I need to cut down some trees on my property - some palms and a sweet acacia. Maybe some day, a palo verde. No massive hardwoods or anything like that. I don’t want to screw around with electric unless someone is willing to make a great case for it. Will a Stihl MS 170 16” do enough of what I’d need one to do? Uncharted waters for me.

Stihl is a good choice. Get some training you will not regret it.

The Poulan !8" is pretty decent in the $150 to $200 price range (depending when on sale). I have one for the occasional tree fall. Would definitely use something different for full time use though.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Stihl is a good choice. Get some training you will not regret it.

I bought a Stihl back in 2013 or 14 and it works great and only cost me about 400 bucks. It will cut anything tree you need it to cut and it's easy to start and change the chain. Another option is to rent a chain saw from Home Depot or Sun Belt for a couple days.

Stihl is about as good as they get for non-commercial use. Even then, they have a good showing with the professionals also!

Personally, I have a 16" Husqvarna 350 that has been nothing but perfect for me (until the day part of a tree fell on it and broke a few out pieces, but that was my fault). Always starts within 2 or 3 pulls, even after sitting for a year! Hint: No matter what brand you buy, ALWAYS use 100% pure gas without any methanol in it... and a good quality 2-stroke oil!

I use Husqvarna oil which is super high quality, low ash, and has built-in fuel stabilizer. It works great in other brands also.

Well, the big reason for me on E-Saws is that they start every time on the first press of the trigger, there is no fuel to mix or store, they are super quiet, you make your cut, set it down, and it will fire right up for the next cut.

If I was taking care of a lot of property with trees, I'd have both, the Electric for clean up and a gas Stihl for big work if needed.

In fact I have both, and the gas saw hasn't been out of it's case in 4 years, use the E-Saw and have an electric pole saw for the higher up stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Well, the big reason for me on E-Saws is that they start every time on the first press of the trigger, there is no fuel to mix or store, they are super quiet, you make your cut, set it down, and it will fire right up for the next cut.

If I was taking care of a lot of property with trees, I'd have both, the Electric for clean up and a gas Stihl for big work if needed.

In fact I have both, and the gas saw hasn't been out of it's case in 4 years, use the E-Saw and have an electric pole saw for the higher up stuff.

This is me. I rarely need a chainsaw, so I'd likely get a Ryobi to go with my mower & blower.
Have a tree I need to bring down, may try to trim it back as much as I reasonably can before getting some quotes to remove it.

Your situation reminds of my dad’s use case.

He was one to go get the cheapest saw available, generally Poulan. He’d run it beat it up drain the fuel and lay it in a corner. If it gave him any trouble next time he wanted it, it went in the dumpster. Next verse same as the first.

His reasoning was that a brand new one cost him zero time or effort. He bought Stihl blowers and string trimmers. Just didn’t use a saw enough to warrant the cost and upkeep.

Do you have rental stores in the area? Would it make more sense to rent it for a couple of days as needed?

If you decide to buy, make the decision on the size of trees you'll be cutting. If you have larger trees, a 16" lower level saw might not be enough.

Back when I cut a lot of firewood I had a Stihl, excellent saw. About 20 years ago I bought a refurbished Poulan for around a hundred bucks for some general limbing type work. I've never taken care of it, never drained the gas out of it and generally abused it like I've never abused anything before. It's cut up more fallen trees than I can remember, starts on the 1st or 2nd pull after it's sat for a year or two and it just won't die. I always considered Poulan pretty low end stuff but it constantly amazes me.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Well, the big reason for me on E-Saws is that they start every time on the first press of the trigger...
If I was taking care of a lot of property with trees, I'd have both, the Electric for clean up and a gas Stihl for big work if needed.

I have a Stihl I've had for over 40 years. Great for the big stuff but hated the hassle of mixed gas and chain oil for small trees or branches.

I bought a 10" Ryobi 18v last Fall and have used it A LOT this spring on up to 4" standing and 6" downed trees along with limb work. Amazing, and the chain is still making chips not dust. I bought a 3-pack of the correct replacement chains for <$24 on the Amazons and haven't needed one yet.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
I need to cut down some trees on my property - some palms and a sweet acacia. Maybe some day, a palo verde. No massive hardwoods or anything like that. I don’t want to screw around with electric unless someone is willing to make a great case for it. Will a Stihl MS 170 16” do enough of what I’d need one to do? Uncharted waters for me.

The size of your trees make a difference. Trees with small trunks -- say 10" in diameter or less -- are easy to deal with. The chainsaw's powerhead doesn't need to have all that much horsepower, and the bar length doesn't need to be all that long. Larger trees are a different matter.

Understand that forestry work is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Professionals get injured frequently while working with trees, chainsaws, and tree/wood moving equipment. Youtube has plenty of "hold my beer" moments which turn out badly.

