The Worst Chainsaw I've Ever Owned + Vintage Chainsaw BS

[@Mark-Marine]

Those plasticized Homelites are like the plasticized McCulloughs - they were low priced and low quality.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Yes they are !

[@stillwater62]

I know exactly how you feel about Homelite. I have a blue Homelite Super XL auto, bought brand new in the mid 1960s and I cannot tell you how many cords of wood that saw has cut. I have taken good care of it, it looks in mint condition, never had any major work, I saved the original bar, chipper chain, clutch and sprocket. I put a better, sprocket nose bar, semi chisel chain, new sprocket and clutch. The saw runs as good and is as strong as the day my father bought it for me to use around the farm. I was a teenager then; I am 70 years old now. After the red saws, Homelite started going downhill and never recovered. You couldn`t pay me to own the junk they make today.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Great story and a tribute to American made products that were built to last. I was given a small pile of the later Homelite small saws, and with each newer model, one can see how they kept cheapening them up, till they got to where they are today, the Worst Chainsaws Ever Made !

[@jonnysnipes3123]

My grandfather passed on his super xl 12 to me before he died. It was from 1970. The saw had a stack on the exhaust so unless you had hearing plugs you were going deaf. Was a tank of a saw but it was heavy after an hour of cutting was the only down fall.

[@tedmiller1745]

Funny you posted this. Got one of these plastic Homelites for free the other day and serviced and sold. These are notorious for being junk and the chain brake smothering the clutch with no fix! Had to cut out the brake strap. I sold it and said good riddance.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

The chain brake was dragging on the saw when I went to cut with it in the video! These are the worst saw ever made.

[@tedmiller1745]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 agree 100 %

[@garymcmullin2292]

powerful argument to stick with the older vintage saws....just have to cope with weight and bulky size which is a concern for us older guys gone way past our prime. Todays world is maddening, manufacturing concerns are just not in the business of making good products and treating customers right. I flirted with the Chinese knock off saws for a time, never bought one because the parts are sourced from multiple suppliers, quality control is a crap shoot, the metals used vary in quality as do the manufacturing tolerances....even the plastic parts vary in quality quite a bit. Even at the cheap prices they are not for me, too likely to have durability issues.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Vintage is best !

[@williamwhite9321]

Poulan Craftsman homelite sad can’t give ‘‘em away

[@daryllund6634]

Great show!

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

This video was a fun one.

[@denniseye8218]

I still use my Mculloch 610 that I bought new back in t early 80’s. I also have a Poulan 14” Woodshark that I bought in 2002. I wore the bar out and replaced it. The side plate cracked behind the bar nuts that I fixed by making a steel plate that fits over the two bar studs and covers the area it sits in. After that it works just fine. I use the 610 where needed and grab the Woodshark for limbing.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Your Mac 610 will last forever given good care. My Wood Shark (Wood Carp} only had a few hours on it from new, so it will last for a while. The minor mods I have done, make it much better than stock. My Wild Thing actually had quite a bit of use on it, before it was donated to the channel, and the mods I did on it, really improved the performance, but the crank failed, which is a common problem. It is interesting that a few users have had lots of use with them, while most others failed in short order. Go figure !

[@johnclarke6647]

There are certain parts on my Farmertec saws that I build that I replace with oem parts when I build them. Seals, throttle rods, control levers, air filters, spark plugs and carbs are a few of these specific items. The Farmertec MS 250 that I built most recently is every bit as good of a saw as my brand new Stihl MS 250. It probably has $100 worth of Stihl parts in it plus a Stihl bar and chain - another $75. By the time I get through upgrading a Farmertec kit saw I have almost as much money in it as buying a brand new Stihl from Stihl. However, the one thing I gain is the knowledge and experience of building my own saw. Not many people can say that.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

It is interesting that the clone saw is an exact copy of the Stihl, and the parts are interchangeable. It is fun to try to make gold out of lead ! Building a saw or other piece of equipment, is a rewarding and skill building adventure for sure.

