When the 044 first came out in 1988/1989 the Husqvarna 268 was the competition for Stihl. I worked fulltime for Stihl in 1989 doing rep work with the dealers and end users and the 044 impressed alot of people but when the cold freezing winter came the 044 didn't do so well, carbs icing up, lean seizures. The 268 just kept on cutting as usual as it was designed to do in any climate. It took almost 5 years later for Stihl to market the Artic [heated carb] to eliminate that icing problem. I still have some neat old brochures I used to pass out .It was the 044 versus the 268, and there was a chrome sticker tag that you could peel off and put it on a Husqvarna 268 as the brochure instructed to do. It said Stihl 044AV.
