Let’s settle this debate! Genuine Stihl vs a couple of knock offs. Chainsaws compared for weight, fuel efficiency, pulling force to start the saw, cold temperature starting performance, torque, no load sprocket speed, cutting speed on manufactured log, cutting speed with 5 pounds of weight on the bar, cutting speed through hardwood. I purchased all of the gasoline / petrol chainsaws and supplies used to test the chainsaws to ensure an unbiased review. So, thank you for supporting the channel!
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➡ Products Tested In This Video (in no particular order):
Topteng:
58cc Saw:
Stihl MS 291: available at Stihl retailers
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In a couple of recent reviews the most Affordable products outperformed the Most expensive ones so is it possible That this chainsaw which cost around a Hundred dollars could actually Outperform a 550 name brand song let's Find out and the first test we'll see Which saw makes the most torque then We'll see which one cuts the fastest We'll see which one offers the best fuel Efficiency we'll see if a genuine steel Bar and chain will help the knockoff Saws at a price of around a hundred Dollars is this top Tang brand it has a 52cc engine and a 20 inch bar the Manufacturer claims it makes 2.7 Horsepower the top Tang has an inward Facing sprocket which makes installing The barn chain a little more challenging The bar is secured by two studs that are Connected directly to the aluminum Engine this all comes with filling Spikes that have to be installed the Engine cover nut secures the engine Cover and the air filter in place an air Filter will stop the big stuff but the Filter is far too porous to stop the Fine dust particles and the engine has An sap brand spark plug the spark plug Has quite a bit of carbon deposits Already on it so the manufacturer spent Some time tuning this off the dowel in The clutch cover has to slide into the Hole in the bar to adjust the chain
Tension The Chain break and the bar Adjustment screw are into the plastic Cover which is a really light duty Design the fuel fill is very easy to Access but the bar oil fill is just Under the handle and might be a little Difficult to reach before adding gas and Oil the top Tang weighs 12.57 pounds the Fuel container started out at 17.3 Ounces and it now weighs 2.5 ounces After filling the fuel tank so the fuel Capacity is very close to 14.8 ounces Let's start the engine and the top tank Doesn't have a fuel primer tilt the Switch lever upward pull out the choke Knob to the closed position while Holding the saw unit securely on the Ground pull the starter out vigorously When the engine first ignites push the Choke knob and pull the starter again to Start the engine and it took 10 pulls on A starter rope to start the engine for The first time and the top Tang is Pretty loud at 118.5 decibels from 24 Inches from the sound meter 11 190 RPM On the sprocket is pretty decent for a Hundred dollar saw also the price Between 100 and 110 dollars is this 58cc Saw just like the top Tang it has a 20 Inch bar it claims to make 3.2 Horsepower it claims to have a maximum Working speed of 13 000 RPM made in China and the 58 CC saw its construction Looks very very similar to that of the
52cc saw however there are some Differences this saw includes a gasket For the air filter and the top 10 Doesn't the 52cc saw has an sap brand Spark plug and this one has an nysp Brand this saw has a lot less deposits So less time tuning the saw unlike the 52 CC saw this one has a thread lock That's supposed to help with starting The saw the on off switch and the choke Setup are the same the handle for the Post art is also a little different and The 58cc saw weighs 12.8 pounds and a 58cc saw has just about the same fuel Capacity at 14.4 ounces while holding The throttle lever together with the Throttle interlock pushing the side Throttle lock button and release the Throttle lever to hold it at the Starting position pull out the choke Knob to the closed position just like The previous saw this one doesn't have a Fuel primer however it does have a Throttle lock but it doesn't seem to be Helping and a 58cc saw finally fired off After 11 pulls on the starting rope and It's up and running on the 12th attempt And a 58cc saw is making about 100 RPM Less than the 52cc saw at 11 084 RPM 118 Decibels is about the same as a 52cc all At a price of 550 is this steel ms-291 I Bought the saw at a dealership and it Came already assembled the steel has a 55.5 cc engine three screws have to be
