what do you think of dolmar the company and there products

peppone · February 14, 2010, 12:26:42 PM

from my point of view Dolmar is much more for professionals than Husky and at the same level with Stihl.
I've never never never had the problems you describe in the many dolmar saws I use.
just a question: "how per cent oil you put in the fuel?"

logloper · February 15, 2010, 09:59:16 PM

50 to 1 ,mabe a bit heavy on the oil

Bret4207 · March 04, 2010, 07:37:16 AM

I used to be a Husky/Jonsered dealer-mechanic. When my 266 bit the dust I traded into a Sachs Dolmar 116si. Today I run Husky, Stihl and Sachs Dolmar. The newer Huskys are not as good as the older Sachs and the Stihls are better than Husky today. I'd take my Sachs over both if the parts supply was better. What the new Dolmar/Makitas are like I don;t know, but the older ones were fantastic saws.

rickywashere · March 04, 2010, 08:18:00 AM

my dcs520 is great but parts have to be ordered from the net lots here would buy makita/dolmar if parts where available.

nc/sc · March 04, 2010, 06:36:34 PM

Just got my Makita DCS 510 20" in from Bailey's today.
Wow, I'm impressed.
I was a little surprised there was no hole to grease the bar tip.
I was also surprised there was no compression release although the manual shows one.
It was a real bugger to start the first time...no primer bulb, but maybe thats the norm on better saws.
All I've ever had as a hobby "logger" is McCullough or Homelite.
It puts my 20" Homelite 46 cc to shame. The Chinese Homelite has actually been a pretty trouble free saw except for the blade brake mechanism screwing up. I took it all off and kept on going...
Oh yeah the Makita manual says 2 year warranty, their website says 1 year and the box says 3 year ???
I'm hanging on to the box for, oh, at least 3 years 8)

567paloggger · March 04, 2010, 09:42:14 PM

yea i dont know about them besides i like my 5100s i think they need to get there stuff together and get more shops selling there product and have parts out there seems to me the saw to go with is stihl or husky

tdi-rick · March 05, 2010, 04:56:10 AM

Quote from: sawguy21 on February 07, 2010, 10:59:03 PM

[snip]
They have recently spun it off into it's own entity, as E-lux did with Husky, and the name is slowly being re built. With the global down turn and soft lumber markets they could not have picked a worse time.

Where did you get that info ?

There is nothing I can find anywhere about Makita divesting Dolmar and it doesn't make sense, particularly when they are phasing the Dolmar name out in so many international markets and renaming it Makita OPE, buying Fuji-Robin in '07 to expand the OPE line to include their trimmers, etc and assembling the PS/DCS460 and PS/DCS510 saws in the Makita factory in China.

All current info on Makita's corporate website still includes Dolmar as a fully owned subsidiary

John Mc · March 05, 2010, 12:54:47 PM

Quote from: rickywashere on March 04, 2010, 08:18:00 AM
lots here would buy makita/dolmar if parts were available.

Dolmar has replaced Husqvarna as the sponsor for the "Game of Logging", at least here in the USA. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. I know a bunch of landowners ended up buying Husky saws after they took the GOL level 1 class (and the ones I saw were buying towards the pro end of the scale, rather than the entry-level models). Dolmar might pick up some sales that way, but they do need a better dealer presence, at least in my area. Not everyone is comfortable working on their own saws. For many, tightening or changing a chain is about as far as they go.

John Mc

windthrown · March 05, 2010, 08:26:04 PM

Well, Dolmar could be the best saw ever made, but becasue of their distribution system here in the PNW, we cannot get them anywhere around here. None of their better saws are on the shelves here anyway. I can rent a Makita DCS saw at Home Depot, but that's about it. No local Dolly dealers and no parts available locally means that they may as well not even exist. Meanwile there are Stihl dealers every 10-30 miles or so from here in any direction for a few hundred miles. I can buy just about any Stihl model product off the shelf in about 20 minutes, tops. I can also get parts, and if need be get the saws and blowers serviced. Cannot do that with Dolmar. I have tried to find the better Dolmar saws here. None of their so-called "dealers" have a PS350, PS420, 5100s, or 7900 in stock. Most could not even order them. I can get Husky stuff as well here, but they are more limited.

So for me its Stihl.

jumpinmp · April 11, 2010, 05:07:12 AM

I'm a Husky/Jonsered and Echo dealer in the inland northwest. We used to be a Sachs and Makita dealer back in the day. We are still able to get parts for dolmars/makita using our Briggs & Stratton distributor, but since we're not setup as a dealer with them, we dont' get a discount on parts anymore. Anyhow, we have an Ace Hardware store just down the road from us and they're stocking the new Dolmars (they also have a service shop with 1 mechanic)... the other 2 Ace Hardwares in town have Stihl. Might try an Ace Hardware in your area and see if they are stocking any Dolmars if that's what you're after.

Edit: To answer the original question... Sachs are pretty good/dependable saws, but I don't have much experience working on the newer ones. The older ones tend to leak bar oil no matter what you do. You can go through and replace every single oiler part from the lines to the pump and it won't matter, there's a good chance it's just going to keep on dripping.
(note: I'm not the main mechanic, more of a salesman/minor repair guy, but I pickup a lot of stuff from my techs)

windthrown · April 11, 2010, 08:15:35 PM

Well, there is a Stihl saw and rental shop that has started selling Dolmar saws not too far from here now. Its across the river and a ways on the lower east side of town out in the burbs, but lo, they actually have the 5100s and the 7900 in stock. First pro Dolmar saws I have seen on the shelves around here.

logloper · April 22, 2010, 10:40:36 PM

I finally heard back from the saw shop on my 7900 today. I had so much trouble with it, ( lots of little stuff and then the crank broke off) the company is sending me a brand new one free of charge. I coudnt expect more. I hope this one holds together better, and mabe the broken one was just a lemon. We are going back to work logging in the next few weeks, so I will put it to the test. Wish me luck

rbtree · April 23, 2010, 10:49:00 AM

Musta been a lemon...or something happened like a lean seizure....

I have 3 7900's (two are Makita blue 6401's conveted to 7901) The 7900 is probably the second or third to ever be woods ported, and is still as strong as when it was worked over. Some minor issues have been improved..such as the porrly designed starter pulley...and the mesh lined air filter cover than adequately solves the filtration issue, to the point that I haven't bothered getting the new larger filter and cover..which I'm sure are good....

And I have two 5100's, one was ported by Ed Heard, the other muffler modded. They're nice and fast, but the ported one is difficult to start when hot...haven't determined the problem.....don't like the saw as much as my ported 346's, both old and NE......

Corley5 · April 25, 2010, 10:42:27 AM

My Jonsered dealer has just brought in Dolmar saws. We test drove a 7900 last winter when he was working on getting the line in and liked the saw a lot. I liked it so much there's new one in the shed right now ;D

The 2186 will be going down the road very shortly

madhatte · May 05, 2010, 10:54:37 AM

I really like my Dolmar, and happily recommend them to whoever will listen. Right now I have a 6400 with the Bailey's BB kit on it, and it seems to about pull with a MS660 at significantly less weight. It easily out-pulls my MS460.

Parts/service availability is certainly an issue, and Makita had best get that one figured out. The product is a winner, and they'd be fools to lose out on that market.