Think almost every spare bar I have is a Powercut. I know those other bars are lighter but I don't notice that huge of a difference. I have a couple light bars from Stihl and Sugi. I like the Stihl better because it doesn't seem to flex as much. As expensive as they are though I would probably just buy whatever from Oregon if I was going to replace them. Those bars came on the saws and I haven't worn them out or anything. I have a pile of bars I have bought when there was sales or at auctions whatever anywhere from 14 inch to 32 inch for my various saws. Nice that a lot of the saws share the same mount and all so I can use them on multiple saws.
The prices are similar in the UK with Oregon being around £45 and a Sugi or Tsumura being around £100. I have all the brands you tested and I like the VersaCut on my smaller Saws they are pretty good value.
A good bar will last a long time with mainly buckin, bore cutting a lot would want a RSN. I measured the groove depth vs the chain drive links and the rails can be ground on/trued up around 0.010-0.015” before the bar is done. Have repaired many bars. Buying a quality bar makes most sense, you’re going to wear out many chains, rim sprockets, clutch drums before the bar is toast.
Y'all are gonna laugh, but I weighed a 24" Neotec Advance bar (.063), and it rolls in at 1380g with very little flex. It's surprisingly stiff and lighter than the Oregon for as cheap as it is. Considering the Chinese steel, I have no idea how long it will last when it comes to wear.
I like the versa cut bars. My cutting conditions are pretty different from yours and my friends and I all run 16 inch bars. We cut the trees into 8 foot lengths haul them with a log loader then pile them up on stickers. There’s next to no cutting right on the ground so no need for long bars for reaching the ground. A 562 with half wrap handle, tiny stock dogs and a 16 inch bar is pretty light.
@@PurpleNovember It's kinda wet and muddy in my area, it's hard to get firewood any other way around here. You can get a lot of wood in a hurry with this setup then block it up later once it's in the yard. Before I started watching youtube I assumed everyone hauled wood out of the woods on a trailer behind a tractor. Using a truck and bucking up trees where they fall is odd to me.
@ I see what you’re talking about . That’s pretty close to how we do wood for the smoker but that’s less than a cord of wood a year. We’re land clearing and storm cleanup. Lots of trash out with plenty of big limbs. One of our favorite saws is a 241 with a 24” bar and the other is a 261 with a 32” bar. Wrap handles with tank guards. For us less body movement is needed with longer bars. We started out with shorter bars and it wore us down quick! What you’re describing actually sounds kinda fun! I’m guessing the temperature and humidity aren’t close to 90 either.
I honestly haven't given bars a lot of thought. I tend to use 18" bars the most, but I have a couple of 20" bars & a 24" bar for my bigger saw. Most of my bars are currently Forester & Holzfforma bars (nothing special), because those were the easiest to find around COVID. Oregon bars through Saw Suppliers may be the best value in the future, & I had bought my last bar or two from them.
Personally I don’t run a lot of light weight bars, everyone claims the stihl es light bars are the best online however, they are super flimsy, wear fast and have tips that tend to blow out, the versa cuts are great for fire wood cutters or homeowners as they are light, cheap and last decently, the Tsamuras and Sugiharas are the low end pro bars, they last well and are not super expensive, how ever the absolute best bars are the Oregon power match plus light bars that are no longer made and the cannon dura light bars, super rigid, last forever and are overall basically a heavy bar but a little lighter, they aren’t the lightest and they are the most expensive. The other thing to keep in mind is a lot of loggers I talk to still run heavy bars due to them being so much more rigid, it’s not important on a 24 but on the 36in light bars they become to flexible. Great video as always though man
There is a fine line between , light weight and wet noodle. Husqvarna light bars are awesome and horribly expensive. I use Husqvarna light bars. Easily attainable. If running a 32", you need a quality bar. Flex is definitely a issue.😊
Good test, Joe. I like the versacut for price ,weight, and durability. I never ran any of those other bars. I keep things as simple as possible, I guess.
