Stihl chainsaws

[Glockman9mm]

I have a MS291, cuts like a crack crazed beaver especially since I put a 16 inch bar on it, still have the 20 incher for larger work. I’ve got some stuff to trim and remove this year and need something smaller/lighter. I’m looking at the top handle trim saws, which I’ve ran a lot and like them but it’s been a while.

Now Stihl offers the M Tronic in the 201T which is almost 700 bucks. Power wise compared to the 194t isn’t huge last I checked and the 201 weighs a bit more. Despite the 300 ish price difference. Any of you have one of the saws with the M Tronic on it if so how do you like it? Any troubles?

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

See if there is a 12" Bar for the saw you have.

In the 70's we had a timbering company, Our monster saw was a Homelite 750 XL or XLT. It would handle up to a 60" bar, but we only used a 36". When we quit timbering it was just to big to be useful. I found a chart that showed bar interchangeability, and found a 20" bar for a smaller series and used that for large firewood trees until about 10 years ago. For limbing, I used little MacCulla's in the 12-16" range and every 3 or 4 years just threw them away.

Ivan

 

[Glockman9mm]

See if there is a 12" Bar for the saw you have.

In the 70's we had a timbering company, Our monster saw was a Homelite 750 XL or XLT. It would handle up to a 60" bar, but we only used a 36". When we quit timbering it was just to big to be useful. I found a chart that showed bar interchangeability, and found a 20" bar for a smaller series and used that for large firewood trees until about 10 years ago. For limbing, I used little MacCulla's in the 12-16" range and every 3 or 4 years just threw them away.

Ivan

16 is as small as they go iirc, regardless it’s a hefty one to lug around after a while.

 

[Farmer17]

I have a Stihl 18 inch and it seems to me if you have a 16 and 20 inch bar you're pretty covered in that area and you would want something else REALLY light and handy. Don't overlook the battery saws they are pretty sweet and more powerful than you think. I use my battery Ryobi pole saw a lot and it will cut a 4 or 6 inch branch pretty quick and is SO much lighter than my big Stihl and my shoulders are thanking me!

 

[Glockman9mm]

I have a Stihl 18 inch and it seems to me if you have a 16 and 20 inch bar you're pretty covered in that area and you would want something else REALLY light and handy. Don't overlook the battery saws they are pretty sweet and more powerful than you think. I use my battery Ryobi pole saw a lot and it will cut a 4 or 6 inch branch pretty quick and is SO much lighter than my big Stihl and my shoulders are thanking me!

I’ve got a decent size maple to take out, not sure one of the electric ones would be up to the task.

 

[paplinker]

Can't speak much about the stihl top handle climbing saws as they are way too small to fit my large hand in with a work glove on.Some of our ground guys are using them with average results.Nothing to brag about.

I have been climbing with the Echo 355T for quite a long time now. It by far outshines stihls offerings in a small saw. A lot of tree guys love and prefer them. They do tend to need the exhaust opened up some after the first year of use. I blame the ethanol.


Now my secondary larger saw is the Stihl 29 and I agree its a great medium size saw.

Been doing tree work for over 37 years and wish stihl would consider upgrading the top handle version.

 

[Peak53]

I had to go look up the M Tronic since I was not familiar with it. Given my experience with Stihl, and if you can afford the freight, that looks like quite the limbing saw. Can't imagine this would be wrong.

FYI, I went to a more aggressive "yellow" chain on my Stihl 271 16" and it is a cutting machine! "Green" is for the less experienced and they only sell "red" to professionals.

 

[Squarebutt]

I have a 200T climbing saw, and it's been amazingly effective on large trees. We had a major storm here a few years ago, and i had to tackle a large red oak that was down. My 026 worked for a while, but broke a small part and was out of action. The little 200T cut through the oak trunk that was wider than the 14" bar could reach cutting from all sides. Had to take out a wedge of wood to finally reach the middle.
I have large mitts (wear XXL gloves) and have no problem working the top handle. These little saws will kickback fast if you're not careful.

 

[moralem]

I have the lesser arborist 194 and it is my favorite saw. Probably about just half the cost.