[@johnclarke6647]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 yes, they are interchangeable for the most part. Sometimes, things like fuel lines fit a little tighter than their Chinese cousins but basically they are interchangeable. My Farmertec 250 has Stihl Ms 250 seals and they went on the crank a lot tighter than the Farmertec seals. It also has a Stihl spreader plate behind the carb and a Stihl fiber gasket, because the Farmertec parts were to thin and allowed the carb to sit to deep in the air box. This raised the idle rpm, so the idle screw would not control the idle. It also has a Stihl throttle rod. I upgrade parts when I think they need them. It also has a Bosch WSR6F spark plug.

[@johnclarke6647]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 the only real difference between my Farmertec 250 and my Stihl 250 is the Stihl is running Stihl MotoMix and the Farmertec is running my standard Stihl Ultra 50:1 gas mix. They both have Stihl bars and chains. The Farmertec has a RS chain and the new Stihl MS 250 has a factory green chain, and both are .063 pitch. I will upgrade the chain on the Stihl 250 to an RS chain when my Stihl dealer gets another on in stock. Both have Elastostart pull ropes.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Looks like you are a great saw mechanic.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I would be interested in your opinion on the Stihl green chain. The one on my 025 would dull very quickly.

[@johnclarke6647]

Welcome to dealing with manufacturers today. None of the care about their customers. They only care about making money and product support is a cost center and they are only interested in profit centers. Now I know why you collect older Homelite saws. I won’t say current Stihl saws are as good as their older ones, but of the current breed I do not like is the MS 251. I have built quite a bunch of Farmertec kit saws and none of mine have cracked a sprocket cover and if I need a part I can go to my local Stihl or Husqvarna dealer to get it.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

It is a poor situation about customer service these days, and the dealers only want to sell you a new piece of equipment. The only top notch dealers I had access to, were the McCulloch dealer and a big Stihl dealer. After McCulloch shut down, they sold parts and did repairs for as long as they had parts, and the Stihl dealer catered to the pro's. As logging slowed down, they became more oriented to the farm/homeowner market. When they sold out, it became a joke, with incompetent dummy's running it. I have never owned or used any of the Chinese saws, and I don't have any Husky's in my collection. Husky's are the most used pro saws in the PNW and have a good rep, but personally I don't like them, so I don't have any.

[@neilssaws1414]

If you want something lighter and use in smaller wood I'd be ok with that newer homelite easily out perform super 2 or what ever saws that look like them . Just easy mods will put that newer homelite in power rage of a professional power range of 33cc saw of its year . What holds those poulan top handles back is carburetor. Me personally wouldn't even bother with mcculloch harder to get parts for and has less potential .

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

It is interesting how people have different experiences than others with the same products. Homelite doesn't sell parts for the Timberman, and mine has had its share of problems, even though it has less than 10 hours of use. On the other hand, my McCulloch Mini Mac's have much more power, even with less displacement, lighter in weight and have years of reliable use, with virtually no parts other than chains, spark plugs and carb kits required to keep them on the job. My crappy little Poulans, mainly model 25's, have given poor service in most cases, although I have had a few that performed well for a long time. These saws had serious quality control issues when built, and you got either a good one, or in most cases a bad one. The Wood Shark and the Wild thing saws I have are lousy performers in stock form, but with simple mods perform fairly well. The Wild thing crank failed, which is common, and 2 out of the 3 parts saws donated to me also have bad cranks. I have never had any major failures with any of my McCulloch's, most which have more than 30 to over 40 years of continuous service. Another point of interest is that over the years I purchased Stihl's and Husky's to replace some of my older and heavier Mac's, but they wore out quickly, parts prices were stupid, so they got scrapped and the Mac' are still on the job. So I use stuff that works for me, but may not be good for others. Thanks for watching.