Great comparison👍🏻 no light bar experience yet. Only Oregon powermatch and Stihl ES far as the bars you showed here. I like e'm both, but the Stihl ES bars SEEM heavier and more durable to me than Oregon powermatch. Never weighed them.
I have the Stihl, Versa Cut, Cannon Duralite, and the Tsumura. The Stihl and the Cannon are my favorites. The Cannon (32")is the heaviest, but also has the least amount of flex. My Versa cut (20") used on a MS261, roached the sprocket after a year of heavy use. That is a sample of one and I did love the bar, but when used for my bucket saw I needed something more reliable. One could argue it's still cheaper to get 2 more and keep em on hand, but I don't feel like changing a bar at 2am when it's raining. The Tsumura replaced it.
We run some Versacut bars on smaller saws. Good bars for what they are but we found they do require close inspection more often. We keep a close eye on ours and clean the sprocket tip often and change out before total failure. Great on our 241s but I don’t think I’d want them on anything bigger than a 261. We’re also in a very sandy environment. I think I have one now that I drilled for a grease hole. I’d like to put TsuMura premium’ on them or Stihl ES light.
@@2ASF475 Also,not sure how much of a difference it makes but we don’t do much bore cuts with those saws. The chain 3/8 full skip full chisel and tip half of the bar sees more cutting than back half.
I cut for a living and all I’ll bother buying is VersaCut. They last forever and I don’t care about changing a tip. Ill $hit can it and replace. For the price I haven’t found a better bar.
Great video, I like the stihl lightweights, I think the Husqvarna lightweights are a little stiffer. For the money though I’m not sure that versacut can be beat! So with as flexible as the premium light is, would you not recommend buying it? I get you probably wouldn’t want to bore cut trees all day with it..
Thanks for watching! I flexibility is borderline too much on the 24 and I think it would be ok on a 20". I am certain thought I have not tried one, the 28" and great would be too noodly. I have a tendency to bore cut cause I like to not out of necessity all the time. I have come to find that with a little kick, the chain is coming off for sure. I am also wondering if the bar even man wander in the cut a bit due to the flex. I am not talking just one way, I am talking about either way dependent on if you accidentally dont have perfect square pressure on the power head. I do not have much time on it yet so I cannot speak to durability yet. I have the CHS issue where I really just kinda pickup a different saw all the time so none of my equipment gets lots of time. It is all spread out. Thank you again!
Echo needs to chill with the heavy paint! Best part was the end showing them in lbs. I like the woodland pro bars just because they’re black, but $55 for a 24” and $65 for a RSN at 3.2#’s.
Personally I don’t run a lot of light weight bars, everyone claims the stihl es light bars are the best online however, they are super flimsy, wear fast and have tips that tend to blow out, the versa cuts are great for fire wood cutters or homeowners as they are light, cheap and last decently, the Tsamuras and Sugiharas are the low end pro bars, they last well and are not super expensive, how ever the absolute best bars are the Oregon power match plus light bars that are no longer made and the cannon dura light bars, super rigid, last forever and are overall basically a heavy bar but a little lighter, they aren’t the lightest and they are the most expensive. The other thing to keep in mind is a lot of loggers I talk to still run heavy bars due to them being so much more rigid, it’s not important on a 24 but on the 36in light bars they become to flexible. Great video as always though man
i do like the versa cut bars
this was a good visual test to see the difference
your discount code does make a huge difference on saw suppliers
Is awesome they sell the echo red armor by the gallon! Saves me a lot.
Think almost every spare bar I have is a Powercut. I know those other bars are lighter but I don't notice that huge of a difference. I have a couple light bars from Stihl and Sugi. I like the Stihl better because it doesn't seem to flex as much. As expensive as they are though I would probably just buy whatever from Oregon if I was going to replace them. Those bars came on the saws and I haven't worn them out or anything. I have a pile of bars I have bought when there was sales or at auctions whatever anywhere from 14 inch to 32 inch for my various saws. Nice that a lot of the saws share the same mount and all so I can use them on multiple saws.
The prices are similar in the UK with Oregon being around £45 and a Sugi or Tsumura being around £100. I have all the brands you tested and I like the VersaCut on my smaller Saws they are pretty good value.
