New Echo es 400 chainsaw.

[ssspencerjr]

So its been about a month since I bought the echo. I finally had a a tree surgeon take down 2 big trees. I'm cutting them up for firewood. Now I know the homelite was okay. This echo almost made me cry it was so powerful. It started out of the box on the first pull... get me some tissues. This thing is awesome, I may just sleep with it tonight. Ripped through 3/4 cord In 1 hrs before I got tired. Nothin like having good tools!

That's good to hear! I sort of regret passing on echo for a chainsaw. I went with a Husqvarna 435. I have an echo blower I bought last year and it starts 1-2 pulls every time.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Everything echo makes is very good. In general what I like the most about echo is all of the parts are easily serviceble.

Echo, Stihl, Husqvarna you really cannot go wrong.

 

[BigJohn]

I have an Echo 370 and a 400. The saws have dismantled 9 big Pine trees in the past two years and they are going strong with simple maintenance. Best saws I have ever owned.

 

[bchannell]

Having cut and burned firewood for over 30 years, and owning a small farm, I've been a Stihl user for years and years. Recently, I purchased an Echo 400 and after some tuning and opening up the muffler, it is a veritable beast of a saw. I liked it so much that I bought a larger 490 for heavier work and it too, after some tuning, is a real fantastic saw. I was a Stihl user for a long time, but I've found the new Stihls don't compare to Echo saws and won't be going back any time soon. I have cut trees with 30" trunks with both and I can tell you that the Echo has quite a bit more grunt that a Stihl of the same size. When cutting the big stuff, the only saw, manageable by mere mortals, that can best one of the larger Echos, such as a 590 is a Husqvarna, and I don't remember the number, but it was a huge, something like 62-65cc HEAVY saw, but it cut like a monster. If I had to cut the big stuff a lot, I'd have one. They're too heavy for me to use all day, but for felling the big uns, they're amazing. Aside from that Husky, I'll take an Echo all day long.

 

[FarmForce]

So its been about a month since I bought the echo. I finally had a a tree surgeon take down 2 big trees. I'm cutting them up for firewood. Now I know the homelite was okay. This echo almost made me cry it was so powerful. It started out of the box on the first pull... get me some tissues. This thing is awesome, I may just sleep with it tonight. Ripped through 3/4 cord In 1 hrs before I got tired. Nothin like having good tools!

This is pretty much what you hear from everyone who got an Echo chainsaw. They are performing above their class especially compared to Stihls. I used to be a Stihl fanboy (coming from Germany I of course would) but I have switched everything over to Echo in the last 7 years. Stihl really lost me when they started putting those 4-stroke engines running on feul/oil mix. What a joke. Engine failures galore. I have Echo blowers with hundreds of hours and they run like on the first day. Even my cheap PB-250 for $150 7 years ago runs and blows harder than my big Stihl handheld. Nothing touches my big PB-8010 backpack, not even a Redmax! I just bought a CS-3510 as my old Husqvarna 140 gave up the ghost after eight years. That little saw cuts a full class above its specs. SAme comparing trimmers. I am running SRM-266 trimmers now. THey are a little on the heavy side but also rock solid. I am disappointed in Stihl. They have truly given up on the rock solid quality and to a certain extent performance as well that they used to offer. Nothing but Echo for me going forward.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

So yesterday I went to trim up a big tree in my yard. My 24 year old homelite 16 inch chain saw started right up. But as soon as I put a load on it the thing died. So I fiddled with it for about an hour and didn't get any improvement. So I decided I'm going to get a new one. I went to home depot and saw the echo es400.
So as I am checking out a pro in full tree trimming regalia says to me "I wouldn't buy that they are junk". So of course I doubted my decision, he's a pro right? I go home research this saw and it has 4.8 stars out of 5... pretty good, I think.
I'm a homeowner I might use it 10 hrs a year.
Do I keep it or take it back? My crappy (but reliable) Homelite lasted 24 years. Sometimes pros are a little too much.

Probably fine for a home owner saw. I bought a Stihl MS271 a couple years ago after having a Poulan Pro. I'll probably never go back to a cheap saw. My Stihl fires right up and cuts wood like nothing. It does like fuel, but chainsaws generally have 2 speeds, off and on...

Just my $0.02