[@neilssaws1414]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 I really think you have bad one of the new homelites I personally have like 3 or 4 of the from different cc range. Just wish had more parts for them available. Easily a home owner saw what kills the power on them is the mufflers a garte deal same with the poulans and those top handle ones is the oiler setup suck . All the newer saws are under carbed and muffler stuff up . To any older saws flow more .times was different . A collector or hoarder myself mostly 60s up saws . Sounds levels carbs size drop hard in 80s up saws.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I have thought about taking the Timberman's muffler off to see why it is so underpowered, and I need to clean the rust off it also. I have received several tips on how to upgrade the hp on these saws, but as cheaply as it is built, it will shorten it's life. The most common failure on these saws is the cheapo plastic oil pump, and it is not available. It is so dissapointing to pick up and use such a cheapo saw, after using XL 12's, XL 2's and other well made Homelite's. Sad !

[@jlichi1510]

My dad bought the 38cc 16-in version of this Homelite for me years ago to use to cut up firewood for him while he was at work. He saw the Homelite brand and thought it would probably be as good as his old XL2 automatic and Super EZ. Big mistake! Worst saw I have ever used. Highly underpowered for its size. Seals gave way after only about 6 months of light use. The only good thing about it was that it was relatively quiet and the spring assist recoil starter made it easy to turn over the engine.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

King of the crappy saws for sure.

[@Indeewoods]

Haha!!😂 Man that was good! You had me laughing and at one point I had tears in my eyes and snorted I laughed so hard!! 😂 Timber Mouse, Soup Mix Recipe for Disaster!! Hahaha you come up with the best names!!! 😂😂😂 Ok lets start from the beginning. #1- ok so I had one of those Homelite Timbermans. It was one of the 6 free saws I got in that video I did. Anyway it was the number one all time hardest saw to figure out but I kept at it and damn that thing cut really nice before I sold it. It only had a couple of tanks ran through it and was right mint when I got it came with the case and all. The fuel lines were all rotted off it so I put a new fuel filter and fuel lines on it. I did a minor muffler mod to it, and I got rid of the limiter caps and that saw ran so erratic it was hard to tune. Finally I stretched the spring on the carb needle and that fixed my issue. Also the four screws on the bottom of the clam shell were slightly loose and was causing a bit of an air leak so I tighten them up and I think I actually even removed them and put red Loctite on them. I set the carb on it and that thing started great it ran great hot or cold and it was a really nice smooth cutting saw I was actually really impressed with it. I did several little mods to it and I actually took a bunch of video I just never edited it yet. It’s a cheaply built saw And I had the same oil leak issue and I think I just Apoxy’d or siliconed the hose whatever it was it sealed it 100%. Professor of Chinese Junk was that what you said? I don’t know but I had a good laugh on that one lol. Good old Chinese junk I just like the challenge of trying to make them reliable. And Redmax was actually a Japanese company I believe and they were good saws from what i hear. Pro saws and all. They just drop the Jonsered name and I think they’re calling them Redmax now But don’t quote me on that. Anyway that timber mouse of yours sounds like it’s got an air leak you should check those four bolts on the bottom of the engine. Sounds to me like it’s running lean on the bottom end. My throttle lock was sticking and I had to modify that as well. It’s hard to believe they put the Homelite name on it but I guess it’s the same as how they did that with Poulan. Sorry for the long winded post

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Always enjoy your messages. I call you the Professor of Junk Saws because you spend the time and have the skills to make POOLANS, SoupMix and plastic Mac's etc. useable. I have the skills to do the same, but I won't spend the time on them because I have a nice collection of good saws, and all I need to do is go out to the shop and get them, rather than spend a lot of time working on sub-par saws. That leaves me the extra time I need for doing my firewooding,homesteading chores repairing and maintaining my tractors, engines and other mechanical marvels in my collection. It is really just a choice I make that works best for me. On the Homelite, the reason that the saw didn't want to rev up at first, was because the chain brake was hanging up. It starts easily, and idles well when warm, so I don't suspect an air leak. Well if I really get bored sometime, I will use your suggestions on trying to fix it. Thanks again.

