New Saw technology.

[Tnalp]

Stihl introduced the first fuel injected power saw earlier this year! It is a cut-off saw. Will the technology make it to chainsaws?

Along those lines both Stihl and Husky are slowly introducing Saws with computer chips in them that constantly adjust the fuel air mixture!! I used a 441 M-Tronic last winter for a few days and was quite impressed. - 40C and it starts with 2 pulls and no Choke!! It outlasted my 460 almost 3 tanks to 1! (mind you the 460 is Simonized). Also WAY less fumes. That one is a biggie for me!

I am contemplating sending one off for Modifications.

Anyway just a few thoughts. I know some workers on here are into saws...

[SwampDonkey]

I know the high end Stihl brush saws have changed like the 550 is now the 560. Better gas mileage some say that use them. I never needed to replace my old 550 yet. Off the shelf the 550 got 50 minutes a tank in regular cutting. I get 1hr:25min on mine, I rebuilt it and have probably cut 400 acres of brush since new.

[chrisdunn]

I've got a couple of 441's. Heavy, comparing to a 460 and very hard to work on. Plastic clips holding the air cleaner break easy.

All of these latest and greatest tech advances seem to make the saws heavier every model. Europe's pushing for greener saws(less emmissions) but it's stupid since our bar lubricants are usually oil based. I know I go through at least half a gallon every day that I cut. That's all spilled on the ground.

[Tnalp]

So you prefer the 460's?

[chrisdunn]

If feel like using a stihl that day, yes I do. They have their weak point here and there, but I find them to be well built. I especially like the dual muffler option that you can get from stihl. The muffler plate with the port and spark arrestor.

Normally I use a 372 husky. A 357 if i'm covering fast ground or if i'm tired or sore. But I always have the 2 allen keys handy to tighten bolts that shake loose constantly. Maybe I should just blue loctite everything and red loctite the muffler.

[newforest]

my saw mechanic is refusing to sell the new Husqy saws with chips in them until he has no choice. i.e. no more 372s being manufactured I guess. I have learned things about computer chips and engines keeping 80s vehicles on the road; I would hope some of the basic physics of chips are better in the 21st century, as far as handling heat as they get older.

I bought a Husqy 346XP last year and now it is already discontinued. I'll be running it for several more years before I have to think about these new saws though, just not usually that steady of work for me. You never know though.


I have to wander around elsewhere on the web and look into an issue I'm having with all my saws here in the USA - ethanol. Small engine fuel systems can't handle it, and here it is no longer required for it to be disclosed when it is present in gasoline. A very few stations here and there sell premium without ethanol, but it is not easy to find. The ethanol just eats at things, leading to pin-holes in fuel lines and carb seals, etc., and this is a big problem. I'm just now replacing the carbs in all of my brush-saws and will be purchasing gas very carefully in the future.

So curious if y'all have to worry about this up there?

I have also heard of a work-around: running 100 octane aviation gas. My saw shop is down on the idea, but that could be as much because he had never heard of it as any other good reason. Any thoughts? I can buy some additive that is supposed to counteract the problems with ethanol, but just buying better gas seems easier.

[newforest]

I looked into the vegetable based bar-oil one time. It is of course pretty pricey. It was suggested to me that the best use for it is when cutting in and around water, and that made sense.

Otherwise, normal oil is actually bio-degradable in the soil, especially in the tiny droplets that fly off a chainsaw. It's not like gasoline, which if you spill much of that it just plumes it way downwards to the water table.

So I don't worry about the bar-oil flying around. Instead I'm getting tired of deciding when to replace oil pumps with plastic gears probably from China vs wearing out bars too fast.

[Scooter]

Newforest, read these articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_fuel

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel

[SwampDonkey]

Newforest, some fuel companies don't have ethanol in the gas like Ultramar. But some just have it in regular (10%) and shell I think has it also in mid grade (5 %). I think all of them have none in supreme. I avoid gas with it in for saws just because of the problems I read about daily in the chainsaw forum of the FF site. Now I have a friend who says it's all a bunch of noise over nothing. But he doesn't run chainsaws either. A touch of being a greenie in there someplace. ;) I think I'll stick with the experience of the chainsaw guys. You know, there are folks that think you need a university degree before your experience counts for much. :D

[steel8909]

Newforest, some fuel companies don't have ethanol in the gas like Ultramar. But some just have it in regular (10%) and shell I think has it also in mid grade (5 %). I think all of them have none in supreme. I avoid gas with it in for saws just because of the problems I read about daily in the chainsaw forum of the FF site. Now I have a friend who says it's all a bunch of noise over nothing. But he doesn't run chainsaws either. A touch of being a greenie in there someplace. ;) I think I'll stick with the experience of the chainsaw guys. You know, there are folks that think you need a university degree before your experience counts for much. :D

Pretty sure Ultrmar here in Ontario uses Ethanol, I think it says up to 10% on the pump, ill make sure next time I fill up.

[SwampDonkey]

Not here, says so on a sign. It's not a mandatory thing on all gas, it's only volume based.

[newforest]

http://pure-gas.org/


a handy resource I would have to say.

the option of using aviation gas seems interesting, but apparently the extra octane only makes the saw a little harder to start, and it is not always simple to talk an airport into selling you a small amount of gas. just from what I have read, mostly on the arborist site someone here kindly pointed me towards last year.

so to get no ethanol gas I will be using the above website, as it is a bigger issue in my country than yours I think. the site mostly leads you to marinas as a source of such gas, fyi