Makita made a major marketing bluunder when they became locked in with Home Depot. The second mistake was combining Dolmar and Makita to one chainsaw brand. Small dealers became second fiddle for the supposed large sales that would come out of Home Depot. What happened is that Home Depot did not sell the larger gas powered outdoor products to commercial buyers. Commercial buyers want strong maintenance service for their purchases. For them down time is lost revenue. Home Depot does not offer this. Also the home buyers did not want to spend the money so the upper level equipment did not sell. What Makita should have done was keep the Dolmar brand separate. This chainsaw is extremely well made and will last a long time. It is a shame that Makita upper management did not listen to its' dealer network on how to market Dolmar. I know this because I am part of that small dealer network. Their real experience has been with electrical tools. To me it will be a shame to see one of the world best chainsaw makers run into the ground by an owning company that did not understand the gas chainsaw market. I sell Makita chainsaws and no professional user has ever asked me about battery chainsaws. Maybe in ten years but not now.