[@Indeewoods]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 I know mine made a rattling sound and it seemed like it was the brake band or something. Through my research I found out these saws had brake band issues. Maybe yours is hanging up?

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

The brake band was dragging a bit when I went to cut. Finding all the problems with this crappy saw, is like looking for the end of a circle.

[@brick4321]

Bulletproof saws on youtube builds nice farmertec/ Chinese clones saws but puts in name brand parts for the important parts

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

It seems funny to me to buy a Chinese saw, then use the crankcase, handle etc., and replace all the other parts with O.E. parts. It's like being an alchemist trying to make lead into gold !

[@donmayberryjrsOPE]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 I don't get it either!

[@williamliebhauser8951]

Nothing to disagree with on the ‘not really a Homelite’ I accumulated a few of them way cheap. I dinked with them a bunch and got them running as well as I could. Only good for very light and infrequent work. The ones I have left are early 2000s and now you can’t even get parts. The weakest point is the plastic oil pump. Ridiculous.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

The cheapo Homelites really are the worst saws ever made in my opinion. They are only good for intermittent use, like once a year for about 10 minutes !

[@Autigers2013]

I thought Redmax was made by Husqvarna. I don't think they are a Chinese saw!

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I assumed they were Chinese, but they were originally a Japanese company that Husky bought.

[@jensenwilliam5434]

Thank for your videos.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Glad you like them!

[@christopherwest5840]

Sad what electrolux did to the homelite name

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Homelite was one of many companies they ruined.

[@jeffreyrubish347]

The Timbermouse lives, lol!

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

It's a miracle !

[@brick4321]

The newer homelites are junk

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Yes they are !

[@spongebobsquarepants11]

Yea they are. Found a home lite blower took it. Try to start it. Doesn’t matter now because we got a Echo handheld.

[@tonymayhew191]

I have somewhere around 60 -70 chainsaws, But if I want to really get the chips flying i have a top five I use, I have two Sachs-Dolmar super 120, Husqvarna 266xp from Tomos Slavaina Yugoslavia, Husqvarna L65 1974, poulan 3400 countervibe 1979, These saws are so good that it's no contest! I enjoy all my saws and half of them are vintage homelites. They are fun to pull out and harass the spiders that have set up shop inside of them! But when I have big Douglas fir logs that need to be cut down to make firewood, I already know that these saws won't compete with a badass like my 266XP! I call this saw Billy gunned up! The hog slayer! 😁

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Great story. I was unaware that Tomos made saws, but I have seen Tomos Moped's before, and I know they made outboard motors also. Thanks for watching.

[@timberray9572]

The worst saw I ever owned was a 575 Xtorq, it was an absolute dog and couldn't even hang with a much older 266SE I had at the time.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

One of the worst saws I have had was a Husky 371. What a piece of crapola that thing was.

[@timberray9572]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 Really? My 371XP is one of my best saws I own right now. They need the muffler opened up a bit though.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Mine could have been a factory screw up, as there was always something wrong with it, and parts failed on a regular basis, and was never reliable. When it ran it had good power, but if I had a full day of cutting, something would always fail. The replacement parts were overpriced as well. I haven't had a Husky ever since, even though there are some real good models that have been made since then.

[@garbagecan6969]

​@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 the 40cc Husky 120 mark 2 is a great small saw, I've had 2 of those saws for a few years, used one as a chainsaw mill for at least a year straight and beat the snot out of both them.

[@mikedaugharty5544]

How about using a PM 6 powermac 6 they are my favorite small saw hard to work on but very good saw when they're running and they like the vapor lock but I've got like 15[20 of them so I just grab another one

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I have a Power Mac 6, but it has a bad coil. I should be more diligent and find one and put it back to work. It would be interesting to see how it performs against it's replacement, the Mini Mac series.

