Stihl MS 250

Stihl's entry-level in-tree saw, slotting under the MS 201 T at $509.99 list — and the forum verdict is blunt: "a budget climbing saw with a disappointing amount of torque." That's the climber's take; the flip side is a smooth 2-MIX engine, 7.3 lbs on the powerhead, and the 1/4-inch PM3 chain, which cuts glassy-smooth on pruning wood and is a genuine advantage for fine ornamental work. Owners who advance the timing and open the muffler report it "pretty well catches up to the MS 201 T," which tells you the potential is tuned out at the factory. As a Stihl it's dealer-only, so there's no retail review aggregate to cite, but resale value and dealer support are the usual Stihl strong suits. Watch-outs from owner threads: the automatic oiler has no manual backup, the 1/4-inch chain means you're buying loops from the dealer rather than any hardware store, and parts don't interchange with the older MS 192/193 T it replaced. Stihl labels it for professional in-tree use only and it isn't sold in California. Homeowner-arborists love it; production climbers pay up for the 201.

The MS 170's more comfortable sibling — same compact class, but with the Easy2Start recoil system and a tool-free chain adjuster that make it the pick for owners who hate yanking pull cords and fishing for scrench wrenches. The Easy2Start spring assist genuinely works; reviewers note the cord pulls about two-thirds easier than a standard recoil, which is why this saw shows up so often in recommendations for older owners and smaller-framed users. The 31.8cc engine has a touch more grunt than the 170, and owners have cut plenty of firewood with it, though it's still happiest under 14-inch wood. The gripes cluster around the convenience features themselves: some old-school owners actively dislike the EZ tensioning wheel, and there are recurring reports of new chains stretching and derailing until you learn to re-tension obsessively during the first tanks. At $319.99 you're paying about $100 over the MS 170 purely for convenience — a trade the 1,300+ Ace reviewers largely endorse at 4.5 stars.

The Farm Boss is probably the most-recommended 'my first serious saw' in America, and its 4.5-star average over 2,850+ Ace reviews shows the formula works: 50.2cc, a 20-inch bar, modern spring anti-vibration that owners say leaves their hands fresh after a full day, and a fuel-efficient engine that runs 20% longer per tank than the MS 270 it replaced. There's a whole ArboristSite thread literally titled 'Why do so many guys bad mouth the MS 271' — the answer is that pros dismiss it as a heavy clamshell homeowner saw with mediocre power density (12.3 lbs for only 2.6 kW, about what a 10-pound pro 50cc saw makes). Both sides are right. It's slower than an MS 261 and not rebuildable the way a pro saw is, and OEM top-end parts are expensive with little aftermarket support. But for a landowner cutting a few cords a year, it's smooth, dependable, and roughly half the price of the pro alternative — which is exactly why dealers can't keep them on the wall.