Thanks for the info Joe an hey when did you get a 7310p
A good bar will last a long time with mainly buckin, bore cutting a lot would want a RSN. I measured the groove depth vs the chain drive links and the rails can be ground on/trued up around 0.010-0.015” before the bar is done. Have repaired many bars.
Buying a quality bar makes most sense, you’re going to wear out many chains, rim sprockets, clutch drums before the bar is toast.
Y'all are gonna laugh, but I weighed a 24" Neotec Advance bar (.063), and it rolls in at 1380g with very little flex. It's surprisingly stiff and lighter than the Oregon for as cheap as it is. Considering the Chinese steel, I have no idea how long it will last when it comes to wear.
I like the versa cut bars.
My cutting conditions are pretty different from yours and my friends and I all run 16 inch bars.
We cut the trees into 8 foot lengths haul them with a log loader then pile them up on stickers. There’s next to no cutting right on the ground so no need for long bars for reaching the ground.
A 562 with half wrap handle, tiny stock dogs and a 16 inch bar is pretty light.
Gravy train if there ever was one!
@@PurpleNovember It's kinda wet and muddy in my area, it's hard to get firewood any other way around here. You can get a lot of wood in a hurry with this setup then block it up later once it's in the yard. Before I started watching youtube I assumed everyone hauled wood out of the woods on a trailer behind a tractor. Using a truck and bucking up trees where they fall is odd to me.
@ I see what you’re talking about . That’s pretty close to how we do wood for the smoker but that’s less than a cord of wood a year. We’re land clearing and storm cleanup. Lots of trash out with plenty of big limbs. One of our favorite saws is a 241 with a 24” bar and the other is a 261 with a 32” bar. Wrap handles with tank guards. For us less body movement is needed with longer bars. We started out with shorter bars and it wore us down quick!
What you’re describing actually sounds kinda fun! I’m guessing the temperature and humidity aren’t close to 90 either.
I honestly haven't given bars a lot of thought. I tend to use 18" bars the most, but I have a couple of 20" bars & a 24" bar for my bigger saw. Most of my bars are currently Forester & Holzfforma bars (nothing special), because those were the easiest to find around COVID. Oregon bars through Saw Suppliers may be the best value in the future, & I had bought my last bar or two from them.
Personally I don’t run a lot of light weight bars, everyone claims the stihl es light bars are the best online however, they are super flimsy, wear fast and have tips that tend to blow out, the versa cuts are great for fire wood cutters or homeowners as they are light, cheap and last decently, the Tsamuras and Sugiharas are the low end pro bars, they last well and are not super expensive, how ever the absolute best bars are the Oregon power match plus light bars that are no longer made and the cannon dura light bars, super rigid, last forever and are overall basically a heavy bar but a little lighter, they aren’t the lightest and they are the most expensive. The other thing to keep in mind is a lot of loggers I talk to still run heavy bars due to them being so much more rigid, it’s not important on a 24 but on the 36in light bars they become to flexible. Great video as always though man
I miss those lightweight Oregon bars! We only run lightweight bars and wish we could still get those.
There is a fine line between , light weight and wet noodle. Husqvarna light bars are awesome and horribly expensive. I use Husqvarna light bars. Easily attainable. If running a 32", you need a quality bar. Flex is definitely a issue.😊
Good test, Joe. I like the versacut for price ,weight, and durability. I never ran any of those other bars. I keep things as simple as possible, I guess.
Great comparison👍🏻 no light bar experience yet. Only Oregon powermatch and Stihl ES far as the bars you showed here. I like e'm both, but the Stihl ES bars SEEM heavier and more durable to me than Oregon powermatch. Never weighed them.
Nice comparison! At the price of the versacut not being able to replace the tip isn’t a big deal to me. You can buy 2 or 3 compared to stihl
Yeah I want to get a versacut, they have an aluminum core vs resin to save weight.
Great subject matter, Joe. Keep cuttin'!
👍👍 good info for sure!
