Today we're going to talk about the residential 20-inch chainsaw. And the top 2 residential
20-inch chainsaws. And I use that word loosely but I want to clarify: these are both not
pro saws, this is not the 550 XP or the MS261 Stihl chainsaw. These are made for the homeowner
that cuts some firewood. You're cutting 5-10 cords of wood a year. I see some people use it for more,
that's fine. There's some reasons why you may (save you some money) or there's reasons that
you probably should not, and those reasons would be life and weight and performance and all those
sort of things. But today let's focus really let's talk about the Stihl MS271 and the Husqvarna 455
Rancher. And these two saws, they're the top of the market guys. These are your top two saws that
you're going to get in a 20 -inch firewood cutting saw that's really geared towards the homeowner.
Lots of advantages of going with these two brands, one is longevity. They've been around for
years and years and years. I mean, Husqvarna is a 300 year old company;
they haven't been making chainsaws that long but they're an old company with a lot of history and a
lot of knowledge and they build a ton of chainsaws and know how to make them last. And Stihl, they've
been making chainsaws since 1926, they're coming up on 100 years, so both these companies know how
to do it right. But why would I want to buy the Stihl over the Husqvarna or the Husqvarna over
the Stihl? Maybe this is the right style for you? Maybe this is the right style for you? I'm going
to break down a few of the differences today. I'm not going to tell you which one to buy. I'm going
to show you some reasons why the Husqvarna might be better and why the Stihl might be better. To
give you an idea as far as price, they're always within 20 maybe 30 bucks of each other. They know
where they need to be. The Stihl is going to come in at price x and Husqvarna is going to come in
a little bit lower or a little bit higher. They know where they need to be, so I'd take
price out of the equation. I think the biggest differentiating factor when you go to buy this saw
is going to be, "Who's going to take care of me? Who's my dealership?" And yes I said dealership.
You don't want to buy a chainsaw at a box store or on Amazon, you don't want to buy that online. You
need somebody to take care of you. I get comments on our videos quite often, "I can't start this!"
They bought it online; they don't have the the back story. So buy it from a dealer who's
going to take care of you. If you have a better Husqvarna dealership in your area that stocks the
parts that has the service, it might be a reason to go Husqvarna. If it's Stihl in your area,
you've got a reason to go Stihl. If you're in the Pacific Northwest, hey it's a little
bit harder decision because Carl's sells both. So here we go: the 455 Rancher the Stihl MS271. Both
20-inch chainsaws, both putting out 3.5 / 3.49 horsepower. So actually, Husqvarna spec is a 55cc
3.49 horsepower and weighs 12.8 pounds (that is without the bar and chain) and Stihl
is a 50.2 so a little bit smaller cc and a 3.49 horsepower. So the same horsepower,
a little smaller cc, and comes in a half a pound lighter. This is 12.3 pounds. So
there's something, right? A little bit of weight. How am I going to be using this? Am I going to
use it specifically just for cutting firewood / bucking? Weight is always important on a chainsaw
but if all I'm doing is primarily bucking / cutting firewood, the weight becomes a little
less relevant. Maybe I have 5 or 10 acres and I'm walking around my property and I'm cleaning up?
The weight becomes more relevant. Advantage Stihl in the weight.
What's next? Let's kind of start at the back of this saw.
Traditionally a Husqvarna has always been a little bit slimmer, a little skinnier saw. Well not so on
this one. This 455 is a bulkier, fatter saw. Not a big deal, but I have people grab the
Husqvarna and it just feels better to them. They like the way it feels. They grab the Stihl and
they don't like the way it feels. Or vice versa. So part of it, put it in your hands and feel it.
Let's take a look at this this choke and throttle control setup and the advantages. So to start a
Husqvarna I have a primer. This is something the Stihl does not have, so on the Husqvarna
I'm going to prime it 5 times. I can't flood it; i'm just getting fuel up to the carburetor.
I also on the Husqvarna have a compression release. So when i pull the rope on this saw...
if I put this compression release that's in,
it's much easier to pull. Now I have to pull harder. I need to rip it.
I get to the Stihl that does not have a compression release.
See that?
So on a Stihl, I for sure need to rip harder. If I've got some shoulder problems,
some arm problems, something in that area, that's going to prohibit me from
ripping hard from ripping fast. Husqvarna has got a one-up there.
On the Husqvarna when I pull out the choke (that's this blue lever right here) when I pull it out it
turns it on. So it kind of made that super easy. I prime it, I choke it, it's ready to pull the rope.
