I own a Poulan 330, and a Husqvarna 55, and the Poulan is not any stronger the Husqvarna. I do have the closed port model, which is considerbly faster and stonger than my open port 51.
The real sleeper in the bunch is the Echo CS-510. It outran the 330 yesterday doing some timed cuts. I didn't want to run a thread on it, just to have folks pick away at the results because I didn't have a helper to run the stopwatch for me. I also had the 22" bar and chain in place, which isn't that great of a set-up right to start with.
Ya, no ship, I know a real test involves the same bar/chain set-up in the same wood, etc, etc, but I'm not about to invest in a .325 18" deal for the 330 just to make timed cut tests with it, when it is already set-up for 3/8 and I have an 18" bar/chain for it.
The timed cut testing will be closer with the 18" bar on the 330, but still slightly flawed when testing since the Husky 55 and Echo CS-510 run .325" 18" bar/chain set-ups. Bottom line, it's really a strong running saw, but isn't going to lay waste to a close port 55, 5100, 346XP, or any other saw in that class.....IMHO.....Cliff