>>572827I had a long reply written out but i accidentally hit esc so lost it.
Short version is we have an MS170 the boss bought when i fucked my back hedge laying all winter with a bigger stihl and i really like it.
the short bar and light weight is fantastic IMHO. I've cut some fairly big shit too using the one side then the other method.
It's a cheap stihl so some parts aren't as well made, for example when compared to our proper stihl:
>the picco chain is smaller and wears faster, but on the plus side that makes it much quicker to sharpen>bar is fairly short but i've only a couple times wanted for more and 99.99% of the time have very much enjoyed the increased mobility and handling>rubber bushes instead of springs for anti vibration>chain catcher is part of the sprocket case so will need it all replacing when it goes>fuel and oil caps not as good quality, we've sprung a leak in the oil cap using the slot to tighten it up as it will occasionally work itself loose done by hand>slightly harder to strip down below the sprocket levelBUT - all those things considered I still really like it. it's cheap for a stihl (£170 in the uk IIRC) and if i were looking to buy a saw it's what I'd get no questions asked. I default to that saw every time even though we have the proper big stihl and have only once or twice in lots of regular use wished i had the longer bar of the bigger saw, when dealing with real big shit, which was always 'oh fuck this big cunt tree fell down in a bad place' rather than planned work.
Husky by all accounts make real good saws too though, and lots of people just decide by checking which brand has a service centre nearer them, which is probably not a bad idea.