Removed to take off the engine cover to Access the spark plug and the filter Media on distill is designed to do a Much better job of filtering the air Compared to the other two saws and the Steel has an NGK spark plug a little Carbon buildup on the spark plug so this Saw has been started and tuned and the Steel has an outward facing sprocket Which makes installing the bar and chain A lot easier the chain adjustment screw Is also on the side of the saw which Really helps make it easy instead of Being built into the side covers like The knockoffs the steel chain brake is Built into the saw the chain brake Handle on the steel is also mounted to Two different parts of the Saw making it A lot more sturdy compared to the Knockoff saws the felling spikes on the Steel are much more aggressive just like The two knockoff saws the steel has a 20 Inch bar and the steel weighs 15.52 Pounds and the steel has a little Smaller fuel tank than the other two Saws at 12.9 ounces so that's only about One and a half to two ounces less fuel The Fill port for the bar oil is a Little easier to access than the other Two saws to start the saw position the Master control lever to the full choke Position place your right foot into the Rear handle and press down hold the saw Firmly on the ground with your left hand
On the front of the handle pull the Starter grip solely with your right hand Until you feel it engage then give it a Brisstrong pull move the master control Over to the Run position and it still Doesn't have a fuel primer so it took 11 Pulls on the start rope to start the saw For the first time and the Steel's Engine revs about 2000 RPM faster than The other two saws at 13 137. let's test the torque of each of The saws using this tester I put Together the steel plate weighs right at 10 pounds and the scale is showing 10 Pounds and the top tank saw perform well At 22 pounds of downward Force to stop The chain on the first attempt and is 22 Pounds on the second attempt and a third Attempt is the same as the first two at 22 pounds and a 58cc saw gave up early At 16 pounds on the first attempt and it Also struggled on the second attempt at 17 pounds and is 17 pounds again on the Third attempt so the 52cc saw actually Makes quite a bit more power compared to The 58cc saw and it still moves into the Lead at 28 pounds in the first attempt And the steel performed the same again On the second attempt at 28 pounds and It's 28 pounds on the third attempt Which is by far the best of all the Brands and it still makes quite a bit More torque than the other two Brands However the top Tang also performed very
Well let's see how long it takes for the Saws to cut through nine four by fours I'll place the saws as hard as possible And I'll try to avoid stalling the saw And the top Tang is faster than I Expected and it performed very well at 13.7 seconds on the first cut and the Top Tang performed very close to the Same on the second cut in 13.5 seconds Which is a really good time on this test And it's all lost a little cutting speed On the third pass at 14.4 seconds so 13.5 seconds is the fastest time and is A time to beat and the 58cc saw just Doesn't make enough torque unfortunately The chain came to a stop once during the Test and it just didn't cut very fast And 25.2 seconds is almost twice as long As the 52 CC saw and once again the 58cc Saw just doesn't make enough power and It's a little slower at 29.7 seconds and It's all finished the third cut in 28.5 Seconds so 25.2 seconds is the fastest Cut time of the three And it still makes about 2 000 more RPM Than the competition and a lot more Torque and a high chain speed in the Torque made a huge difference and 10.4 Seconds is about 30 percent faster than The top Tang And the steel performed even better on The second cut at 9.6 seconds or about 4 Seconds faster than the top Tang And the third pass is about the same
Speed as a second at 9.7 seconds looking At just the fastest cut the steel is Almost four seconds faster than the 52cc Top Tang while the steel easily Outperformed the other two saws the top Tank actually performed very well for a Budget saw to provide more of an Apples To Apples test let's see how fast each Of the saws will cut through the boards With five pounds of weight on the bar The test log is becoming pretty short so I'll make just one pass With five pounds on the bar the top tank Made the cut in 18.8 seconds so with Just a weight of the saw and five extra Pounds the top tank makes more than Enough power to handle extra downward Force and the 58cc saw barely makes Enough torque to keep the chain moving And it's 19.3 seconds to make the cut With less downward force it still had Very good chain speed and made a very Fast cut in 12.7 seconds I bought an Extra bar and chain it's identical to The bar and chain that's on the ms-291 As far as the chain all the saws use a 0.325 pitch even though it's not a Perfect fit let's see how the saw is cut With a brand name Barn chain And the steel chain is very sharp but it Requires a lot of torque to keep it Moving and the top Tang made the cut in 13.5 seconds so it's not any faster but It did tie its fastest pass from the
