g7g7g7g7
Established Member
This summer I purchased the cheapest chainsaw I could possibly find, sold on ebay as a Neilsen 58CC petrol chainsaw on ebay for £65.99 . This is actually imported from China as a Miller Tools MT-9999, a saw with such a bad reputation for unreliability and low build quality that I imagine it's impossible to sell under that name. ***Since then there has been a new cheapest chainsaw on the market at £50, the raptor38***
Having been used primarily as a beach/driftwood saw, something that I can subject to sand, bad weather, root balls that might contain stones, various assorted bits of detritus that I've taken from dumps and stuff that might have barbed wire and nails in it from the old industrial estate that I wouldn't touch with a more expensive saw, especially one with a chain that costs nearly the same as this saw under review. Today I dismantled it cleaned it and stowed it over the winter and I thought it a good a time as any to share my experience with this rather temperamental machine.
The good -
It's surprisingly good at cutting wood, I've put it through some horrific abuse and it has done exactly what I wanted every time. I have no complaints about it's ability to chew through big chunks of timber, as well as rocks, nails and random bits of wire.
The chain is remarkably durable, staying sharper for longer than I expected and the teeth are unusually hard considering the rest of the metal components seem so soft.
The bad -
The build quality is terrible, all the plastic fuel caps don't fit for starters so unless you seal them yourself they water fuel and oil constantly.
The plastic handle on the pull start snapped the second time I started the thing up, replaced with a wooden toggle instead so no real harm done.
The holding nuts keeping the bar on didn't fit well, were really badly machined, replaced with better nuts, the chain tensioner barely fits in the hole removing and fitting the bar is a bit of a faff.
The chain oil feed along with it's adjuster is also cheap, plastic and badly fitted, but a lot of oil probably isn't a bad thing with this saw.
The bars are wearing very quickly, probably related to the absolute nonsense I've put this thing through for a saw of it's size and price though.
It gets ridiculously hot, excessively so, I don't feel comfortable letting it idle or running it for more than absolutely neccessary, I'm slightly afraid that it's going to explode but that creates an exciting tension whilst it's being used.
It shouldn't come with an 18" bar and chain, it can't drive them properly and doesn't feel as solid using whilst them.
Overall -
I think the MT-9999 must have been improved over time, none of the reported underlying mechanical defects are present on mine, the castings are good, the core workings of the saw seem rock solid. However the outer shell, the plastic fittings almost every component external to that core is an accident waiting to happen.
Would I recommend this saw as a back up or stop gap measure?, lord no this thing is a massive liability and I want no responsibility for any injuries or deaths caused by this absolute monstrosity.
5/10 - For the sheer fact that it works for only £65 it's impossible to give it a lower score than 5, if I had to give it a score on safety or build quality it would be around the 2 or 3 / 10 mark though.
Keep your eyes peeled for the 12 month review, will it seize up and die after winter in storage or will it continue on from strength to strength until it tries to kill me.
Having been used primarily as a beach/driftwood saw, something that I can subject to sand, bad weather, root balls that might contain stones, various assorted bits of detritus that I've taken from dumps and stuff that might have barbed wire and nails in it from the old industrial estate that I wouldn't touch with a more expensive saw, especially one with a chain that costs nearly the same as this saw under review. Today I dismantled it cleaned it and stowed it over the winter and I thought it a good a time as any to share my experience with this rather temperamental machine.
The good -
It's surprisingly good at cutting wood, I've put it through some horrific abuse and it has done exactly what I wanted every time. I have no complaints about it's ability to chew through big chunks of timber, as well as rocks, nails and random bits of wire.
The chain is remarkably durable, staying sharper for longer than I expected and the teeth are unusually hard considering the rest of the metal components seem so soft.
The bad -
The build quality is terrible, all the plastic fuel caps don't fit for starters so unless you seal them yourself they water fuel and oil constantly.
The plastic handle on the pull start snapped the second time I started the thing up, replaced with a wooden toggle instead so no real harm done.
The holding nuts keeping the bar on didn't fit well, were really badly machined, replaced with better nuts, the chain tensioner barely fits in the hole removing and fitting the bar is a bit of a faff.
The chain oil feed along with it's adjuster is also cheap, plastic and badly fitted, but a lot of oil probably isn't a bad thing with this saw.
The bars are wearing very quickly, probably related to the absolute nonsense I've put this thing through for a saw of it's size and price though.
It gets ridiculously hot, excessively so, I don't feel comfortable letting it idle or running it for more than absolutely neccessary, I'm slightly afraid that it's going to explode but that creates an exciting tension whilst it's being used.
It shouldn't come with an 18" bar and chain, it can't drive them properly and doesn't feel as solid using whilst them.
Overall -
I think the MT-9999 must have been improved over time, none of the reported underlying mechanical defects are present on mine, the castings are good, the core workings of the saw seem rock solid. However the outer shell, the plastic fittings almost every component external to that core is an accident waiting to happen.
Would I recommend this saw as a back up or stop gap measure?, lord no this thing is a massive liability and I want no responsibility for any injuries or deaths caused by this absolute monstrosity.
5/10 - For the sheer fact that it works for only £65 it's impossible to give it a lower score than 5, if I had to give it a score on safety or build quality it would be around the 2 or 3 / 10 mark though.
Keep your eyes peeled for the 12 month review, will it seize up and die after winter in storage or will it continue on from strength to strength until it tries to kill me.
