Dolmar 420 or Makita 4301

[Greenerpastures]

Hi everyone
Just wondering if anyone has experience with either of the above.
The Makita is 40 sterling cheaper than the Dolmar, yet they seem to be
the same saw, both unfortunately have cat mufflers though.
Dolmar states Magnesuim casing, does anyone know what the Makita has.

Thanks

[Greenerpastures]

Anyone use any of these saws, would like to know
what you think of them, are they the same saw only
in different colours.

[hatman-nz]

Hi  
have a EA4301F  find it a good  wee saw  had it a few years. no major worrys with it 
did not know  could still get the dolmars. tho  as only get makita here  
I would of thought only the colour of the covers  would be the differences  between them I could be wrong tho  and some one wiser than me will know 
have a 109 dolmar as well. and the 109 would be  a bit. tougher more a pro  style older saw were the. newer one. bit more semi pro   but like most things  nowadays  bit more plastic 
cheers
Hat 

[Greenerpastures]

Hi  
have a EA4301F  find it a good  wee saw  had it a few years. no major worrys with it
did not know  could still get the dolmars. tho  as only get makita here  
I would of thought only the colour of the covers  would be the differences  between them I could be wrong tho  and some one wiser than me will know
have a 109 dolmar as well. and the 109 would be  a bit. tougher more a pro  style older saw were the. newer one. bit more semi pro   but like most things  nowadays  bit more plastic
cheers
Hat
Hi hatman-nz
Thanks for commenting.
There is no F in the model number of this saw, and this is what leads me to beleive
it is the same as the Dolmar 420, which is a pro saw, though small in size.
There is a Makita 4301F model also listed on the same site, which I understand the
F means farmers saw, at least here in europe, they are a little heavier and have aluminium casings, other than this they are identical saws.
In any event I looked into the site that is selling the Makita 4301 and found a lot of
complaints about delivery, and orders taken with the saws advertised as guaranteed
to be in stock, this guarantee seems to have caught a lot of people who than had trouble
getting their money back when they were eventually notified the product was not
in stock with no definite date of when stock would be coming in, I had trouble last year
with another place that did the same, so not taking a chance.
I am pleased you are having no problems with your saw, the older saws I find were
quite well built, it would seem as of late the major players have made quite a few slip
ups with their offerings, while so called lesser known brands have proved to be much better.

in any event, thanks you for posting.

[hatman-nz]

Have  quite a line up of  dolmars  
newer ones. have had more probs with fuel lines. a ps9010 I have. eats a fuel line. once a year   dealer says its the crap  kiwi fuel  ummmmm then why dose my  28 year old 120si  not eat the fuel line

only thing I find bad with  the 4301F  is. the bar is running  325/0.050   were the  109 runs 325 /0.058   same size bar  so can  put the wrong chain on  now and then.

ticks all the boxes. it has to tho  
some specs on the saws here
cheers
Hat

[Greenerpastures]

Thanks again hatman-nz
A little worrying, and as you say your older saws do not
have the pipe eating problem, hard to think Makita would
change to an inferior pipe to save a few pennies, and this
is happening on a saw that is made in the EU, I think they
actually make all the F models in China, Stihl opened a factory
there in 2014, and many other manufacturers are there too,
where a factory is located does not bother me, its what drives
a company there, penny saving, yet in reality this is not being
passed on to the customer, in my situation here, the Dolmar
420 which is made in Germany is the same price or cheaper
than the Makita 4301F which is not made in Germany, now to
me that means the move to China is to make more money for
Dolmar / Makita, as the saw in question is no cheaper to the
buyer, sad times looking at how greed is effecting the products
we buy, less for more, thankfully there are some manufacturers
that pass on some of the saving though.

[hatman-nz]

know in the uk. when I asked about  fuel lines on a farming forum 
   a few guys come back and said the fuel there hard on lines  since the  % of  corn. in  fuels  
one guys dad was a stihl  dealer. and brought fuel lines. by the box full  most common  part replaced  now days 

[hedgerow]

Greenerpastures
I have ran both not the same models as your are looking at. I had a Dolmar 510 that saw didn't seem to run right from the get go back to the dealer several times and they never made it right it finally ate the piston and I just sold it. I bought the Makita on line have to look at the model it is the larger model of the time we run a 20 inch bar on it. I have had it for several years and zero problems. It gets used hard, we cut a lot of hedge and locust in the heat of the summer. 

[Greenerpastures]

Thanks hatman-nz and hedgerow
I do understand the fuel is sore on things, more so these days
with the corn, I have seen how it completely changes how a saw
runs, from one place to another, i buy in one place that sells good
fuel and have had no problems with it, but there is no one I know of
who has not suffered from fuel  / ethanol related problems.
And all we can do is follow our great leaders who know whats
best for us all.

[hedgerow]

Even though I raise corn I still buy non ethanol fuel for my small engines and my old tractors that sit around a lot. We are lucky around here you can still buy non ethanol fuel a lot of places but it is 30 to 40 cents higher. I have had to repair a lot of friends equipment with ethanol related problems.