23years ago echos were the first saws i ever used, along with a homey c72 monster, they had their time and place, the company got complacent as far as r&d and lost significant market share and me too as a customer...they are DESPERATLY trying to regain it back....they have a pathetic reasoning behind not publishing their hp ratings, would any of u buy a new car without asking how much hp it produces ?.......Cumon echo
Complacent as far as R &D....Are you out of your mind, I mean, honestly, what color is the sky where you are man? Echo has remained on the cutting edge of 2 stroke technology, and their quality is top of the line, always has been.
HP ratings are misleading, and dont accuratly represent the ability of a saw. Type of chain, bar length, engine tune and oil mix have a profound effect on actual power output. Just because a Huskastihlared is advertised at 3.8hp, doesnt actually mean the saw you just bought is actually putting out 3.8hp.
People like to bash the strong, inexpensive, and lighweight PLASTIC parts echo uses..the Rear Handle, recoil housing, bar/clutch cover, and other bits of cladding. I can only say that Ive never replaced a single peice of plastic housing that wouldnt have broken regardless of material type. At least plastic is not espensive like magnesium, and plastic does have a little give to it of you drop the saw, or a peice of equipment runs over it, it will have some give before parts start breaking.
People like to bash the Echo's that use the clamshell engine style. The bearings, seals, etc are encased in a horizontally split housing, the desgin is rigid, simple, and efficient. In the event of a failure, no special tools are required to completly disassemble the saw down to the bar crank/rod. Has ANYONE actually seen an ECHO saw fail because of the clamshell design? There is no flex, no play, the clamshell keeps everything in line, The clamshell is then bolted to either a metal housing (larger CC models) or a gussetted plastic housing (smaller models). And the housing is suspended within a cradel (anti-vibe).
The place I work at has been an ECHO/Kioritz/Kyoritsu dealer since the beginning and we have yet to witness a failure due to a design flaw. The clamshell design is sound..bash it all you want, it will hold up to daily abuse.
I agree the NE346 is faster than a 260 but give me a 260 anyday over one. As far as your 2152 kicking a 260, I'm not going to say it will or won't but bring it to our gtg and we can find out. I also think Stihl needs to give the 260 more power but they run stong when ported. With the 2010 doomsday coming, I don't see Stihl wasteing r&d on a saw that won't meet epa's regs. Stihl looks at the 260 and it's sales speak highly, if they were going to change it for more power, that should have happened awhile ago but it keeps selling strong.
