Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsTerrible assembly, dead on arrival - very disapponited!
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2016
Received Poulan Pro 967044101 40V Chainsaw, 14" . Dead on arrival. No power-up.
Sadly, I am not in US and bought the saw via freight-forwarding company, because such kind of a powerful cordless chainsaw in my country costs up to 300-500USD and even more. I paid 120 USD with shipping.
UPDATE. Amazon refunded the order. I received new chainsaw, it seems to be OK.
Amazon support was unable to do anything, their advice was to contact UPS for any further assistance. Sending the saw back to US will cost me about 70 USD, very little sense to it. It was my risk and I accepted it, receiving a 100 USD worth box of parts.
So I had to do something myself and I disassembled the saw to check at least the wiring. After brief inspection, I didn't fix anything, just touched the wires - the saw started! a green light and a beep signal. I assembled it back, start the motor, it runs for 5 or 10 seconds and the saw turned off forever.
I disassembled the chainsaw again. Checked all wiring with multimeter, every wire, no problems in wiring. Checked every button. The 40v voltage comes to the start button and goes back to the electronic module if button is pressed, that is all. No voltage anywhere, no power up, dead saw. Checked the battery – it is ok, the charger says the battery is ok, 40v is present on the battery socket, I even connected it to 36 volts 100W bulb, the battery runs great! The electronic module inside the saw is definitely the problem. Or some very low probability that the motor control circuit failed, but I think that the module must power up even without motor connected and then beep about emergency. Unfortunately, the electronic module is completely covered with some compound and it is impossible to repair or to check. When I press the trigger (not the button, the saw is off and dead at the moment) the large relay is clicking on the module, so power goes to the module. There is no power-up command... and it is impossible to repair. And there are no Poulan services at all around me.
Yes, I am disappointed with quality. But while disassembling, I found some terrible things. The very thick black wire from the battery terminal inside the chainsaw was damaged while assembling on the factory. The insulation was cut and some part of the wire was without insulation, some part of the squashed insulation was visible from the battery compartment, right above the battery terminal and VERY close to the electronic module's aluminum cover/radiator. Plastic parts of the saw's case were not properly aligned because of this squashed insulation. It is absolutely clear the assembly flaw and the worker on the assembly line was careless about quality. I don't know, did the naked wire touched the aluminum cover, probably it was something else that caused the module to fail, I am not such competent person in electronics. The chainsaw was checked at the factory, there is a quality check label. Some data wires also were squashed - and squashed *before* assembly.
Terrible flaws for the product from Husqvarna. Yes I know, that the chainsaw, battery and charger all were made in China, but they are Poulan branded and Poulan have to do better quality control. Such careless assembly is unacceptable.
This was the bad part and my experience.
The most funny thing is that I ordered another Poulan battery chainsaw ( I did it before receiveing the first) and a 4ah additional battery and will receive them about early January. If the second chainsaw will arrive dead too... oh, my God, 300+ USD just wasted??
On the good side. The saw is well balanced and looks like quite solid. It uses the standard 1,1mm chain and bar. Very quiet (without chain and bar), more like a screwdriver, at least in these 10 seconds it worked. The 2ah battery pack supplied with my chainsaw is build with ten Li-Ion cells made by Sanyo (ur18650rx 2ah, I looked through the vent holes on the battery with flashlight) - probably the best li-ion cells available. This is really good battery.
For heavy-duty cuts through large logs, I recommend to buy an additional 4ah battery. There are double cells quantity compared to the 2ah battery (20 vs 10), the current will be two times lower and the chainsaw will work much better with large battery.
