OK, here's the deal.
When you buy tools at Home Depot and Lowes, you're often buying a re-engineered version of the tool, designed specifically to lower the cost.

For example, a Milwaukee Sawzall has a very different gearbox with plastic inside when you buy the Home Depot model.

Husquavarna has entered into the homeowner market with a similar strategy of reengineered products to hit lower prices.

The same is true for the Echo Brand chainsaws (which are made by Kioritz in Japan). If you want a saw that lasts, you buy from a company that sells top-end landscaping equipment to pros. It might be the same brand, but it's the engineering that matters.

Stihl is a solid performer, and until recently, it was the sole brand we used in the Fire Company. You won't find Stihl using lower-end versions of the product just to get to a price that puts them on the shelf at the Depot.

However, one of our members has a family business that has been selling landscaping power equipment for 75 years (yes, 75 years) and we recently got some Shindawa chainsaws from them, and they are far and away the best saws I've ever used. They are the only chainsaw on two of our trucks (we roll with a Stihl and a Shindawa on the largest engine)

So, Echo - from a landscape power tools place,
Stihl from anywhere and Shindawa would be my advice. I own a 16" Echo chainsaw, I really have no trouble with it at all, and it gets some hard use. The Shindawa is used in just terrible conditions and is superior in every way to all the others.

Excellent point, Martin. You need to be more discriminating with brands that appear in big box stores and make sure the particular models you're looking at are up to your standards, not just the overall brand reputation.

Martin's post got me thinking.

The saw I purchased arrived in the mail this morning. I didn't open it and called to request an RMA to send it back.

On the way home from UPS, I stopped by our local landscape equipment shop and purchased a Stihl MS 361.

http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/MS361.html

They showed me how to use all the fancy features and got me set up with accessories. I decided to buy an additional 18" bar/chain, since most often I won't need the full 24" bar.

Thank you for all of your help.

I think I can get back to work now....

Good choice, I have worn out more than one "cheapo" chainsaw (Craftsman for one) with relative light use. But I have used quite a few Stihls with never a burp. I would suggest that one purchase the most powerful model that they can afford, more power (and a sharp chain, sharpen them OFTEN) means less strain on the saw...

Once you get a good saw make sure you upgrade to a good chain-blade for it too. Oregon Chains are favorites in the logging community out here.

Can't go wrong with a Stihl.

Good points too about the "consumer" vs. "commercial" models. My father has a "Husky" that's been worked hard for roughly 12 years (firewood for three families) and has been indestructible. I know he bought it at a full-service, commercial Husqvarna dealer and not a big box place. Now he's passed it on to me, and kept his other saw (a Stihl) for himself, simply because it has fewer hours on it.

Ditto on the sharp chain: the minutes spent doing regular touch-ups save hours of cutting time.

Jeez...that saw has more features than my truck.

Good choice with Stihl. We've got four of their Cutquik saws and a few of their chain saws. They get used pretty often and I don't think we've ever had a problem with them. (By the way, those Cutquik saws are awesome. We use them on everything; wood, steel, concrete, brick, aluminum, you name it.)

We use the Sthil 440 Magnum with both 25" and 28" bars for wildland and project work. With very minor care they will run all day. The 440 is a bigger saw and may be more then you need, but if you have a lot of cutting it is a great saw!

More features than my truck too. It's kind of an intimidating piece of equipment.

The saw even has an electric handle heater! That will be nice as it is getting cold in Illinois....38 degrees right now.

I read the operations manual last night, which is well written. It sure is nice to get a decent manual with something you buy. It even gives instructions for dropping trees using the saw.

I finally got around to using the new saw. I'm not sure if I should be happy or upset. First, the saw ran great...almost all the way through the first tank of gas...less than an hour. Then the chain seized up. The bar is not pinched. Engine still runs, bar still turns at the tip, chain gear is stuck.

I was cutting through very thick punky wood so it may just be gummed up somehow, but it seems like a more serious mechanical problem with the bearing around the chain gear.

Any way, I suppose I am happy to have somewhere to take it to get it fixed, hopefully under warranty. But this is incredibly disappointing and inconvenient after spending approx $600 on the Stihl.