This is my current saw fleet.
-- EGO battery saw with a 15" bar. This is the 4th powerhead, as the bar oiling system crapped out on the first 3 models, while under warranty. A very capable saw, other than the bar oiling gears, which are likely made from styrofoam and cheetos. It cuts well. But it's made in commie China, which I didn't realize when I bought it. EGO batteries and motors are good. This is an option for you. Stihl makes high quality battery saws, but they cost more than Chicom brands.
-- Stihl 310 with a 16" bar. Dad bought it around 2000. On its 2nd carb, 4th bar (5th bar in the basement), a number a small parts replaced, cylinder still has good compression. It has cut a crap ton of trees, and just keeps going. Old style carb without electronic controls, so it can be challenging to start in cold weather at high altitude.
-- Stihl 261 with a 16" bar. A lighter and professional-grade alternative to a Stihl 310. Electronic carb, this thing just runs. A truly great saw -- but still bigger than what you likely need.
-- Stihl 400 with a 20" bar. Also have a 25" bar for the big trees. A mid-sized professional-grade saw. Way bigger than your needs, but my favorite saw. I'm actually considering adding a Stihl 500i with a 28" or 32" bar, for our largest beetle killed pines that need to come down.



For gas saws, both Stihl and Husqvarna are the top choices. Stihl likely has the edge with homeowner saws. Both brands have nice electronic carb controls, which help with starting and running. There are other brands than Stihl & Husky, but over the decades of ranch maintenance, we find Stihl & Husky work best.

I'm not familiar with the Stihl 170, but it's likely a decent saw for occasional use. Find a reputable Stihl dealer and discuss your intended work needs with them.

If you buy a gas saw, I highly recommend premixed fuel. Yeah, it's really expensive, but it works best. And I buy it gallons at a time. I find Stihl fuel the best, with VP right behind. I don't care for the premix from Husky or Trufuel.

Get some chainsaw cut-resistance chaps, and use them. Get some instruction on running a chainsaw. At the minimum, review youtube tips from PROFESSIONAL fallers, not hold-my-beer bubbas.

I'm not new to falling and bucking trees. Done it for decades, but I'm no professional, just a weekend warrior. I've felled at least 70 beetle-killed pines at our ranch so far in 2024. Did about the same in 2023. We have more firewood than we can ever use, so the wood goes into gullies to reduce erosion. Here's the good trunks from about 60 of those 70 trees, cut to 6' lengths, ready to be moved to some of our bigger erosion areas. Piled 5-1/2 to 6' tall, 61 feet long. The branches and crooked trunk pieces have already been hauled off to gullies. We have at least this much wood in dead trees still standing, and on my to-do list. Our biggest trees are just over 30" in diameter at the base, around 70-75 feet tall.

Not sure what "screw around" with the battery one means. The most screwing around with a small engine tool I've ever had to do is with a chainsaw.

If you are looking at the 170 as being about all you need, I would say get the cheapest brand (Poulan, maybe) of the size that will work (probably a 16") and a spare chain and run until you're finished. It will run fine until you set it up somewhere for a year or two. Even stored properly they can be temperamental.

That being said, no more than it sounds like you are going to use it, I would go electric.

Since I bought the Ryobi battery-powered saw, I have yet to (try) to start any of my gas-powered saws. I am not felling big trees, just cleaning up around a suburban property. Light limbing, cutting suckers and volunteers, etc. Hell, my 4" hand-held "pistol" chainsaw gets more use than anything bigger.

And, as for you renters, can anyone really call themselves a man it they don't own a chainsaw? It is, simply, the right thing to do.

Poulan Pro. I think it was $99. Served me well the dozen plus times I needed it in the past 10 years clearing stuff in my back woods.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
Get some chainsaw cut-resistance chaps, and use them. Get some instruction on running a chainsaw. At the minimum, review youtube tips from PROFESSIONAL fallers, not hold-my-beer bubbas.

Our local store has a pair that did their job. It looks like a not particularly heavy plastic cover over a bunch of balled up twine. Apparently, the chain goes right through the outer plastic, gets impossible snarled very quickly in the balled up twine and stops w/o getting through the inner layer, the wearer’s jeans, or the wearer’s epidermis.

I agree 100 percent Stihl & Husky. I personally much prefer Stihl as I can always tell where I am in the start process where I have a harder time with Huskies. That may just be because I have more experience with Stihl. With the Stihl I never find myself wondering if I’ve flooded it or it needs a little more choke. We’ve got a couple Stihl MS 250s with 18” bars and an MS391 with a 28” (?26) bar and a couple of Echo pole pruners.

Another bit of advice: As you are cutting, always make sure you have a clean, clear footing, and a decently wide wedge shaped escape route. It isn’t a question of if some tree isn’t going to break and fall like you think, it is a question of when it will first happen, and then when it will next happen. If possible, it is nice to grab the tree with something to limit / direct what it can do. In a perfect world, I’ll grab the tree with the excavator (gotta love a hydraulic thumb) before cutting to limit its potential movement.

Another tip: If you are only going to have one saw, buy a second bar and chain. I always take two saws even if I’m only planning on using the one to make one cut. The first one always starts better when the second is right there if the first one gives you any trouble. More importantly, when you misjudge the forces and the tree bend in a different direction than you thought and pinches your bar and chain you can shut that saw off and use the second saw to finish the cut and free the first one. If you only have one saw, undo the two nuts, remove the saw from the trapped bar and chain, put the other bar and chain on it and use it to finish the cut and free the first bar and chain.

As far as gas, it is expensive, but it is much cheaper than replacing carburetors. We use 100LL avgas which is stable over very long periods of time and typical mix oil, but the premix will work, and as expensive as it is, it is cheaper and less frustrating than dealing with gummed up carbs.

My family has depended on wood sales for income on its land and I've cut lots and lots of trees. The last big harvest nearly a million board ft. according to the purchase reports.
If you want professional saws buy Stihl.
If you want non professional saws buy Stihl.
If you want electric saws buy Stihl.
Now more to the point of your use. As fritz says it really depends on what you are cutting and how big it is. But when someone wants to use a saw on an irregular basis the best answer (if it works for the size of trees) is electric. My youngest sister (part of the family wood cutting team) has shoulder issues and can no longer start a traditional chain saw. We got her a Stihl electric and it has exceeded every possible expectation. She has cut cords and cords of trees (of modest diameter <10") without issue.
Electric saws make some compromises to work better like using smaller thinner chains so the chains don't last as long without sharpening. But they start without issue and store practically indefinitely.
So unless you have some very specific need for gas saw (tree size exceeds reasonable electric bar sizes) I would say get a Stihl electric.
I can vouch that they work exceptionally well and would get almost all homeowner jobs done fine. probably a price premium but that will be negated the first of your trips to get your gas saw a new carb.

I just went through this and ended up with a Stihl MS250. Very happy with it. I thought the 170 was just a bit too small. I was tempted to get the 261 but couldn’t justify the extra money even though it is a great lightweight saw.

If you buy a can of their premixed fuel they double the warranty, which is nice.

Stihl chainsaw. But I'm a firm believer that anyone who lives in FL (or other hurricane prone areas) should own a GAS chainsaw, a proper chainsaw. With that said, I also own a battery powered Sawzall with some large/long blades. That sawzall is shockingly good at tree trimming and its easier to handle than my Stihl farmboss. They both have their place, but I'd never be without a proper gas saw. For your purposes I'm sure a 170 would be just fine. Just be sure the chain stays lubed, if the saw stops cutting suddenly, check that the bar and chain are getting oil.

quote:

Originally posted by armme:
Not sure what "screw around" with the battery one means.

Well, let me speak plainly: It means I'm biased, based on nothing other than my own supposition. I have an electric leaf blower that's a total joke, and a two stroke Ryobi jet fan I bought back when I was drinking because it seemed like the thing to do, and it has been beyond impressive. I figured a chainsaw would be comparable, but I didn't factor in that a saw is not a leaf blower: critical error on my part. This is why I ask Sigforum things.

That out of the way, I do have some experience with felling trees. Not directly, but I was there to help my dad clean up the six or seven acres of our woods that the ice storm of '98 destroyed, so call it a good five years on and off of going out there and limbing trees and splitting and hauling wood. I got lucky the one time I skipped an axe head into my shin - apparently I have really hard bones and it didn't end up like a scene from Braveheart. So while he never let me use the Stihl, we dropped a lot of trees, so I know enough to know they almost never fall the way you want them to, because he and I weren't professionals. We took to tying rope around them and getting a pull on them with either the tractor, the ATV, or me just by hand using another tree as a pulley where we could to try and direct the fall, and even then, you can do all that and notch them correctly and still just never know when they're going to kick out funny.

Thankfully, I will never be dealing with anything like that on my property. I have maybe a fifteen foot sweet acacia that's more gnarled branches than anything else, I'm going to have to take it apart by the limbs first, and then end up just sawing what's left of the trunk down. The first crotch is about five foot off the ground, so that one should be really easy (famous last words lol). May even be a good case for an electric pole saw. I went after it with a manual pole saw/limber last fall to tame it a bit, but it grows so damn fast. When it's not dropping greasy seed pods all over my driveway and truck, it's dropping blankets of yellow fuzzballs. I can't keep the birds out of it, and I can't park anywhere but under it, so my truck is always and ever covered with shit. Not having it anymore.

The palms I need to take down are 20', give or take a couple feet. One is dead as disco and the other is getting eaten by what really looks to be termites, so I need to bring that one down before it falls on the house next good wind storm. Trunks on all these are less than 16" for sure.

I've never actually worked a saw, but I watched my old man strap on all the leathers and still have some close calls, so I have oodles of respect for how fast it can go wrong. I'll watch all the videos I can before I fire up whatever I bring home. If fritz and hrcjon say a Stihl electric is the way to go, that's good enough endorsement for me to at least buy an electric. I'll have to price out the various offerings and see what makes sense.

Oh, and I looked into a rental. Home Despot and Lowe's wanted around $80 each for a one day rental, plus tax and whatever other fees. I was expecting cheaper, and if I need to rent one for more than a day, I'm into the cost of a cheap saw anyways, so I may as well just buy one. I'll have need of a chainsaw more than once in my life, I'm sure.