And because I have a primer, I'm generally going to pull this rope once maybe twice
and it's going to fire. Immediately what I'm going to do is push this blue lever back in,
pull the rope, and it's going to be running. That's how a Husqvarna starts. So on this saw,
almost always, 2-3 pulls. Let's grab the Stihl. And Stihl uses their master control lever. Very
common, been around for many years. To work this, I squeeze the trigger and I push all the way down
to the choke position. Remember no primer, no compression release. So I'm relying on my pulls
to get the fuel from the tank to the carburetor. So on the Stihl now, I'm going to go 1 2 or 3
pulls and it's gonna fire, it's gonna pop, it's gonna burp. I am then gonna manually move this
up to the start position, I'm gonna pull it again, it's gonna start,
it's gonna be going at a high speed. I'm going to click the trigger and it's going to return to run.
So a little bit different on that lever control setup. Let's take a look at here's where I get
into some differences that cause frustration on the Husqvarna. Okay so far I think there's
some advantages to the Husqvarna when it comes to starting, but on the Husqvarna we're dealing with
a break (as we are on the Stihl) but on the Husqvarna the break is on the outside in this
clutch cover. So let me take this off here real quick. Loosen these bar nuts. Husqvarna
uses the 13 mm bar nuts versus Steel uses the 17. Advantage...I don't know. Maybe your aim
is bad and so it's a little bit easier to get the bigger ones? So I'm going to loosen
the bar nuts on this and on the Husqvarna it is super super super important it's critical
to make sure the brake is off. So right now that brake is on. How do I know that chain won't spin?
If I pull this cover off right now, I'm opening myself up to a pain in the butt problem. So
click this break off (I might have already done it...I did). Okay click the break off, and let's
pull this cover off. And why is it a problem if I were to pull this cover off with the brake on?
Here's my brake right here in the middle. And if it's engaged, it's tight
to this clutch drum right here. And when it comes off that clutch drum it shrinks/it collapses
beyond that point, and now when I go to put the cover back on...ahhh! I can't get it on. There's
a there's a little trick to get it to get past it, but you can only do that trick so many times.
On the Stihl, let's take this off. Remember we've got the larger bar nuts...get those loose.
It doesn't matter because
the brake and clutch are in the body of the saw.
They're in the body of the saw. Let me take this off. This brake is
on. Can't spin it. This brake is off. I can spin it. Does that make sense? You see that
so why does Husqvarna use an external clutch and why does Stihl use an internal or inboard clutch?
Well Husqvarna says clutches are hot, and we want to get the heat away from the engine because heat
kills engines. Stihl says it's a pain in the butt to put a chain on when I've got to fight behind
the clutch to get to the sprocket. We want that to be right out and open. So advantage Stihl in
my opinion. I can deal with a little bit of heat on the engine. Trust me, they're going to be hot.
I don't see the heat from the clutch being the determining factor of the life of the chainsaw.
When the sprocket wears out on a Stihl it's much easier to change, it's much easier to
put the bar and chain on, it stays cleaner, and the bar tensioning the chain tensioning setup
on the Husqvarna is in the cover of the saw right here accessed from the outside.
With Stihl it is in the body of the saw. I'll show you the advantage of that here in just a second.
I do want to point out on the Stihl this is a plastic cover, on the Husqvarna this is metal. So
positively more durable, but does this cause us a problem? I don't see a problem with this.
But advantage Husqvarna on the material of the cover, advantage Stihl when it comes to
chain on and off and that sort of thing. So when I go to put a chain on the Husqvarna,
I got two things I'm dealing with. One, I need to get the chain up behind this
sprocket or behind this clutch right here onto the sprocket that's hiding behind that clutch.
So it's a little bit of work to get it behind it. Not a big deal. And two,
when I go and put this cover on you see this pin by my finger right there? That little pin has to
line up with the adjuster hole in the bar--I'll use that term. And if I don't have it lined up,
what will happen is I'll put this on, and right now I'm not lined up but maybe I didn't know I
wasn't lined up, and I'll just tighten it up and I can screw up the adjuster screw. Something that
really causes frustration. You get used to it. I have people that have run Husqvarna saws for
30 years and they don't think about it anymore. They're just just in the groove. On the Stihl
when I go to put the chain and bar on, because our pin is in the body of the saw this bar
lines up in front of me. I can see if I'm on the pin or not. If I'm not on the pin,
I'm going to stop and I'm going to fix it. When it comes time to put the chain on,
the sprocket's wide open. Much easier to put that chain on the sprocket.
Now advantage Husqvarna. For years for years for years these 20-inch chainsaws ran
a 3/8 chain at least in the Pacific Northwest they did. We generally have softer woods here.
In a softer wood, a 3/8 chain is a very good performing chain.
The Stihl runs a 0.325 chain. This is a little smaller profile cutter and is really designed
for harder woods. So around a lot of the world .325 is the way to go, and in fact in the Pacific
Northwest we are seeing more hardwoods be introduced as we reforest and deal with
that.. But there's people that are going to say, "Hey I want a 3/8 chain." Advantage Husqvarna.
