Husqvarna T540xp - ongoing review

Been Using this saw almost exclusively for at least 6 months now.

Things I love about it:

- Feels balanced in the hand
- The power is definitely there, maybe not quite as quick as a good 200t, but its definitely there, you notice this especially when chogging down larger that bar length timber
- The clip on the back that allows one handed clipping to a caritool or similar

Things I hate:

- Not entirely sure I'm sold on auto tune yet, don't like how the saw runs when its ran dry
- The general build quality

This was the handle after it fell 1m out of the truck and hit concrete, not quite all the way through and not completely un usable but still not good. 

And this is the rear AV spring after I went away for a few days and one of the other climbers took it out and must have been dropping it on its strop rather than clipping it short. 

I do like this saw but feel they may have slightly missed the mark on build quality...

APF 2014

Managed to get across to Ragley Hall yesterday to check out the APF forestry exhibition. Its always a good opportunity to check out the latest gear and machinery, as well as do some shopping!

Picked up a few bits for myself -

Another Petzl bucket bag! 25m of 8mm Sirius accessory cord (my hitch cord of choice, this should last me a while!) and some 8mm Liros armor hitch cord I decided to try.

Also got myself a pair of Arborwear canopy trousers that I've wanted to try for ages 

As well as an Arborwear polo shirt. I'm currently looking to get some work shirts printed, but want to start off with a decent shirt, rather than the standard fruit of the loom ones. So thought I'd give one of these a go. 

Also picked up some bits for the company I do some work for in London - 

A tree runner p500, to replace the portawrap in our lightweight rigging kit (fixed bollards are so much easier for people to get to grips with)

Some weaver spikes for the aerial rescue kit and a new husky T540xp for the other team. 

Husqvarna T540xp - ongoing review

I've been using this saw now since the end of January, I had one little blip that turned out to be a missing breather, and other than that it has been faultless

 

I am continually impressed with the power and torque of this little saw, I'm running it on a 12" bar and it really flies through the wood, the stump its sat on was a douglas fir I dismantled last week and I was happily chogging with the husky down to about 16 - 17" diameter stuff until I switched for a bigger saw.

 

The power is there straight away with none of the lag you get from a 201T, as soon as you start squeezing the trigger the revs are there. Its well balanced and with a choice of 3 handle sizes it can be tailored to suit most climbers.

 

The main metal strop attachment point on the left seems a little flimsy but is holding up perfectly well and the rigid plastic one on the left is an absolute stroke of genius and allows the saw to be readily clipped to a caritool. I've always been able to clip a saw up short and one handed, by having a large HMS style crab at the saw end of the strop I could clip it onto a caritool relatively easily but this additional clip makes it so much easier and keeps the saw nice and close into the body, which is exactly how I like to carry it.  

My only real negative comments are that firstly the bumber spikes could maybe be a little bit larger (this I think is a common husky flaw) and I'm not a massive fan of the chain brake action, but that is me being quite picky.

Only time will tell to see if this saw will last like the old 200T's used to but for now I think they are the only real option for a dismantling saw for the professional arborist. And the real test; would I buy one with my own money? - Well I've just spent a Saturday smacking down poplars for a friend with my own new husky after both my old 200's decided they'd had enough! And I'm very happy with my purchase.




Couple more videos

Just a couple more videos following on from the last couple of posts

Lots of rigging

Couple of videos here of the Stein Block and Husky top handle  in action, whilst taking down a couple of big poplars.

Nicely overhanging some fences and industrial units, pretty much everything had to be rigged.

                                          

Ended up having a tag line on most of the pieces in order to pull them clear, even had to use the Mini MA system I've been harping on about so much. Came in very handy for a lot of the lower growth that actually dipped down lower than the fences, allowed us to pretension the line much more than usual and in a couple of case lift the pieces up completely with the felling cut on top of the branch. 

You can just see the fence in this photo, with that razor wire type top it was definitely something we didn't want branches getting caught up in. 

Husqvarna T540xp - Trouble already

So after getting this saw a few weeks ago I posted my first impressions. Which were initially quite positive, and for the first couple of weeks I had no reason to change this. But lately the saw has been playing up quite a bit; cutting out mid cut (whilst on full revs) not ticking over very well, having to cold start it every time and just generally being a pain. Not great really.

So I asked around and someone on Arbtalk pointed out it was probably just an issue with the auto tune (my thoughts anyway) and that I should take it back to the dealer and have them reset it, only a two minute job apparently. This is all well and good, but the dealer is an hour away and not something I should have to be doing after only a couple of weeks of light use.

What frustrates me with new technology like auto tune is the fact that it prevents the professional user from carrying out certain tasks. Meaning any engine issues are not a quick fix and require the saw being plugged into a laptop. A chainsaw into a laptop… what is the world coming too?!

How I wish I'd brought a dozen 200t's before they stopped making them.

More to come I'm sure...

Rigging line redirect

The anchor point I was using in the oak yesterday was slightly stepped out from the main stem meaning  that the rigging line wouldn't of entered the lowering bollard at the correct angle. So to rectify this I installed a second Pulley block at the top of the stem, at the crown break.

This ensured that the line ran plum with the stem and entered the Lowering bollard at a right angle to the stem. 

The large ISC pulley block might be a bit overkill for using as a redirect but it was the only pulley I had with us that would fit both the 16mm line you see hear and the 19mm we switched too when we moved onto rigging some bigger lumps. 

Husqvarna T540XP - First impressions

We got this yesterday and I got to give it a spin today

We mostly run with 200t's where I currently work. Some of them are getting pretty tired now and spend more time being fixed than being used. We have one 201T that hasn't really impressed us, so when the time came for a new saw we opted for Husqvarna's new offering to the market. 

Now this has been out for a few months, long enough for people to give it a good battering and I read a lot of reviews before deciding to commit. Most of which were pretty positive. 

First impressions are good, its well balanced and lightish, it does feel a little bit plasticy, but most saws do nowadays. I have only used it on a couple of smallish reductions so far so can't comment on the power too much, but it does seem to be there and no delay when squeezing the throttle, which is the 201's main flaw. 

Although I think I'm going to have to give it a good couple of months of hard work before I make any kind of judgement on it, watch this space…