I have the Stihl, Versa Cut, Cannon Duralite, and the Tsumura. The Stihl and the Cannon are my favorites. The Cannon (32")is the heaviest, but also has the least amount of flex. My Versa cut (20") used on a MS261, roached the sprocket after a year of heavy use. That is a sample of one and I did love the bar, but when used for my bucket saw I needed something more reliable. One could argue it's still cheaper to get 2 more and keep em on hand, but I don't feel like changing a bar at 2am when it's raining. The Tsumura replaced it.
We run some Versacut bars on smaller saws. Good bars for what they are but we found they do require close inspection more often. We keep a close eye on ours and clean the sprocket tip often and change out before total failure. Great on our 241s but I don’t think I’d want them on anything bigger than a 261. We’re also in a very sandy environment. I think I have one now that I drilled for a grease hole. I’d like to put TsuMura premium’ on them or Stihl ES light.
Good to know. I also think the fact that my 261 is ported played a part in the sprocket going bad
@ I bet it did.
@@2ASF475 Also,not sure how much of a difference it makes but we don’t do much bore cuts with those saws. The chain 3/8 full skip full chisel and tip half of the bar sees more cutting than back half.
You know I never took that into account 🤔. When the trees are on the poles/wires I do a fair amount of bore cutting so I don’t get pinched
I cut for a living and all I’ll bother buying is VersaCut. They last forever and I don’t care about changing a tip. Ill $hit can it and replace. For the price I haven’t found a better bar.
Great video, I like the stihl lightweights, I think the Husqvarna lightweights are a little stiffer. For the money though I’m not sure that versacut can be beat! So with as flexible as the premium light is, would you not recommend buying it? I get you probably wouldn’t want to bore cut trees all day with it..
Thanks for watching! I flexibility is borderline too much on the 24 and I think it would be ok on a 20". I am certain thought I have not tried one, the 28" and great would be too noodly. I have a tendency to bore cut cause I like to not out of necessity all the time. I have come to find that with a little kick, the chain is coming off for sure. I am also wondering if the bar even man wander in the cut a bit due to the flex. I am not talking just one way, I am talking about either way dependent on if you accidentally dont have perfect square pressure on the power head. I do not have much time on it yet so I cannot speak to durability yet. I have the CHS issue where I really just kinda pickup a different saw all the time so none of my equipment gets lots of time. It is all spread out. Thank you again!
It would be nice but I can't justify the price of the bars I can get the 24inch duke's bar with chain for 40 bucks and so far they have been awesome
Good info 👍
Hey Oakie, can't be of much help as I've only run the Stihl from your test group but "they" claim it's the best LW bar on the market. 😉😉
They are if all you care about is how light they are, they are a wet noodle, don’t last and blow out tips
@@SomeGuysSawShop so what you're saying is they're awesome too
@@902hand7 I mean kinda but no, they are to flexible when you run a 36 to be useful
Good stuff!
Thank you man! Hope you found it helpful!
Echo needs to chill with the heavy paint! Best part was the end showing them in lbs. I like the woodland pro bars just because they’re black, but $55 for a 24” and $65 for a RSN at 3.2#’s.
👍🆙OW
Not a good comparisan, You are mixing consumer bars with pro bars.
Valuable information. Thank you, Joe🙏🏿🇺🇸🪓
Personally I don’t run a lot of light weight bars, everyone claims the stihl es light bars are the best online however, they are super flimsy, wear fast and have tips that tend to blow out, the versa cuts are great for fire wood cutters or homeowners as they are light, cheap and last decently, the Tsamuras and Sugiharas are the low end pro bars, they last well and are not super expensive, how ever the absolute best bars are the Oregon power match plus light bars that are no longer made and the cannon dura light bars, super rigid, last forever and are overall basically a heavy bar but a little lighter, they aren’t the lightest and they are the most expensive. The other thing to keep in mind is a lot of loggers I talk to still run heavy bars due to them being so much more rigid, it’s not important on a 24 but on the 36in light bars they become to flexible. Great video as always though man
👊SGSS