Customer Reviews

Poulan Pro PP4620AVX 20-Inch 46cc 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Anti-Vibration Chain Saw with Case

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I have never written a review before but after using this piece of junk I felt compelled to do so. I own a smaller Poulan saw and liked it enough to buy the bigger one. The 46cc starts and runs great, no problem with the engine at all. It's the chain tensioning device that makes this saw really frustrating to use. Someone decided to "improve" the time tested method of tightening the chain by turning a screw, to this new plastic adjustment dial thing that you don't need tools for. It doesn't work! The adjustment never holds and I have to retighten the chain about every 15 minutes! I thought it was because the chain was new and needed to stretch but I have been using it for sometime now and the problem is getting worse. On more than one occasion this device has allowed the chain to come off during operation, a dangerous and anoying situation that caused damage to the chain and the saw housing. I spend more time fixing this saw than using it. I was a big fan but now I will not buy another Poulon. I wish they would have stuck with the old design which worked just fine and this would be a great saw. I guess Poulon never heard the old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

No primer bulb, so it took a lot of pulling to get gas into carburetor when new; and by a lot of pulling, I mean sweating and cussing lot of pulling. After that, it starts with a few full-choke pulls followed by a half-choke pull.

The no-tool chain adjustment is bad, very bad. You have a plastic knob (which is, no doubt, destined to break) to tighten a single bolt to hold the bar. It isn't enough to hold the bar, so the chain is constantly coming off the bar. I removed the plastic knob and replaced it with a regular nut. The stud for a second nut is there underneath the plastic cover; so I chiseled and drilled away the plastic to allow the use of the second nut. Much better now.

It is interesting that the plastic housing covers the spark plug and wire (something you might want to get to), but the muffler is fully exposed for you to burn yourself (probably while fiddling with the chain).

The anti-vibration system is some springs that are between the handles and the motor. The problem is that if you are pushing down at the end of a cut, the springs do their spring thing and flip the bar into the dirt, thus dulling the chain ... at least we hope it is the dirt and not your leg.

On the positive side, the motor has reasonable power for a non-commercial saw. Oil and fuel use are modest, and the fill holes are easily accessible.

EDIT: Here it is May, 2011 and the saw is still going after about 3.5 years of what I would call ranch duty usage. I got a carburetor adjusting tool, and tweaking that helped with the power, but it still struggles with a full 20-inch cut -- even with a sharp chain (which is an absolute necessity. You can't brute force this saw.). It lost a race with a 16-inch Stihl (don't know the model), both with sharp chains, on a 26-inch log. The smaller, lighter Stihl finished while the Poulan was about 75 percent through. My old McCulloch 20-inch Timberbear will trounce them both, but it wears you out holding its heavy weight. (Yes folks, there was a time when McCulloch made a real chainsaw.)

I've gotten used to the mushy anti-vibration springs. It's still easy to start when cold, but touchy about choke, half-choke, or no choke when restarting on a job depending on how long it has sat. And woe be unto me if I flood it.

I use about 30:1 gas:oil ratio which is a little thick and probably reduces the power a little, but it's my superstition that it increases engine life.

In general, if you are mechanically inclined enough to fix the flaws and tweak around on it, and you don't expect commercial capabilities, I can't gripe too much about the saw considering what it cost.

I bought this chainsaw with the realization that it's low price meant that it would not last long. I only had to remove 2 large tree stumps, each about 8 foot tall. If the chainsaw lasted through that I would be happy. Before ordering I called up amazon.com customer support to be sure it had a warranty. It had a 2 year warranty so I ordered it. A month or 2 after it arrived I took it out of the box to use it. I would start with the easier ear tree and then go on to the tougher oak, or so I thought. I bought a new gallon of gas and put the supplied 2 stoke oil in the gas then filled the chainsaw with bar oil. It started up ok, not too much trouble for the first time. As others have mentioned the chain keeps coming loose so I would check it every minute or so and re-tighten it. It cut good enough at first but after a hour it started loosing power and dying. I checked the spark plug, it was ok, same for the air cleaner. I assumed at this point that the carburetor needed adjusting but there was nothing I could do about that. I called up amazon.com and they told me how to print a receipt and take it to a service center.

