Stihl 261 vs. Husky 550 XP

[mtrees]

Knock on wood before I say this, but my ported 562 I have never touched the bulb. The 550 is another story.

 

[indiansprings]

As of today all Stihl fuel injected machines (two cut off saws) need to have the primer bulb pushed six to seven times, I only assume it is done for simplicity, no need to add a battery to change for a eletric fuel pump, the fuel injected units are amazing, and amazingly simple, they had it patent filed back in the early 90's. Easy to diagnois issuses, easy to tune and with two screws you can change the injector,
I personally feel the "I" series saws will take the performance to another level as compared to Auto Tume or M Tronic today.
It has been highly successfull in cutoff saws, they figured cutoff saws operating in concrete dust/masonary dirty conditions would prove that the system works, the units we have sold have not been back in, acceleration is as close to instantaneous as you could expect.
Primer bulb replacement is like a five minute process, don't replace those on the top brands like you have too on the 69.00 string trimmers sold at WM, Lowes or Depot.

 

[CATDIESEL]

It doesn't take me 5-6days to figure out which saw I like.
Lets see pull the throttle back before so you can put the choke on? WTH?

i am guessing you run a saw 5-6days a year..........tops.

 

[CATDIESEL]

If half of you guys were blindfolded and giving a saw to run, chances are you would not know what you had in your hand.

wanna bet?

 

[CATDIESEL]

Well, 3 of the 4 saws are first class units.

Granted, I'm Husky biased, and not afraid to admit it. And I've never had strong feelings one way or the other with inboard or outboard clutches. But trying to be objective............LOL

In this case the Huskys are simply more advanced than their Stihl counterparts. Whenever these discussions take place, the one sure way to tell that the Stihl guys are grasping is when they trot out the "better build quality" fantasy. I can't see any difference in build quality between the two brands.

The 550 has a slight edge over the 261 in any measureable category. But it is slight. The 261 is a really nice saw to run, and despite people complaining that it's heavy, I really don't notice it. To me it's a comfortable saw to operate, but it lacks that "fits like a glove" feel of the 550. Doing firewood it would be hard to pick a clear winner between them. But in doing all of the other jobs that professional 50cc saws are designed to do, the 550 is IMO clearly superior in that element.

The 362 is a flop, if ever there was one. And the proof is not in what us Husky guys may say about it, but in how little the Stihl guys have to say about it. Remember the 361 was one of the most loved saws on the site a short time ago. There were many threads where 361 owners raved about how great it was. There was a special 361 owners group forum. And what do we get from the Stihl camp with the 362? Mostly silence and indifference. The primary reason is that the 261, 550, and 562 are all better than the saws they replaced. The 362 is clearly not as good as the 361, and that's why, even in the eyes of Stihl fans, it is viewed as a disappointment. It's not even close in the 60cc class: 562 all the way.

agree to respecfully disagree here. the 550 has auto-tune,(that has known hard start issues?),it is light, and compact. it also gives you grey paint that looks 10 yrs. old in 2 weeks, a plastic oil pump that is exposed, orange plastic that is 5 different colors, and like all huskys that i have owned,fasteners,case screws that come loose or disappear all together. i still will try one just to see how they perform. also i do not own one, but know several guys that run 362's and love them.:msp_tongue:

 

[CATDIESEL]

The whole primer bulb retort goes back to grasping for something to complain about. WHEN Stihl puts them on their all their saws, not just some, all of the primer jibs will all but disappear. And I've seen plenty of quite old primers still pumping away.

This isn't directed specifically at you, just after you.

i have no issues with primers on either brand

 

[TK]

i have no issues with primers on either brand

That's good, people shouldn't

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

I ran a tree companies year old MS261 the other day, and the amount
of power over brand new is night and day.

It doesn't rev super quick but for a 50cc saw it's got lotsa ass.

 

[Rudolf73]

I ran a tree companies year old MS261 the other day, and the amount
of power over brand new is night and day.

It doesn't rev super quick but for a 50cc saw it's got lotsa ass.

So it must be true, they take a while to run in...

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

So it must be true, they take a while to run in...

Same thing with the 362, serviced today one that has cut 100+ cord of
firewood, today and it's an animal compared to new.