Previous test And a 58cc saw just doesn't make enough Torque to handle the chain and 25.7 Seconds is very close to the fastest Pass in the previous test let's add five Pounds to the bar And the top Tang made very good time Making the cut in 12.7 seconds And the 58cc saw just doesn't make Enough torque to keep the chain moving Unfortunately this all came to a stop a Couple of times during the test let's Take down a tree that recently died and I'll use it in the next test I'll fasten The chain about 20 feet up the tree it's A long ways down so hopefully the Logging chain hook stays attached and a Tree is in pretty good shape and the Tractor just won't be able to pull over The tree without a Little Help from the Chainsaw Foreign [Applause] And the size of the tree varies too much At the bottom so I'll start the testing At the center of the tree the tree is About 14 by 18 inches And once again for around a hundred Dollars the top tank performed very well And the top 10 made the cut in 35.7 Seconds And a second cut is a little slower than The first at 37 seconds not bad for a Budget price saw and the third cut is
The fastest of the three at 34.3 seconds So 34.3 is the time to be Once again the 58cc saw just doesn't Make enough torque for cutting through Thick material compared to the top Tang It took twice as long at over a minute To make the first cut and the second Pass took even longer than the first one At a minute and 24 seconds and the third Cut was a little faster than the second One at 72 seconds so 64 seconds is the Fastest pass of the three and the ms-291 Made the fastest cut yet at 27.8 seconds On the first pass so the steel is about 20 percent faster than the top tang and The steel made the second pass four Seconds faster and 23.9 seconds and the Steel ms-291 made the fastest pass of The three and 22.3 seconds so the ms-291 Is about 12 seconds faster than the top Tang the steel saw manufacturer claims That their saw is very fuel efficient And it does have the smallest fuel tank So let's compare fuel efficiency next I'll go and top off each of the oil and Fuel tanks before beginning the test and The top Tang holds almost 15 ounces of Fuel and the top Tang made 31 passes and Is finally out of fuel at 17 minutes and 22 seconds And a 58cc saw is noticeably slower Compared to the top tank and the saw Only made 12.5 passes in just over 18 Minutes while the saw it did run a
Little bit longer than the top tank it Accomplished about half the work And the steel is cutting a lot faster Than the top Tang in the 58cc saw and I'm quickly running out of log and it Still has the smallest fuel tank of the Three saws but is the fastest cutting And has the longest run time yet at over 19 minutes and 41 slices for the steel Is 10 more than the top tank and 28.5 Passes more than the 58cc saw so whether It's a test log or an actual log the Outcome is the same each time with the Steel coming out on top followed by the Top Tang all the saws have had fuel at It and have been started they've also Been left outside overnight and the Temperature is in the low 30s so let's See how they perform starting in the Cold temperature and it took 12 pulls on The starting road to start the top tank In the 58cc saw has a trigger lock and It really helped and it took five pulls On the starting rope to start to solve And it took five attempts to start the Steal the same as a 58cc saw I'll use a Push-pull meter to measure the amount of Force it takes to start the sauce And it took a peak force of 15 kilograms Or about 33 pounds for the top tang and A 58cc saw takes about 14.5 kilograms or About 32 pounds so very similar to the Top tang and the peak Force for the Steel is more than twice as much as the
Other two saws at around 31 kilograms or 68 pounds and the knockoff saws vibrated Way too much for the tester and the Steel is pretty comfortable to use and Has very little vibration so which saw Is the best not surprisingly the 550 Steel easily won The Showdown but it is Very expensive however if you're looking For a budget saw considering the price And performance the top tank seems like A great buy a big thank you to everyone That requested this review and thank you So much for supporting the Channel all The videos in this channel including This one our viewers suggested so if you Have a video idea I hope you'll take Time to leave a comment thanks so much For watching please take care and look Forward to next time