Super-cheap rebranded chainsaws

[Fulcrum156]

We've bought two super-cheap saws (70$ each) on the black market. Their build quality is poor, they weren't really a good deal. And from time to time I often come across the same saws over the internet. They look all the same, but have a different brand name, colors, air filter, sometimes handlebar. They look to be all the same.  They are specified to have a powerful engine, but, I have my doubts it produces the rated power. One of these two saws I own suddenly doesn't turn on anymore, while the other has since the beginning having problems with idling.
Now I mostly use a top-brand - Husqvarna - as I really don't want to have a saw that has issues most of the time ..

[ladylake]

 Waste of money.  Steve

[Guydreads]

Buy a used chainsaw that's not running, fix it up for a few bucks then you get way better quality

[Tacotodd]

It looks like it’s a cheap knockoff when they don’t even have felling aiming marks/lines on them.

And one of them is clearly in copyright infringement to one of the major companies.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Usually  u get what you pay for and sometimes we all step over dollars to save dimes

[Spike60]

Those things do make me shake my head and laugh. There is a staggering amount of different color combinations. And some of the brand names they come up with are quite comical.

Customers occasionally wander into the store with one of these saws, but I always turn them away. Strange dynamic exists with stuff like this where if you work on something once, you're expected to work on it again and again. Then you end up on the hook dealing with all of the quality and design flaws. Not to mention no parts. Steve's right; waste of money.

[Real1shepherd]

This is true of a lot of service related jobs. I go to repair something for a customer and then memories get short later on what exactly I fixed and suddenly I become responsible for the whole project. This is why I'm not interested in repair, only new construction.

I think it's human nature to try and make someone else responsible for something broken and/or in need of repair. Or the notion that because you fixed it, it should be like 'new' and give the same service life again that it did previously. People are delusional that way. Something is only new once and some things are poorly engineered & produced at that. These saws are a case in point. You'd be crazy to touch these saws professionally.

Kevin

[weimedog]

There are a pile of folks selling the Zenoah clones. If you have to go that route at least the "Farmertec" brand has an online following. some semblance of support, and actually has spare parts support. Their "Joncutter" line is quite the bang per buck, $150 gets u a 58cc iteration delivered. I had one and its out being "tested" with no issues in semi steady land owner / fire wood use for a year & 1/2. Funny thing is those 58cc Joncutter clone of clones are pretty solid little saw for what they are. ( Their Joncutter g5800 ). MUCH better than some of their similar displacement "Stihl" clone offerings for twice as much. So while often you get what u pay for in a cynical sense it true, there are exceptions.

[woodworker9]

I cannot and will not support the chinese knockoff economy......ever.

[Tacotodd]

Swedes, Germans, and Japs, yes. Chinese, NO!!!!!

The quality question is to great for me. Experience is a heck of a teacher.

[Fulcrum156]

There are a pile of folks selling the Zenoah clones. If you have to go that route at least the "Farmertec" brand has an online following. some semblance of support, and actually has spare parts support. Their "Joncutter" line is quite the bang per buck, $150 gets u a 58cc iteration delivered. I had one and its out being "tested" with no issues in semi steady land owner / fire wood use for a year & 1/2. Funny thing is those 58cc Joncutter clone of clones are pretty solid little saw for what they are. ( Their Joncutter g5800 ). MUCH better than some of their similar displacement "Stihl" clone offerings for twice as much. So while often you get what u pay for in a cynical sense it true, there are exceptions.

So, Zenoah is the original one. Farmertec Joncutter is a (legal??) copy of the Zenoah. Then there are tons of other various cheap clones of the Zenoah?

[ButchC]

Customers occasionally wander into the store with one of these saws, but I always turn them away. Strange dynamic exists with stuff like this where if you work on something once, you're expected to work on it again and again. Then you end up on the hook dealing with all of the quality and design flaws. 

Funny how that works isn't it? I had to learn that lesson the hard way that few people own up to thier own mistakes and look to place blame in the easiest direction. I actually had  a person go nuts on me when I wouldn't work on his non-chainsaw type clone.

[Real1shepherd]

There is great irony in this. There are now Chinese knockoffs of Chinese knockoffs. Apparently some Chinese product makers are trying to rob other Chinese maker's designs.....designs they stole in the first place. So even they have some sort of primitive propriety legal structure for manufacturing product.

All I can say to the Chinese is;'How does it feel?'

