My two cents.....I support STIHL because of my beliefs...I believe that equipment manufacturers that only deal through dealers. I have had a Stihl MS 270 for 8 years now with no problems. I have a Shindaiwa trimmer (when they were owned by Shindaiwa, not Echo) and have had no problems with it for 7 years. My father had an Echo blower for over 9 years with no problems. I think that as far as chainsaws go though, if you stick to major brands you won't have a problem whether it is Echo, Husqvarna, Solo, Efco, or Dolmar. I have used them all but I prefer personally to own my Stihl when it comes to a chainsaw. I say all that to say this.....Craftsman from Sears used to be an excellent brand and they had customer service that wasn't bad. As for today, the customer comes last and profit comes first at Sears. They sell garbage and the sales folks I have dealt with during the past two years are so un-informed of their items they sell, I wouldn't trust a thing they tell me. The only thing Craftsman worth buying nowadays is the hand tools, not the power tools, but screwdrivers, etc. In a recent article in Popular Mechanics, table saws were reviewed and they refused to review Craftsman table saw and gave their safety reason. When Sears commented on the safety flaw, the response from the company didn't say they were going to correct the safety flaw, but instead they were going to add another "warning" sticker on their existing units. SEARS IS A JOKE.
