I purchased this saw as an all-around general purpose chainsaw to fit between my 40cc limbing saw and 60cc felling and bucking saw. The 501P is just about the perfect size to accomplish felling, limbing and bucking. At least for my purposes. I researched and looked long and hard before buying the 501P. This isn't the cheapest 50cc chainsaw, but the build quality is on par with the other big names pro saws at a far more reasonable price point. The 501P is built like a tank with the exception of the clutch cover. The clutch cover isn't bad, but unlike my 620P that has a magnesium cover, the 501P has a plastic cover. I haven't been able to cut any wood with it yet. However, I did set the saw up and started it. I ran it for a good 5 minutes or more through a heat cycle of idling with some short occasional bursts of revving after letting it warm up for a minute to help break the saw in and to test the bar/chain oiler and chain brake. The saw feels solidly well built and powerful. I plan to do several more heat cycles before putting it to wood. Most of the pro-grade saws by other companies are going to auto-tune carbs. I'm not a fan of those and that was one of the selling points of the 501P for me. After doing a lot of comparison, I came to the conclusion that If your looking for a pro-grade 50cc class chainsaw with old-school features that are more reliable imo, then this chainsaw is hard to beat. This saw if taken care of is built to last and can be rebuilt if needed unlike the plastic clam-shell versions that have plastic raceways which will melt with hard use. I give it an over-all rating of 4.8/5 because of the plastic clutch cover. If it were magnesium it would be a solid 5/5. The fact Echo also offers a 5yr warranty in comparison to the competition shows confidence they make a quality product.
