Tools, Sharpening and Power Machinery - Chain Saw

I'm looking at buying a chain saw - have NEVER used one before so know nothing about them. I don't want to take down any big trees - biggest thing might be about 8 inches around. I have seen prices ranging from $30 on up. My questions are:
1) gas or electric?
2) I saw some (bare bones models?) in the $30 range - and one about $90 that said on the tag "self oiling; self adjusting chain" - do I spend the extra money for these features?
THANKS

bogey:

You will get almost as many answers as there are brands of saws as to what works best.
They make good quality electric chain saws but you will pay quite a bit more for them than a good gas one, and it is a real pain being tied down with a cord.
Most saws, even cheaper consumer models will last a long time if seldom used and taken care of. That is, keeping chain sharp, draining fuel at the end of season, keeping wood chips from accumulating in the works, etc.
Having said this, I would recommend you pay a little more and get a name brand saw.
My experience: Of the three saws I own my favorite is a little Stihl #025with a 16" bar. It's light and easy to handle and any parts that I need are on my dealer's shelf.
My least favorite is a 3205 McCullough with a 14" bar. I bought it brand new and it only cut about 10 cords of firewood before cutting through the drive sprocket, and the chain was properly tensioned. Sad thing was that the saw was out of warranty and in the middle of McCullough's shutting down. I found a used sprocket and keep it on a bottom shelf as a spare.
I would recommend Stihl, Johnsereds or Husqvarna as a brand to search out and try to stay away from the discount stores as you will likely get no reliable advice or assistance with your saw.

Some good info:
http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/agengin/g01959.htm

Hopefully someone else will come and add to this and you can also look back through old posts as this has been discussed before.

Well id get a gas one,we had an ice storm here a few years back and the power was out for many days.Me and the nieghbors had to clear the street with saws to be able to get out.Also had to cut one off my grandmothers car.Ouch!

Anway most small saws start easy, and have low kick back chains.Both is a plus for a newbie,also a chain break is a nice saftey feture to look for,it stops the chain if it kicks up on you,you hand will hit the gaurd and trip it.Ive never had this happen,but most good saws have it and its better safe than sorry.But use cation even the low kick back chains, will kick a bit so be careful.This will useally happen when something comes in contact with the nose of the bar,when not exspected.Some come with a gaurd you can remove that covers the nose of the bar,to prevent as many kick backs as posible.And unless you need to cut something longer than the bar,they dont get in the way.
I beleave the Polan has all of these features, tough i might be wrong,about the nose gaurd.(i bought mine used)

Id also recomend the above mentioned saws.Ive used them all.Come to think of it ive used about every brand of saw,at some time or other.But i did work for a saw mill for 6 years,and burned wood for heat for about 15 years.All three above metioned,will last you a lifetime if taken care of.My favorite is the Husqvarna,very fast,and strong running.Id recomend the model 45,its a well rounded small saw( i owned one for a while,it was 245bucks).It comes with 16 or 18 inch bars.But as with many saws it is better balanced with an 18inch bar.Which i would highly recomend also.The 16 is uaslly all thats needed but,the 18 is nice to have just in case(a real tree falls on your house or car),and is a good genral size,for firewood or falling most trees.And as i said it balances the saw better,usealy.Pick up a few and see how they feel.Buy the one that is comfrontable in your hands,above all else.

If you dont want to spend that much id also reccomend a Polan.Walmart has them for a nice price.I have had the one with the 18 inch bar and it did great(sometimes painted bright and named the wild thing,they also come in normal green and real tree camo,but there all the same saw).Im not to sure about the 16 inch bar model it is a bit smaller motor and i have heard people say that it didnt have enough power,but it ran fine. It might suit you fine,sence your not cutting fire wood with it..

Add homelite to the bad list.You dont want one of them.Sears carrys a Craftsman brand saw.Humm it looks an aful lot like a polan.But anyway i dont no anything about them but they are priced pretty good as well.They had a 16 inch on sale this week, for 129 i think it was.

One last note,dont bump the ground when cutting trew stuff.It will dull the chain very very fast.Also it takes a long time to learn to sharpen a chain correctly,especially after its been sharpened sevral times.See if you can find someone to teach you.Or you can take it to a small engine shop and have them do it,they get around 5 bucks for it,if you didnt cut to much dirt/rocks.Dont fall for all the gadgets out there made for sharpening saws.All you need is the right size file and handle.A vise is also nice to have,to hold the bar.

But mainly be careful ive seen many people with some nice scares to show off.

insainity:

Thanks for the reminder about the chain brake.
I forgot to mention that I occasionally activate the chain brakes on my saws and everytime I tripped the McCullough, I would have to take it apart and bend the cheesy little piece of tin they use to jam into the chain.

Thanks for all the great advice - I probably would have gone out and bought a $35 homelite and kicked myself a week later.

So I guess the consensus is Gas rather than electric.

What about autoadjusting chain and auto oiling - are they things a newbe should have (again - I don't plan on felling any big trees)

bogey:

I'm not too sure about auto tightening. I would think though that if you learn to use and maintain your saw properly, tightening the chain is easy to do. I find that by the time my chain needs tightening it's time to sharpen it anyway.
The auto oiling as far as I know comes standard on most better saws.

Insainity:

The Craftsman likely looks like a Poulan because Poulan makes it for Sears :). Anything with a model # prefix of 358 is a Poulan product for Sears. 257 was Paramount (mostly yard blowers) which is under the Poulan umbrella now.