[@alangaffney2592]

pays to stick with a 40 year old mcculloch i found out some more info about my all black 610 i spoke to you about it a special order by mcculloch dealers in new zealand in the 80s 20 were made and sent to all the dealers i bought it from an ex dealer that moved to tasmania i now have all the paper work to go with it im picking up this saterday 9 mcculloch 610/650 for $100 aus i only want the 650s so if you want some 610 cheep let me know regards alan

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

That is a neat find for sure. Good score on all the Mac's. I have 5 Mac 610's now, so that is plenty for me. Thanks for the offer though.

[@goosecreeksouth9327]

Lol I agree real piece of junk

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Yes they are.

[@liljoeii6091]

Thank you for the video Timber mouse is a good paperweight

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

You got that right !

[@brianking1138]

I try to sell most of those little crap saws and buy parts for good saws.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Selling the crapola saws is a good idea. I use mine for fodder for my video's, and it gives me something to gripe about, in a fun way.

[@chrischiampo7647]

The Greatest Looser Video 😀 Mr Obsolete I Agree With Your Assessment Poulan Woodcarps and Those New Homelite Plastic Junk Is Almost A Disposable Saw The Early Poulan’s and Homelites Were Amazing Saws 😊😀

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

You are 100% right !

[@donmayberryjrsOPE]

XL12's were an amazing saw back in the day as we're Easy Auto's, etc...

[@treebender261]

I have had really good luck with the green poulans people know i mess with saws so thay just give them to me i cut alot of firewood wood and top up everything with them i can say thay have served me well but if you can't work on your own saws just pass them by and buy a echo

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Free saws are the best price for sure. Many saws just have minor issues and are taken out of service as a result, but many of the small saws like the Poulan 25's would cost more to fix them than they cost when new. That is good for us, as we end up with them, fix them, and use them.

[@goodcarsounds990]

have you thought about electric chainsaws for smaller jobs?

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I inherited an electric chainsaw, and it is just not up to the level of work that I do. It is not an overpriced Stihl or Husky high end model, which I would never purchase, just way too expensive.The shortfalls of electric saws are that if you are out in the woods, you need extra very expensive battery packs so one can finish a job when the first battery is out of power. On my mini gas saws, all I need to do is fill up the tank. My little mini chainsaws that I use are very powerful for their size, and can do a lot of work. I can get a good 3/4 to an hour of cutting on a pint of fuel. The oil I use in them is biodegradable, so not much of an ecological footprint either. The cost of generating enough electricity to charge the batteries is most likely more expensive than the small amount of fuel and oil I use in my mini saws. Electric saws are for home owners in the suburbs with small yards and like the quiet operation. Every tool has its place.

[@scottfoster2487]

I had a friend buy one of these to let his boy leanr on,I took it apart and got it running roight and put a 10 inch bar on it,saw was a almost no power but for small limbs for a new saw user worked well. I would never reccomend these to some one that is got a bit mechanicly inclined. The wood carp is a far better saw.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

You are correct, the Wood Carp is marginally better !

[@richfreireich4528]

My Aunt bought one of those, p.o.s. right out of the box d.o.a. no spark the quickest cure a run to the local dump and my rugersuper redhawk stoked with bear loads, gave her my 029 end of story!!!

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

An excellent way to get rid of those rogue box store chainsaws !

[@richfreireich4528]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 hell the damn things barely got enough power to stir my coffee in the morning, I think if I was ever in a survival situation with that p.o.s. I would actually prefer to burn it, chances are you will rip the starter off the saw pulling in vain,and if it somehow miraculously starts know that you have about as much power as a popcorn fart!!!!!!

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

You are spot on !

[@justinweaver8107]

Good video have a good week sir.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Thanks for commenting and watching.

[@justinweaver8107]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 thank u for all u do sir.

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

Thank you.

