I have used my Husky 359 with a twenty inch bar for about nine months now. I was a little disappointed with the power initially, and was going to wait until the warrantee was up to do a muffler mod, but went ahead anyway after three or four tanks of gas. It was the e tech model with the stuffed up muffler, so I popped the limiter caps and drilled two half-inch holes straight through the front and inner baffle. I don't have a tach, just tuned it by ear. I noticed an appreciable gain in performance, I guess close to what I wanted in the first place. After about ten tanks of gas, it seemed like it really started to run to my liking. Most of the trees that I cut are fifty-sixty year old pines, just about max for the twenty inch bar, and the saw moves through the wood very well. One of the guys I work with has the same saw un-moded with a twenty-four inch bar. I've used it a number of times, and it seems well within the power range of giving good performance with the longer bar, at least with the pines.
It seems like a very good saw, the air filter doesn't require very frequent cleaning, and the engine seems dependable. The only thing I had trouble with and sometimes still do, is occasionally hitting the off switch while operating the saw. I have ordered a bunch of these for a number of people here, and everyone seems to like them. Sometime I'm walking around with the thing for seven or eight hours, and the weight isn't bad, certainly an improvement in that regard over my Stihl 038. This is my first "modern" Husky, and I like the sensitive trigger too. I've read where some people gave the 359 a bad rap, but I tend to think that this might have something more to do with the saw not having a XP after it's name, and less 500 rpms, than much actual personal experience with it's performance. The saw seems good value for the money, and I am very much enjoying using it.
I'd be very interested in learning how the 357XP compares with the 359, if anyone here has run both. A modded 357XP must be a very hot saw?
