I owned an Echo string trimmer purchased in the early 2000's and used that weekly during the mowing season for 15 years with absolutely no problems until I finally sold it when I moved from CT to NH. Prior to this purchase, I owned a Sthil MS250 for the same amount of time. That saw ran well however from time to time, starting it could be an issue. After reading other reviews about the easy start Echo, and the excellent performance of my Echo string trimmer, I decided to purchase the Echo CS-310. I do not use wood as a heat source, only as camp fire wood, so my use of the saw will be for that purpose when necessary. I had a pile of logs sitting in my yard from our home construction and was tired of looking at them, hence the purchase. I opted for the 16" bar due to the size logs I had sitting in my yard. I was a bit skeptical about the CS-310 even after reading all the prior reviews. My main concern was the 30 cc engine being a bit undersized for the logs I had to cut, the biggest being appox 13" in diameter. Overall I was very pleased with the performance of the saw. First, this saw was a breeze to start. After filling with fuel and pulling over twice with choke on, the saw started on the third pull. The weather was not cooperating here in southern NH so I would cut for 20 mins then we'd get a rain storm. Each time I came back out, the chainsaw would start on the first pull....a very easy pull. Much easier than my Stihl. The saw comes with a low kickback Oregon chain. I've read other reviews about replacing the chain, but it seemed to work fine for me. If you are doing this type of work on an ongoing basis, I would probably suggest a saw with a larger engine (maybe the CS-400?), but I will not be cutting logs of this size continuosly, so for me, this was the perfect "homeowner" chainsaw purchase. As other have already said, I think this saw is a great value for the money.