You know you want a Stihl. Life will be incomplete without one. And get a 16" so you won't be an embarrassment to our gender. If the job is something you could cut perfectly well with a smaller machine, you should really be just using your teeth on it.

Little Gidding beat me to the punch. I have an older version of this Stihl:

http://www.stihl.us/chainsaws/MS170.html

THAT I INHERITED FROM MY FATHER!

The last time I took it in to a small engine place for a service the guy smiled and said, "This is the best small chainsaw ever made: It'll last forever."

http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/MS210CBE.html

It's a Stihl, which means it's unbreakable. Also, the chain can be adjusted without using any tools, and the gas & oil caps can be opened without tools. If you've ever ransacked your garage looking for the damn chainsaw tool (a cross between a socket wrench and a screwdriver) you'll know how cool that is.

I bought one a couple of years ago for about $200. Yes, it's pricier than the ones in Home Depot, and you'll need to find a real dealer (I don't think Stihl sells to big-box stores), but I've tackled 24" cuts with mine using a 14" bar.

You'll shoot your eye out kid.

And above all, gas-powered. Stay away from anything with a power cord on it. If you bought it, it'd be good for flossing, but you mentioned you'd like to take it out in public too.

If you promise not to tell your wife or dependents that I brought it up, I'll venture that the most interesting way to get into trouble real quick, I think, is to head out into the yard with one of these babies, my current favorite toy:

http://store.baileys-online.com/cgi-bin/baileys/1002

When all you have is a gas-powered pole saw, the whole world starts to look like a sucker that needs to be trimmed off.

What, a broad-axe aint good enough for ya?

Stihl. You gotta get a Stihl. Engineered by Germans... Assembled in VA Beach, VA. They are, as the kids say, "da bomb."

Buy electric.

If you are only doing work around the yard it is so much easier to use an electric chain saw than it is to use a 2-cycle. Oh the 2-cycle will be fine at first, but if you don't use it regularly, it will be very hard to start.

I cut down a good sized tree with my electric chain saw - when I had one, and when I lived on land.....

And for those of you who insist that "gas is stronger" remember that internal combustion engines are rated at "maximum horse power that can be maintained for 15 minutes without overheating" while electric motors are rated at continuous duty.

Electric saws are lighter, that is true. Bit to boldly go where no electric chain saw has gone before--and to prevent your yard from gaining a tonsure of the diameter of your electric cord and centered on your outlet--I suggest a gas machine. I've had two electric chain saws and three gas-powered ones. The Stihl I have now is the cat's pajamas, and I've been able to take it with me when I've gone out to help others in plenty of situations where an electric saw would have been useless.

Funny you mention arm and leg in a post about chainsaws. Regardless which implement of destruction you chose, remember it would enjoy chowing down on a leg if you get careless. A plastic surgeon acquaintance spent a lot of time putting pieces back together after somebody's momentary lapse in concentration. But, yeah, a Stihl. I spent more on (unpowered) Stihl limb loppers than you might on a big box chainsaw. I don't think I'll ever have to buy another. Great quality stuff just like their chainsaws.