From here on out the experience goes downhill real fast.

As would be expected the service center was primarily a lawn mower shop. The minute I walked in the door with the poulan chainsaw they demanded a $40 deposit. I tried to tell them this was a brand new saw under warranty but they would not take it otherwise. They told me they would refund it after poulan paid them. I didn't want to drive across town to the next service center so I paid them and left it. 5 days later they called me up to tell me the saw was ruined. The cylinder was scored from lack of oil. They told me that poulan pro company had decided that it was my fault and they were not going to honor the warranty. I tried to tell them that I had no control over that. The oil is in the gasoline. They didn't care.

Poulan wouldn't pay them for the evaluation either. There went my deposit. I was now in the insane position of paying these people to tell me that the warranty was worthless.

This purchase has left me very bitter.

Upon further investigation I came across the observation that the reason these saws burn up so frequently is because the "top talent" at poulan decided that the cheapest way to meet the new EPA requirements is to adjust the carburetor lean. The oil is in the gas. If the gas is lean then the oil is also lean, so the motor burns. It happens beyond your control. Poulan assumes you are not going to hire a lawyer for this so they just tell you to piss off.

I can think of no other product where you have to pay them a deposit for a warranty repair. The "service center" knows poulan won't pay so they know in advance to bleed you.

Poulan pro is a complete waste of time and money. With this rant I now put the whole ugly episode behind me. It's not worth any more stress or aggravation. Apparently I have to give them at least 1 star for a rating, I would rather give them 0 stars. This company deserves to go out of business.

I just bought a stihl. A 20" stihl cost over twice as much as a 20" poulan but they are only sold from the dealer, which is also the service center. They assure me their warranties are real.

This has been a great saw and have had no problems with the chain tensioning system. The first time I used the saw I had to tighten the chain a couple of times but since then it has held perfect. In fact it's worked much better than the old style I have always used in the past. I'm not sure why so many seem to not like this feature and the biggest names in the business are using an almost identical toolless chain adjustment system. A week spot is the plastic adjustment wheel (it's plastic on the Husqvarna and Stihl also from what I can tell) but it can be purchased online for under $2.00 not including shipping. Another week spot in my opinion is the cheep air filter. The saw does a great job of keeping dirt and debris away from the filter but it would be a good idea to order a replacement or two which can be had under $3.00 from poulan. After cutting a dead rotten 20" tree some dirt and grime did make it's way somehow through the filter though most trees won't be so nasty to cut through.

Now to the bright points the saw runs like a top and always starts first pull once started the first time and even a cold first start has never take more than 5 pulls minus the couple of times I forgot to turn the ignition on first. The saw also has plenty of power for felling trees or cutting firewood. If you use on a very regular basis I'd recommend a Stihl or Husqvarna and if this was a comparison to them I'd give it a 3 and them a 5 but for what it is meant to be I give this saw a 5 because it has performed flawlessly in the ice storm cleanup in my area. Replacement parts are cheap so if you do tear something up it's not going to cost a fortune to fix.

To keep this thing running always use fresh gas or at least make sure the gas has stabilizer in it and even then should never be older than 12 months. Make sure the air filter is in good shape and I'd go ahead and order a couple extra and also get the plastic adjustment gear part #545090501 it will add almost nothing to your order and could save lot of cursing if you accidentally put too much force on it and strip the gears. It takes a screwdriver and a couple of minutes to replace it. I will admit that part should be metal but at the same time the force required to tighten the chain should be well within the limits of the plastic part just don't over tighten or force it.

Most people don't know that these saws also have a forged crank and connecting rod, Husqvarna inspired clean air system to keep saw dust out of the (cheep) air filter, and the durachrome cylinder. The engine on this saw is strong and revs easily without hesitation and have not had problems with it bogging down at all. Yes I'd rather have a more expensive saw but this one is more than I need and can't justify spending more.

Just bought this saw today am returning it tomorrow. After several hours of cutting I've decided that it is a nice saw for someone cutting a few branches on occasion but for someone who cuts logs into firewood length on a consistent basis it has one major problem. The chain adjustment device just does not work. Over about 4 hours I had to tighten the chain over 20 times and the chain jumped off the bar 3 times. Very dangerous!!! I've had many chainsaws over the last 30 years and this is absolutely the worst chain tensioning system I've ever used. No matter how tight you turn the big knob it goes out of adjustment quickly.I also noticed that for a 46cc engine it seems to be light on power for a 20 inch saw. It does the job but when cutting a log 16-18 inches in dia. it bogs down alot.

