Stihl MS 271

Great saw – Overall it's one of the best saws you could hope for in it's size, i've recently only started cutting my own firewood and the 271 is a little beast. There lies the problem in that an 18" bar is too small for my liking, at least for felling trees where i live in Tasmania. I've bought a 500i for larger trees but the 271 is still a fantastic saw at it's size.

Very impressive saw that's got me very satisfied – Bought my 271 Farm Boss on Oct 14, 21 and I first looked for a 455 Rancher but couldn't find one locally as a few friends own one so went to Stihl dealership and purchased it for $439 with the 20' bar and doubled the warranty to 2 years with the purchase of a pack of synthetic 2stroke oil. The saw starts great when started as instructed in the manual and it's powerful for what it is. I'm now glad I couldn't find a 455 Rancher cause the 271 is a much better choice. It's got more torque to cut through the hard woods and has the clutch and chain brake built inside with the bolt cover nuts being a 17mm versus the 455 Rancher having the clutch built on outside and chain brake built into the bar cover with 13mm bolts and if taking off the bar cover with chain brake on its almost impossible to fix it back so that's what I like about the build quality over the 455 Rancher. I've cut 18 inch diameter ash and it eat it up like it was going through butter mind the wood being green btw. It cuts alot of wood on a tank of gas and my only complaint about it is the factory bar oiler not being adjustable and even though it seems like it's not oiling enough the bar and chain doesn't get hot so I guess it's oiling enough so really can't complain about that too much but all in all I'm very satisfied with my purchase and if I had to do over again I'd buy another one. It's that good!!! Compare it against the next model up which is the 261, same 50cc motor but maybe a third more hp with the magnesium casing and prolly a pound lighter. The 261 costs way more and barely cuts a little faster honestly so for the cost verses the power you can't go wrong with the 271. It's a great little saw and if your looking for something that starts good, idles and cuts fantastic for the price range you can't go wrong. I've not had a single issue and you can always count on it to get the job done no matter what type of wood it is. Keep it clean after every use and always keep your filter clean but with these they stay pretty clean anyway. Oh yea, it also has a summer/winter mode too so that's pretty cool, if under 50' Fahrenheit switch to winter mode. Always read the manual and reread it if it's your first purchase of a new saw. That's very important to know everything you need to know before using any saw.

A powerful efficient, reliable well made chainsaw – I've had a number of non- premium chainsaws in the past and this Sthill chainsaw is a world of difference! It's easy to start when cold or warm. The engine is powerful and very responsive. The amount of bar lube this saw uses is much less than my previous saws due to Sthill patented technology. My only wish is that it had 'captive' nuts on the sprocket case like the MS261 which is the model up as I lost a nut which worked loose during use (get a couple of spare nuts when you buy the saw). Talking of the 'professional' MS261 which is model above the differences between the models are the captive nuts, a magnesium case rather than tough plastic, about 0.3 more HP and a decompression valve which is unnecessary on s 50hp saw. For $500 saving over the MS261 the MS271 is awesome value!