Air filtration--just quick pop into this air filtration;
try to get through this here. And there are 3 screws on each of them. I like the Stihl
setup better. I'll show you Husqvarna has got a little flat Phillips combination, fairly small,
fairly tight to get in there. Stihl has got a much larger screw. I don't even know if this
bar wrench is going to get it. It'll work. Spin that off; you got 3 total. 2 on the starter side
and 1 on the rear side here. While we're talking about this, one other thing the Husqvarna
does have is an adjustable oiler on it. The Stihl has a set oiler. So why would I want an
adjustable oiler? Advantage of an adjustable oiler is I may not need that much oil coming
out to lubricate my bar and chain, so I can turn it down. Maybe I decided that I want more power
and I'm not doing a lot of big cutting and I drop to a 16-inch bar on this.
By the way not a bad combination. You see some people go to a 16-inch bar and they really like
the power that it brings them because they're never cutting big big stuff, so they're going
to turn their oiler down which means they can save oil. Alright that cover is off. Stihl:
bigger screws right there 1 2 3. Much easier--you still have to unscrew them all the way--but
much easier to get in. Much easier to get the bar wrench on and spin it off
So back to the adjustable oiler; that's an advantage that Husqvarna has.
Let's talk about the caps just real quick. I'll point it out in a minute. There's a lot of hate
over the Stihl caps for 2 reasons. 1 is people have a hard time figuring out how they work. I
don't think that it's that hard but it seems to be an issue, and the other is people feel they leak.
And I don't see that personally as a big issue (I mean I don't want it to leak but I don't see a lot
of leaking) but we'll point that out. Here we are, we're into the top of the chainsaw right here. So
we get a look at it. I would say when I look at the air filtration system, the Stihl has got this
nice cylinder that screws on and clicks in place, nice rubber mount that keeps any of that dirt from
entering into the carburetor filtration. Awesome filtration system on the Stihl. On the Husqvarna,
to get that filter off I need my screwdriver again to pop that clip off and there's my air
filter on that, so capacity of the Stihl is better. So win that one for the Stihl.
Stihl uses a different spark plug. They're using a CMR6H and Husqvarna is using a
WSR6F. Just really the old school plug, no big deal, but it's a little bigger surface area on
this plug. Doesn't maybe lose the heat as fast, so I think Stihl does a better job at cylinder
cooling. Let's get to these caps real quick and then we'll kind of wrap it up and we'll
see which one is best for you. On the Stihl we've got our flip top caps. All we have to do is flip,
give it about a half a turn and out it pulls. Click, locked in. Advantage: no tools.
Super easy once you get it. I hear they leak a lot and I think that's more on the bar oil side
is where this complaint's coming, and I'm guessing the reason is is we get some dirt
in the O-ring and it doesn't seal right away so they don't keep the the dirt and sawdust
out of that oil area. On the Husqvarna, it's a traditional cap that I screw all the way loose,
so it's a little longer to take that cap off. The disadvantage that I see with this is people will
tighten them up and overheat and in time they get super tight and I can't get this cap loose. This
is why Stihl changed to a different cap. But on the Husqvarna I may need to grab my bar wrench,
which I'm in the woods, I probably have my bar wrench anyway, to loosen my fuel and oil cap.
All right, there we go. The two 20-inch stalwarts of the chainsaw industry for the homeowner,
coming in very close on weight. Stihl is going to be a half a pound less,
coming in the same on power 3.49 horsepower, coming in a little bit different in their
designs as far as the chain and the bar on and off and the filtration and the starting.
I've got to point out one other major thing that I think is worth noting: Stihl has a
1-year warranty. So off of the shelf the Stihl has a 1-year warranty. At the time of purchase
if you purchase a 6-pack of the Stihl mix, you end up with a 2-year warranty. On the Husqvarna,
off the shelf we have a 2-year warranty, and if you purchase a 6-pack of their mix oil
like this, you end up with 3-year warranty (little mix bottles) or if you end up purchasing
their pre-mix, we call this XP fuel, you end up with a 4-year warranty. So Husqvarna can really
take the cake on the warranty. Is warranty important? Yes. Do I see a lot of problems
with warranty in 2 3 4 years? No. Usually if we're going to have a warrantable problem on
a chainsaw it's within the first 6 months, so I think it's important to have that coverage,
but honestly both of them protect you well enough to really cover where their their mix-ups are
going to be. Usually beyond that first year/second year any of the problems that we see that would be
warranty are a self-induced thing. I had bad gas in it, I didn't change my air filter, I sucked
dirt in or something like that. But we'll leave that for another conversation/another discussion.
There you go! The Husqvarna 455 Rancher, the Stihl MS271. Thanks for watching! Thanks for learning!
Comment down below which is your favorite? What do you have experience with? What saw
has been a pain in your butt? And what one is not? All right we'll see you all soon guys!
Hey this is Josh from Carl's Mower & Saw. Thanks for watching our videos! We're proud
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