I have a very old Poulan 3400 that has worked well over the years. This saw is not in the same category. I looked on the box to see where it was made, and it did not say. It said "assembled in USA" which I found out meant made in China. The saw worked OK at best the first time I used it, but would not run right the next day. I have other "real" saws (Stihl, Husqvarna), and only bought this to see if it was as good as my old Poulan. This saw is so low in quality I took the bar and chain off and threw the power head in the garbage. It is not even good enough for "occasional" use. You would be better off renting a real saw than throwing your money down the drain on this junk.

The chain tensioning system is awful. It kicks the blade off and I spend more time fixing then cutting. Runs find but feels cheap and flimsy. Not something I trust to have cutting at full speed near my body. I've had a Homelite, Stihl, and Craftsman and they all make this look like a dangerous kids toy. I am back to using my 16" as it cuts faster and it's solid.

The saw is of medium grade. Maybe even a little light on the power for larger trees. The chain adjusting system works OK, but the knob to tighten the bar is just not sufficent for extened use. I used a Dremel to router out the cover so I could use a second nut on the other stud. I now use a nut on both studs, like every other saw I've owned, and this eliminates the bar movement that causes the chain to loosen up. Just another example of trying to build a better mouse trap that doesn't work. The design guy should try another line of work.

First I want to point out I purchased this saw from a local retailer but since I look to Amazon for customer reviews I thought I would share this. I purchased the saw to cut 3 cord of wood and at first I loved the saw, it sliced its way through tree after tree but after a few hours of work the plastic wheel 'no tool' chain adjuster broke, the wheel would spin and spin but the pin/thread rod didn't move. I figured it was a fluke so I went to my retailer and exchanged it.

When I got home I went right to work, filled it with gas and oil and started it. I hit the gas a few times to warm it up and when I let off I heard a PING and a cling cling cling... sounded like a metal bur from the manufacturing process broke off and was stuck in the fly wheel. I shut the saw down, inspected it and started it again, the sound was gone. After about 30 minutes of cutting I notice the chain was loose so I shut it down and tried to adjust. The 'no tool' wheel just spun and spun so I took the cover off and noticed the chain / bar adjustment pin was snapped off! That was the PING, cling cling I heard when I first started it.

Needless to say this saw is NOT for serious wood cutters because the cheap components don't last, one didn't even survive the first start.

I just read the review before this one and am surprised. I have owned this chain saw for nearly two years now and it has worked very well. I have given my saw a LOT of use as well. By reading the previous review, it sounds like David (the reviewer) forgot to put oil in the oil tank. Without oil, the chain will stretch and need constant adjustment - on ANY chain saw. With proper maintenance and operation, ANY chain saw will work quite well. However, if you don't operate it properly and follow instructions, you won't get the desired results. Many of my neighbors have watched me using my Poulan chain saw and have gone right out and purchased one for themselves. And, after purchasing Poulans for themselves, virtually all (5) of them are VERY happy. The Poulan isn't a Stihl (which is probably the best saw around). However, for the money, it's one of the best saws you can get your hands on. By the way, both the bar and the chain it comes with are made by "Oregon Chains" - the leader in bar and chain technology! I run my saw at an altitude of 8800 feet, in Colorado, and it runs well despite the altitude. The only thing that they could improve on is the High and Low jet adjustments. They pretty much make it so that, if the jets need any adjustment, then you should take it to a dealer. If you know how to make the adjustments, then it's normally an easy thing to do. However, you need a fairly special tool (rather than a small screwdriver) to do it on this chainsaw. If you aren't in to making such adjustments yourself, then this shouldn't be a matter of concern for you. The saw does run VERY clean, and without smoke. It starts right up every time it's used, and I've never experienced any vapor locking (which is pretty common on 2-cycle engines). The anti-vibration handles are also very nice and makes using the saw and cutting wood a lot more pleasureable. The saw also works as well cutting horizontally as it does if you are cutting vertically.