That could very well be a good analogy. And I do get what your saying about a lot of wasted energy. I however see it another way as well. Kind of like back when I use to woods riding/Hare Scramble racing on a dirt bike. I had a 250 2-Stroke which for about 85% of the riding I did was WAY overkill. However, in those places in the other 15% where you could really open it up, it put a grin on my face from ear to ear and made it worth it. Not sure if that way of thinking transfers over into chainsaw though. [emoji23]
The closest dealer to me is Stihl. At first I was only considering a Stihl. But then from what I was seeing I could get more saw CC wise in a Husky for the same price. Husky dealers aren't to much farther but the Stihl dealer is about 20 mins from my house and they have been good to deal with with certain things, however I have never had anything serviced from them. I have bought a Pro set of Stihl hedge trimmers from them as well as a Stihl FS90R trimmer. Never had any warranty work done but they are always very nice to me when I go up there for mower blades, etc.
Did some more poking around today and looking at the following. Stihl MS441CM, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 576XP AT, and the 390XP. I won't buy anything until I am sure, as sure as you can be anyhow.
Lonewolf has be seriously considering the 576XP(I will get the AT since it is offered with it, might as well). My mind even though what everyone has told me with weight keeps saying if I get the 576 im gonna be thinking "what if I would have got the 390, what would it have been like". Then the other is saying "If I get the 390 is it gonna be a PIG and then turn into the analogy Brian above gave once the novelty wears off. I need to talk to my dad, see how many BIG trees we have and figure out what length bar I would mainly be using, Im thinking mainly a 24" with some 28" as well.
Also for what it matters, I don;t run a saw hours at a time typically. Usually we go out on a Saturday, we will buck up logs for little while, then stop and split, then stack what we bucked. Also some food for thought, the Stihl dealer offers 5% off for military so that will save some, not sure if my Husky dealers do or not. Will have to call them.