealer and while I didn't specifically look up the rental cost, they do rent out a lot of Stihl tools of so many types.

[Steve Jenkins]

Why don’t you put a name to the knockoff you’re looking at. Maybe someone has one and can give you an opinion.

[Edward Weber]

why don’t you put a name to the knockoff you’re looking at. Maybe someone has one and can give you an opinion.

farmmac f660vw

This is a clone of a Stihl 660. The good thing is, that if something does break, I can replace a piece at a time with OEM.
Believe me, I know if I buy one of these I'm taking a slight risk but, it may be worth it.

[Mark Wedel]

I bought a holzfforma g660 (which I think is basically the same as that farmmac) - works fine - slabbed my ash tree without an issue. I also got mine with a 36" bar. It is a bit of a pain to get started, but once you figure it out, not that bad.
As far as rentals, I looked at that option. The rental places in my area maxed out at around 24, maybe 28" bars. So I could have rented one of those for a day, and bought by own bar and chain - at that point, I'm just saving on the head unit, which was $300. The rentals were ~$100/day. Maybe this is just where I'm at (suburbs) so the need for people renting with 36" bars is not going to be the same as more rural areas? But the economics to me just didn't look good.
I made some money back by sawing up some pieces for a friend of friend so she could do some bowl turning. And I've used it a few times more since then, so arguably have come out ahead vs renting. Though I'm thinking I may buy a shorter bar for it - unless I'm slabbing out wood, I don't need 36" - 24" would be more than enough in most cases for dealing with bowl cuttings and the like, and be easier to handle (that saw with a 36" bar is a bit of a beast). Plus when I need to replace the chain because I hit some piece of metal in the log (not that uncommon when dealing with these suburb trees it seems like), those 24" chains will be cheaper.