ALDI Ferrex 46cc Petrol Chainsaw (Oct 2021)

A real Fixer-Uper-Er! – Found in Aldi Discount Bin and Purchased. When I first tried the saw it was rubbish out of the box. The engine would cut out and seemed to have no Power, the chain kept coming off the bar so I Binned the saw in the too hard Tool Shed for a long time. Last week I was looking for a project so I striped this saw to fix it's issues. The Chain coming… Read more

off was because there was no lead in on the SHARP & TIGHT bar entry so a small filing of the burs and excess powder coat solved that issue. The Engine issue was one I have come across TOO MANY TIMES before and surely some authority should look into, namely the fuel lines were inferior, perished and leaking both fuel and air there by starving the motor. After replacing the Fuel lines this saw worked well. I have now used it a lot in the past fer days and if it had been working like this out of the box it would be a five star saw and review, but alas with the issues I found with this saw out of the box this saw was DANGEROUS.

Handy little saw, great for homeowner with an open fireplace – Usually starts first pull using the correct procedure, has plenty of power for firewood etc, quiet enough not to annoy the neighbours. Great little saw for a traveller or camping or for home firewood. Show details

Faulty Product – I bought one of the current Aldi Ferrex 46cc chainsaws from the local store. It refused to start and run after multiple attempts, despite following the instructions. These, by the way, were confusing. The chainsaw would occasionally start briefly then stop at best. Otherwise it was dead. The chainsaw was returned and willingly replaced by the… Read more

store. Exactly the same problems with the second item! There was definitely a manufacturing problem with both chainsaws, possibly with the ignition system, spark plug or carburetor. Returned for a refund. Not a good example of Aldi's choice of products.

Painful to start the first time, but good after that – At first it seemed like we had a dud. No matter what we did it wouldn't start. So we rang the customer service number provided on a slip of paper along side the instruction manual. Turns out the manual has a mistake and the ignition switch should be up for on (towards the word 'STOP') and down for off. After this it still wouldn't start. I had the… Read more

option of taking to to a workshop on the other side of Melbourne or returning it within 60 days (without having to prove it's faulty). I was informed that they are tested in the factory and difficult to start the first time because the petrol dries out. Eventually we got it going by adding a splash of petrol to the spark plug. We noticed the spark plug boot seems a little bit flakey but didn't cause any issues once running. After leaving it for 24 hours, it started again from cold without any issues.

After a little test run, it is powerful at 1.8kW output, cuts well and is a reasonable solid unit. Cut through some semi-dry 20-25cm branches with ease. Not too bad for $100 with one year warranty. Only downside is that at 6kg it's quite heavy. But a brandname saw with similar power output but less weight could set you back 5-7 the price, though probably worth it if you're going to do a lot of cutting. So you're probably looking at lighter use or a backup machine. So for it's a good machine for the price, but would be better if it weren't so difficult to start the first time and the manual were more clear.