The kid just got back to Boise, after two weeks on the fire line. I asked him about the saws. He said that they ran well, once they broke them in and figured out that they had a switch by the carb for summer/winter operation. They had to flip that switch to whichever setting it was not on, and they ran great. There were two other problems. One was that the chain brake is super wimpy and they broke one. The part that actually brakes the chains is super small. They had to be real careful from then on, so that the brake was not slammed. Also, they kicked off at least one chain per day. He said that the bars were pretty wimpy and would easily bend. I suggested that may be the reason that the chains were coming off. If the bar is wimpy, even a slight torque may throw a chain.
He said that talking to other guys that had been doing it for a number of years, Husqvarna was the overall winner. They had very few issues with them compared to Stihl and now the Makitas.
It will be interesting to see how they hold up over the rest of the season, now that they understand how they have to treat them.