 

[SweetMK]

Anytime i need to do a cleanup of fallen trees, etc,, I have a Milwaukee electric chainsaw that goes with me,,

No rope start, squeeze the trigger, and cut.
The battery can always outlast me,,

Of course , for stuff over 6", I have a Stihl.
The electric saws are surprising,, to say the least!

 

[Igiveup]

I use a Stihl 390 with 24" bar for the larger stuff, and a smaller (can't recall the number) 20" for the smaller stuff. For reaching up to limb, I have a Poulan 18" light saw. It cost less than $200, and cuts really good.

 

[M29since14]

I own a 194 and would not buy it again. My mistake, not Stihl’s. For some reason I expected it to keep up with my old 020AVSEQ. I suspect the 201 might do that, but not the 194. If I use it on anything larger than 3-inches or so, I have to turn the patience-meter up several clicks. It’s a good saw for what it is, but I couldn’t describe it as a workhorse like the 020. Spend the extra bucks and get a 201. I’ll bet you won’t regret it.

 

[Glockman9mm]

Can't speak much about the stihl top handle climbing saws as they are way too small to fit my large hand in with a work glove on.Some of our ground guys are using them with average results.Nothing to brag about.

I have been climbing with the Echo 355T for quite a long time now. It by far outshines stihls offerings in a small saw. A lot of tree guys love and prefer them. They do tend to need the exhaust opened up some after the first year of use. I blame the ethanol.


Now my secondary larger saw is the Stihl 29 and I agree its a great medium size saw.

Been doing tree work for over 37 years and wish stihl would consider upgrading the top handle version.

I’ll check out the echo, can’t say I’ve seen a top handle echo before

 

[Glockman9mm]

I have a 200T climbing saw, and it's been amazingly effective on large trees. We had a major storm here a few years ago, and i had to tackle a large red oak that was down. My 026 worked for a while, but broke a small part and was out of action. The little 200T cut through the oak trunk that was wider than the 14" bar could reach cutting from all sides. Had to take out a wedge of wood to finally reach the middle.
I have large mitts (wear XXL gloves) and have no problem working the top handle. These little saws will kickback fast if you're not careful.

I used to work for a free company, I’ve ran a 200t but not the 201, I’d imagine it’s similar but the 200 didn’t have the m Tronic. The 200 was a damn good saw.

 

[Glockman9mm]

I have the lesser arborist 194 and it is my favorite saw. Probably about just half the cost.

Nice saws!

 

[Glockman9mm]

Anytime i need to do a cleanup of fallen trees, etc,, I have a Milwaukee electric chainsaw that goes with me,,

No rope start, squeeze the trigger, and cut.
The battery can always outlast me,,

Of course , for stuff over 6", I have a Stihl.
The electric saws are surprising,, to say the least!

I don’t think a electric saw would be up to the task for what I need to do.

 

[Glockman9mm]

I use a Stihl 390 with 24" bar for the larger stuff, and a smaller (can't recall the number) 20" for the smaller stuff. For reaching up to limb, I have a Poulan 18" light saw. It cost less than $200, and cuts really good.

I’ve had some Poulan stuff and after the first season they always crapped out. Weedeaters and one saw, I can’t go down that road again.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I've had a chain saw since the middle '50's. Many Macs & 9ne Homelite., it was a ***. About 1995 I bought a12" Echo for limbing off the tractor keeping the roads open & clearing brush. I ran the socks off that little thing. Don't know how many bars & chains I put on it the 26 years I had it. It quit last Feb & needed a new carb. 170 bucks to fix. So I bought a new Steil . Sure hope it gives me the same service.

 

[Rudi]

We ran Stihl 038s, 044s, 056s. Excellent saws.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

I have a Stihl 18 inch and it seems to me if you have a 16 and 20 inch bar you're pretty covered in that area and you would want something else REALLY light and handy. Don't overlook the battery saws they are pretty sweet and more powerful than you think. I use my battery Ryobi pole saw a lot and it will cut a 4 or 6 inch branch pretty quick and is SO much lighter than my big Stihl and my shoulders are thanking me!

^Agree with this^. We lost a whole row of trees and tons of branches during the recent ice storm. My chain saw wouldn't start but we had that same Ryobi electric pole saw and it worked beautifully on everything up to about 6 inches diameter. Also, all of my other Ryobi hand tools have the same interchangeable battery, which is a nice feature. Plus, their batteries seem to run forever.