Kevin

[weimedog]

Unfortunately we tend to focus on this when it comes to saws....right after a trip to Wal-Mart. Or to AutoZone for a aftermarket car part. For my part I don't really care at this point. My personal favorites are the Swedish branded saws and history. Other will racialize as I do with the Swede's , German designs. All the innovations that came from there took over the saw world in my most humble opinion. ( emphasis on OPINION ) AND when patents ran out those concepts bled over into other brands, everything from three point spring anti vibe systems separating the gas tank handle from the saw to taking air spun off the flywheel into the airbox as a cleaner supply, from piston port vertical cylinder layout's to now in concert with another company; Autotune technology ( That got BOUGHT by others btw )..... And watched the 650 vertical twin Matchless turn into a Kawasaki... Flat twin BMW's Ural's. on and on. The market place usually sorts out the chaff. Same will happen here over time. I can only hope that "patent" law is upheld so the new innovations financed and developed can get a return for those who risked it all before dissipating to chaff into all who would leverage them in the future. THAT would be the best. After patents have run out....like in every other time in history its open season like it or not. NOT unique to any business or country. Just remember , someone developed the monkey wrench as a tool once....and it was special, innovative, unique for them. AND everyone can voice their opinion with their dollars....how a free market works. And relevant to this is who you vote for matters, ultimately I can't be angry for folks trying to leverage an economic opportunity, but I can with those who are unelected and in power who tip the scales creating or stopping things like true patent theft. For the rest I just vote with my dollars. 

[Real1shepherd]

International law when it comes to patent infringements is a big can o' worms. Very difficult to enforce laws and it takes yrs...sometimes a decade or more while its fought out in the courts.

Case in point;father & son invented that hanging bacon holder you slipped into a microwave. They had done the do diligence and filed correctly for a patent. Chinese got wind of the invention, copied it and sent 350,000 unit copies over here.

Of course the father & son sued and got the fakes stopped. But 350,000 fake units were already sold. There was no undoing that and was a direct loss to their sales. Getting substantial compensation from the Chinese company that sold the fake units.....forgetaboutit.

It's only a "free" market in theory.......and protecting your inventions is much more complicated than you can imagine. There are professional 'experts' out there whose only job is to get around a patent design so the copying company won't get sued.

Kevin

[Spike60]

I cannot and will not support the chinese knockoff economy......ever.

I'm with you.
And that includes not working on those blue Huskys when the come through the door, as that would also be a form of support. Amazing how many people say hilarious things like, "They're all from the same factory as the Huskys/Stihls"
Sorry Walt, but 40 year old motorcycle analogies don't address the more recent and alarming realities that have come to light with China; that go far beyond cloning products that have been designed by others. It's more than the "knockoff economy" that I will not support.

[Guydreads]

I was considering one very similar to the one 2nd from the bottom at one point. I am so thankful that I didn't buy it. Instead I bought my Partner 500 for 20 bucks less, restored it to like new condition put in about 170 bucks and have a perfectly good essentially all metal saw. These saws are worthless pieces of junk!

@Tacotodd I'm not seeing which one infringes on copyright laws. Would you kindly point that out? Maybe I'm just non observant .

Anyway that's my opinion. Spend a little extra do re mi and get a much better saw. And also, who wants to support China, except for the Chinese parts..... Yikes.

[lxskllr]

I can see them being fun for people who want to play with mechanicals, and /maybe/ get a decent runner after it's all said and done. I don't think they have any place at all as turn key working saw, and/or for people that can't do a complete teardown to make their own repairs.

I'm pretty particular about not buying Chinese tools. In some cases, it's virtually impossible to avoid, but I do my best to try. A long long time ago I bought a Chinese axe for work. I had already been burned by Chinese junk, but my thinking was "It's just a chunk of steel on a stick, how could they screw that up?!". They screwed that up. The wood was crap, and the way it was fitted to the handle was crap(invisible under an epoxy cap). All I needed was a piece of steel to beat stakes in with, and scrape pavement, chop through roots, dig... IOW, not as a real axe. It couldn't even do that...

[sablatnic]

Those saws aren't rebranded og copies of anything, they are chinese saws of inferior construction and quality. 
But some of the models are dressed up to look somewhat similar to known makes, such as the Steel 290!

[Allar]

I get so triggered when i see people selling those exact same saws with a Stihl sticker on em.