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Author Topic: Quest for a 'top handle'  (Read 24855 times)

Offline SDB777

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Quest for a 'top handle'
« on: January 05, 2013, 11:40:46 AM »
Pretty much sums it up.....I'm looking for a new top handle saw to add to the growing group.  Do I absolutely need one?  Nah, but I am getting older and carrying around an MS250 all day limbing is starting to well, it sucks!  Missed a chance to pick up a Jonesred 2139T just recently.....


Everywhere I look, it seems if I'm not swinging a Stihl top handle then I should stay off the porch(too many big dogs) :D



Anyone have any options?  I'm listening.....







Scott (do I need it....maybe) B
Just got my website up/running:    www.slabsblanksandboards.com
Where I get 95% of my chainsaw needs:    www.pinnaclearboristsupplies.com/

Offline Kirk Allen

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2013, 01:39:24 PM »
I love the three Husky saws I have.  They have never let me down!

Key is service.  If you do your own, pick what you want.  If you depend on someone working on it when it breaks down, go with the local service shop.

I believe you have a husky dealer right off the west side of 67 if I remember right, just north of Cabot? 
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching!

Offline SDB777

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2013, 07:33:25 AM »
Got Jonesred, Stihl, and Husky dealers close enough to me to make it even harder to figure out which one to get.

The Husky ain't cheap, and neither is the better Stihl(although the 192T is smaller-it might still work out), and the Jonesred's seem to be all but missing.  I'd have a hard time finding some from Echo nearby, so I guess they are out of the running.....
I am definitely not what someone would call a chainsaw mech....I can do the little things and keep them serviceably cleaned up and whatnot.  But doing re-builds or the like is not something I'd feel comfortable doing without someone looking over my back.  Can't count the number of times when I was a kid re-building car engines that I would end up with extra parts!


Got time, I hope.  So I'll just keep looking.......





Scott (hard for me to give away money too) B
Just got my website up/running:    www.slabsblanksandboards.com
Where I get 95% of my chainsaw needs:    www.pinnaclearboristsupplies.com/

Offline Stevem

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2013, 10:05:16 AM »
There's always Baileys.  They tend to favor some what the tree service people.
Stevem
Because you can doesn't mean you should!

Offline SDB777

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2013, 07:17:50 AM »
Going to go down to the local shop here and check if they have any 192T's in stock.  Figure it's for part-time work, no in the tree stuff for me(us old guys know enough to stay on the ground)...so maybe I don't need the uber-expensive 200T.

Noticed the last flyer from Bailey's they were pushing the Echo top handle saw?  Never even considered those.....but I might if I could find a 50% off coupon!






Scott (yup, he's a cheap bastid) B
Just got my website up/running:    www.slabsblanksandboards.com
Where I get 95% of my chainsaw needs:    www.pinnaclearboristsupplies.com/

Offline Stevem

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2013, 02:44:47 PM »
Cheep, Cheep = new chicken.   :laugh: :laugh:
Stevem
Because you can doesn't mean you should!

Offline bigmoose

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2013, 04:26:15 AM »
Why dont you try one of the hitachi top handles? The pro model has two bar studs and I think a 7 year warranty. And the specs calim chrome plated cylinder.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2019, 08:02:24 AM »
I know this is way old, but I've had an Echo 301 top handle for many years that has served me well!

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2019, 06:54:49 PM »
SDB, if you don't do a lot of cutting use that no methanol pre mix gas, its expensive but easy on carbs and fuel lines. Watch or ask what local tree guys use for limbing saws. Most I have seen use Stihl. Frank C.

Offline furu

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2019, 01:41:23 AM »
Again an older thread but what is one's purpose and desire of having a top handle saw? 
Nothing wrong with them but there is less control due to the design and thus more risk assiciatied with them.
Stihl has a very large warning on all their top handle saws above and beyond their normal warnings. 
The top handle is designed for use in trees and while climbing. 

There are saws of a similar weight and size that are of the conventional design that give you much more control to avoid a kickback than using the top handle.  Now having said all that I really like my MS201T.  If I was never doing tree work I would not use it.

They make a MS201 C that is basically the same saw as the 201T except it is not a top handle but a conventional design thus easier to control.
There are even lighter and smaller saws than that if you really want to downsize.
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Integrity is not just doing the right thing when no one is looking.
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one else will ever even know.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Quest for a 'top handle'
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2019, 07:24:37 AM »
I bought mine with no real thinking other than it was small and on sale at the time, remember I'm just a farm/ranch kind of person , not a professional cutter. I use it mainly for limbing and trimming. It has a carry ring for going up in a tree, but I have never used it. Mostly it sits in a rack on my tractors carryall for whatever I may run into.
  And yes, probably less control with it but it does come in handy. I like it!