They just need a bunch of time to loosen up, then richen them up 1/8-1/4 turn
and makes a big difference.

 

[Andyshine77]

Same thing with the 362, serviced today one that has cut 100+ cord of
firewood, today and it's an animal compared to new.

They just need a bunch of time to loosen up, then richen them up 1/8-1/4 turn
and makes a big difference.

I've ran the 562 and I owned a 362. IMHO there's no power difference, and if there is it's small. I liked the 562's overall design and weight better, but the power difference is negligible. The biggest issues with the 362 is the limiter caps on the carb, tune it correctly and it will make great power and suck down as much fuel as a non strato saw.opcorn:

 

[spike60]

agree to respecfully disagree here. the 550 has auto-tune,(that has known hard start issues?),it is light, and compact. it also gives you grey paint that looks 10 yrs. old in 2 weeks, a plastic oil pump that is exposed, orange plastic that is 5 different colors, and like all huskys that i have owned,fasteners,case screws that come loose or disappear all together. i still will try one just to see how they perform. also i do not own one, but know several guys that run 362's and love them.:msp_tongue:

The Auto-Tune is a positive, not a negative. I know of no hard start issues with 550's. It was on the 555/562 and was NOT due to auto-tune, but to the coil, which would lose reserve voltage when hot. It was an intermittent problem, and not on that many saws, but when you had one that acted up, (like my own 555), it absolutely REFUSED to start uinless you walked away from it for 5 minutes. People still tend to blame everything, including a dull chain on auto-tune.

The 20 different shades of orange deal was corrected 7 or 8 years ago, and the colors have been pretty consistant since. You also have to admit that it was not at all uncommon for most Stihl orange tops to fade to the same ugly brown/orange as the Husky plastic. But with the rest of the saw being white, it's not as annoying. I'm with you on the silver paint though. The part that gets me is that even with the paint essentially being the same color as the bare metal, it really looks scuffed up in a hurry.

 

[CATDIESEL]

i love auto-tune/mitronic, but i will like fuel injection even more!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MCW]

I know of no hard start issues with 550's.

Mine is hard to start when warm Spike. I'm hoping after some run time it will go away. One pull starting when warm isn't very easy but it only has around 10 tanks through it so far.
When cold it isn't an issue. The hard starting I experienced was in 41°C though but that shouldn't make a difference. It's nearly like it needs repriming and choking even if it's only just been turned off. Reprime, a couple of pulls on choke, choke off, then she'll start, fart a bit, and off we go again.

 

[SawTroll]

I've ran the 562 and I owned a 362. IMHO there's no power difference, and if there is it's small. I liked the 562's overall design and weight better, but the power difference is negligible. The biggest issues with the 362 is the limiter caps on the carb, tune it correctly and it will make great power and suck down as much fuel as a non strato saw.opcorn:

I believe it once was established that the 562xp you tried at a GTG was sub-standard? :confused2:

 

[Andyshine77]

I believe it once was established that the 562xp you tried at a GTG was sub-standard? :confused2:

No my friend, I think people just get so caught up in the hype it becomes a reality in their minds.

 

[CATDIESEL]

No my friend, I think people just get so caught up in the hype it becomes a reality in their minds.

i have no doubt that the 562xp will throttle up/and is quite a bit more "snappy" than the 362. husky has throttle response from the factory figured out, they always have. but in the cut.....60cc is just that, 60cc. after break in, with a good MM, and tune, the 362 will run well, the ms261 is the same way.

 

[Hiisi]

The hot start issue has been quite common in 550´s, over here in Finland anyway. I had the same problem in my cs2260, first only now and then
but recently it got a lot worse, almost consistently taking ~50 pulls to get it going after filling up. It was just fixed under warranty, the cure
apparently being a small green one-way valve added somwhere in the works. The same fix should work on the 550's as well.

BTW, an AV spring was also changed under warranty on the 2260 after it gave up, had to fire up the 261 to get day's job finished :msp_rolleyes:
That's the reason I have the 261 in the lineup, it might not be the nimblest of saws but has proven to be one of the most reliable ones...

 

[Termite]

i am guessing you run a saw 5-6days a year..........tops.

You are wright Cat Diesel you are guessing.

 

[Deererainman]

My Mac Pro 700 is enjoying this conversation.

opcorn: