BBT Chainsaws - handy to have on the tracks!

[KevinE]

Yup, the 3400 is a great saw!

My favorite of the 2 pictured is the 350. Both are muffler modded, 4 degrees timing advance & re-tuned. The 350 is a BEAST!

The anti vibe has long since been flogged out due to it being a full time work saw between 2007 - 2015, but I love that saw. Its old school Echo!

From cold: choke on - 2 pulls & it pops - Choke off - 1 pull & it screams!

[Czechmate]

I have a big stihl as well as the little top handle echo

I think echo and shindaiwa make the best chainsaws in the world these days

The stihl is good, but the early 90s one it replaced was better

[KevinE]

I like Echo, Stihl, Zenoah & Makita/Dolmar and have owned several of each. Zenoah cops a lot of undeserved criticism on the net, just like Echo. But I like them! They're reliable work saws.

The Makita & Stihl plastics let them down for full time work in Adelaide though. Lots of palm work here & the acid in the palms eats the plastic clutch covers. But, if you don't cut palms, you'd be hard pressed to find a better saw!

[Hugh9359]

Going back to original post on cheap chinese stuff,while not a chain saw I have a "Victa'lawn mower cost $198 from bigw,briggs and straton motor made of parts from china,assembled in Canada,have had it 8 years starts first pull every time never changed oil in it,absolute ripper.

[KevinE]

Yeah, I own a 7 year old Honda HRU216 self propelled mower. Made in China - It's a cracker.

[KevinE]

The new emission's laws come into effect on 1/7/19; you won't be able to buy any of the cheap 2 stroke outdoor gear from shops after that. Shops haven't been able to buy it from wholesalers since 1/7/18.

It's been illegal to import it since 1/1/18, but the Ebay sellers are still doing it, so maybe there's a loop hole?

Allpower went out of business recently, so the Aust distribution network for Echo was shifted to Briggs & Stratton.

[KevinE]

Update; one of my small saws needed a new bar & chain & it was actually $3 cheaper to buy a cheap Chinese saw with an Oregon bar & chain, than it was to buy the same bar & chain on their own, so I did.

The bar & chain are of good quality & now reside on my other saw. The rest of the Chinese chainsaw is junk. It ran VERY slowly in stock form. The fuel lines are crap, it has no anti vibe at all, and after it's warmed up it would only start using a drop start with the throttle pulled wide open (dangerous!)

I had a bit of fun with it & pulled the guts out of the air filter, drilled a 2nd port in the muffler, advanced the timing a smidge & then re-tuned it. It now runs fairly well & cuts aggressively.

It'll never make it's way onto a job site, but it would probably be OK for someone occasionally cutting small logs for firewood.

BUT................ when I originally pulled the muffler off, there wasn't a spark arrestor in there! This means that you cannot use it within 1.5km of any park, or on a fire ban day. Which kind of makes it useless for clearing fallen timber off tracks!