[synner]

Well I'm quickly tiring of Stihl equipment, although my TS 350 has been faithly for many years and several rebuilds. Dolmar/Makita/Wacker all seem to be the same in these parts and hard to come by. The Husq Power Cutter works well but a Husq dealer is getting hard to come by.

That leaves me thinking about Shindaiwa.

http://www.shindaiwa.com/products/cu...aws/index.html

Anyone used their cut off saw with good or bad results?

Looks to have an impressive filtration system.

[Bill Schwab]

The Husky saws can't be beat. And the way around the dealer issues is to stock the parts that you would use frequently. Filters, belts, that's it.

Shindaiwa saws? Every Shindaiwa product I ever owned was hard to start, so, that's why we switched.

[Stonehenge]

I can't speak for that saw brand, other than to say they are new, and the layout looks a lot like other brands did about 10 years ago.

The Husqi's seem to not get too high a ratings when tested head to head against other brands, so keep that in mind (there's a thread here somewhere where I link to a comparison done by a group of firefighters - you might have to search for it).

We use Partner and Stihl, and each has their strengths. I've been wanting to get my hands on one of the private label saws (Makita/Wacker/Dolmar/Speedi Cut/etc) to see how they run, but haven't yet.

[cutntrim]

My dealer thinks the Shindaiwa saw should be solid, based on their trimmers and blowers...but, he hasn't sold any that I know of so there aren't any other landscapers around to ask about them.

Another dealer I frequent sells Partner, which iare used by some guys, but the Stihl is by far the most prevalent here. I've only ever rented...and every time but once it was a Stihl...and they SUCKED. Terrible starting problems almost every time. Makes me nervous to actually BUY one.

[synner]

my stihl stuff always starts fine with the exception of the new edger with the California friendly carb, its junk IMO. The Husky power cutter we tried would make a nice cart mounted saw but not for handheld use.

The Shindaiwa dealer and the rep have agreed to bring one in/loan one out for us to try out. I'll post how it works out. Won't get to try it for at least a month or so.

[Bill Schwab]

I'm trying a little something outside the box. We are buying a Bosch 14" electric cut off saw for the quick stuff. If you lookm at all the times you pull your gas saws, squeezing the trigger makes alot of sense as long as it does not mess up the breakers every time we use it.

[synner]

We have one of the Bosch elec. cut off saws. Work great but they don't seem to cut as fast/less rpm and they do pop a lot of breakers if you're not careful.

[Bill Schwab]

We have one of the Bosch elec. cut off saws. Work great but they don't seem to cut as fast/less rpm and they do pop a lot of breakers if you're not careful.

Good information. So it appears we are going to have the same trouble we would had we still been using electric table saws.

[synner]

The saw also balances funny compared with a gas saw, the guys leave it in the tool box unless they absolutely have to use it.