I have no experience with the 575, but have put a zillion hours on our old 480CD. Even though the 480CD is an "old" design, it is a very powerful saw. I'm sure it would pull a 28" bar without any trouble at all, but it would NOT be overly impressive.
I currently have a 24" bar on mine, simply because once in a while we'll encounter a pretty big tree, and I keep a 20" bar on the 268XPS, for most work. For most of it's life we've had a 20" bar on the 480. It is a BEAST with a 20" bar, and absolutely SCREAMS through any log without a grumble anyplace. With that said, going up to a 24" bar takes a LOT of power out of the saw. It does just fine with it, but cuts remarkably slower with the longer bar, not nearly as well balanced, and I keep sticking the d:censored: thing in the dirt. I just can't seem to get used to the long bar for anything other than cutting a tree down or cutting up the bigger part of the log, and I still have to stop about 3/4th of the way thru or I'll end up sticking the bar in the dirt sooner or later.
FWIW, I would get a 20" bar for the saw, and save the longer bar for the big work. My bet is that the saw will take on a whole new character with the shorter bar?
I would also remove the limiter cap(s), they are there only to please the EPA. I have found very, very few saws that didn't need more fuel than factory setting(s) would provide. This usually adds some additional power as well......Cliff
I currently have a 24" bar on mine, simply because once in a while we'll encounter a pretty big tree, and I keep a 20" bar on the 268XPS, for most work. For most of it's life we've had a 20" bar on the 480. It is a BEAST with a 20" bar, and absolutely SCREAMS through any log without a grumble anyplace. With that said, going up to a 24" bar takes a LOT of power out of the saw. It does just fine with it, but cuts remarkably slower with the longer bar, not nearly as well balanced, and I keep sticking the d:censored: thing in the dirt. I just can't seem to get used to the long bar for anything other than cutting a tree down or cutting up the bigger part of the log, and I still have to stop about 3/4th of the way thru or I'll end up sticking the bar in the dirt sooner or later.
FWIW, I would get a 20" bar for the saw, and save the longer bar for the big work. My bet is that the saw will take on a whole new character with the shorter bar?
I would also remove the limiter cap(s), they are there only to please the EPA. I have found very, very few saws that didn't need more fuel than factory setting(s) would provide. This usually adds some additional power as well......Cliff