[@EcSsAwS]

Clone saws are meant for the person who likes to tinker. That’s why I like my 372 clones Uhhh Redmax is literally a husqvarna in red colors. So your assumption on that is 100000% wrong Actually look into it Redmax has been around for years saws and they are SWEDISH like a gz5000 is literally a red husqvarna 545 mark 1 Same models for the 395. 372 ect

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I did a little looking on Redmax saws, and the info I read was that it was originally a Japanese company that Husky purchased. A lot of the Husky models were the result of Husky buying so many different companies out, and using them as the basis for their full line of saws. Husky did this from the very beginning of their rise to become a dominant manufacturer. As for clone saws, my take is why buy a cheezy piece of crapola, then rebuild it with better parts to make it useable? Just buy a good saw to begin with.

[@dfkustom8]

the last McCulloch and homelite saws are crap…didn't you know? when the two companies were sold, the quality fell to zero..😂

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

You are partially right. As for McCulloch, they were never sold out, they went out of business in 1999. The name was purchased by a company in asia and sold for a short time, then Husqvarna purchased the name and painted and labelled their saws for sale in Europe in McCulloch colors, and were not McCulloch designs at all. McCulloch after the early 80's stopped innovating and just kept selling the same old saws with fancy logos. They were still very good saws, even though they were cheapened up a little bit as time went on. The Pro Mac 610 series is an excellent example. They were sold from 1976 through 1999 virtually unchanged, and were one of the most reliable saws sold by anyone. As for Homelite, they got sold many times, and each new owner phased out the good models and replaced them with really cheap and crappy little saws. The few models of saws they sell today are really terrible, with no connection to the really good saws sold in the past.

[@dfkustom8]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 you are partially right… McCulloch was sold to Black & Decker in 1974 and they sold McCulloch in 1984 to a private group which then went bankrupt in 1999. Husqvarna bought the European division and a Thai company bought the North American division. …

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

I was aware of the Black and Decker take over from Robert McCulloch, but have never seen any reference as to a 1984 sell out. Who was it? I should have said they were not taken over by another saw company. I don't believe the Thai company made any saws of the McCulloch designs, and only used the name. Husky bought the Italian Mac factory if I remember correctly, and none of those saws were of the original Mac line up. They did sell a few of the Italian saws in the US, but very few.

[@dfkustom8]

@@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156 North American operation was acquired by the Taiwanese company Jenn Feng Industrial Co. Jenn Feng added electric power tools and pressure washers to the product line. In March 2003, MTD Products signed a distribution and licensing agreement with Jenn Feng in which MTD would exclusively produce McCulloch products in North America.[10]

[@dfkustom8]

the latest series of good Homelite saw is the 340(54 canadian model) 350(35 canadian model)410,450,550,650,750.. and the last McCulloch good saws series is as you mentioned PM605,610,650 The Double Eagle series,Titans series and the Timber Bear saw… My Opinion

[@aaronhardway343]

The only decent quality of chainsaw available on the market today is STIHL. That isn't a Homelite. That is a cheap, Chinese piece of plastic garbage. A friend of mine gave me 3 Homelite Super XL chainsaws today that had been sitting on a pallet under an old trailer for 5 years. I sprayed out the carburetor, dumped out the old gas, swished some fresh gas around in them and 2 of the 3 fired up and ran like new ones. Those were chainsaws. These modern knockoffs are garbage and are not worth 5 bucks at a yard sale. Poulan, McCulloch, Homelite and Remington ALL used to be awesome chainsaws that ran for decades regardless of what you put them thru. My dad had the same old green Poulan for 25 years. You won't get 25 minutes out of these new Poulans. Throw that garbage away and go buy a STIHL.......

[@mrobsoletesvintagehomestea9156]

The old chainsaws are definately better than the new saws in most cases. Unfortunately, the new home owner grade saws from Stihl and Husky are not very good either. Many have plastic crankcases, and are throw away saws also.

[@jonnysnipes3123]

The cheapest good quality stihl saw is the ms 381 462. Anything below those models is all plastic garbage. Usually chainsaw that have plastic handles are crap saws not built for long term beating. The echo 690 is your best bet if you can’t afford a higher end husky or stihl