Oldchenowth, Its all about preferance on old to new. The problem with the old saws is some parts are no longer avalable, depending on how old. But the old saws will out perform the new ones most of the time. Alot of that is do to the fact the old ones are more broke in and our wonderfull goverment has the new ones very restricted compaired to the older saws or anything for that matter. The good thing about the new one is you will have warrenty on it and the fact that everybody likes new stuff! Also the new ones are alot smoother than most of the older saws, better dampning to kill viberation and better throttle responce. The problem with buying used is if you dont know what to look at before you buy it, you might buy a saw that is on its last season.