Why pick a husky over a stihl (And vice versa)

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My Dad used McCulloch in the 70s. That's all I ever heard. Fast forward to early 2000s, we bought him a new Stihl for Father's Day. He hated it. In fact, he gave it to me. I use it now and the initial reputation of that little saw (MS250) is what prompted me to buy a MS362CM. It's a nice saw but Dad talked me into looked at Echo as we have always used their trimmers since the early 80s. I'm sold on Echo and like Stihl. They can all make a dog. Never been much of a Husky fan mainly in that I've used them very little.
 
Hooskies are sexier :happy:...all about dealer support in my case

Hardly any Husky dealers around here anymore; loads of Stihl dealers w/ factory trained mechanics
If you work on your saws then it probably doesn't matter where you buy them.

Imo Husky's have always had better AV & air filtration. The newer Stihl's air filtration have improved greatly, but still not up to the level of Hooskie
as far as I can tell.

Stihl parts can be outrageously expensive

Husky also has a number of Pro saws that do not have engine management systems, but I'm sure this will not be the case 5 or so years down the road.
 
It was mentioned that Husky caught up to Stihl with Autotune or Mtronic (electronic carb tuning).

I had always had heard that Husqvarna had Auto tune (576 maybe?) before Stihl released their version (was it the 261, 362, or 661 first) and that Husqvarna had the more advanced system. Now that may be completely false, but it’s what I heard.

Stihl has since released the 500i with fuel injection so is likely more advanced now.
 
Stocking and ordering parts costs money, especially when it is a tossup if the customer actually comes back to buy the part that is ordered. Generally, if they can wait until I make the next order, I don't charge shipping. If they need it right away, then I usually charge shipping, plus require the money up front. As well if they can wait until my next order.
Otherwise you will end up with a huge inventory of parts that you will never sell.
My stihl dealer took 2 weeks to get a part that was at their next closest dealer, less than an hour, away and still charged delivery fee.
 
It was mentioned that Husky caught up to Stihl with Autotune or Mtronic (electronic carb tuning).

I had always had heard that Husqvarna had Auto tune (576 maybe?) before Stihl released their version (was it the 261, 362, or 661 first) and that Husqvarna had the more advanced system. Now that may be completely false, but it’s what I heard.

They were within a few months of each other in 2007, but Stihl brought out the 441 M-Tronic before Husqvarna brought out the 575XP Autotune. The 576XP we all know now is the successor to the 575XP. The M-Tronic system worked much better than the first Autotune systems.

The 575XP and to a lesser extent the saw it shared a case with, the 570, had issues bottom ends, clutch side crank bearings in particular. I liked mine. The 441, on the other hand, didn’t have many teething problems short of it remaining being a pain to work on its entire production run.

They were also the first strato saws from the two big players in the chainsaw world.
 
Back in 1979, I’m looking for a chain saw. It was Stihl or Husqvarna. A co worker told me him and two other kids rode a husky dirtbike all summer beating the crap out of it. He said with a quality bike like that there Husqvarna chain saws have to be a good quality too. I purchased a new 2100cd and 240sg and never looked back. Soon after I purchased a 2101xp and 266se life was great.

I asked a local pro feller in the store about Stihl saws he was ready to rip my head off. He fells trees for the skidder with his 262 Xp husky. He had stinks in the beginning but the break downs cost him Time and money plus the parts cost more for stills a the time.

A good dealer will order you parts, a great dealer will have the part in stock or take the part off a scrap saw or take the part off a new saw to keep you running that’s how I judge a great dealer he knows in wood cutting with permits there’s time limits, get in there cut and get out. If your dealer isn’t a class act then find one.

If my saw isn’t running I’m not making money, my bills don’t get paid, my kids don’t eat, you tell them there eating crackers tonight. Never had to do that, if I ate steak we all ate steak. Check your local supermarket for mark down meats. You can save $$ and still eat great.
 
Husqvarna has a proven track record since 1979 for me why switch now for cutting.

I do own Stihl, Poulan, McCullough, homelite, Montgomery wards and partner saws to collect and play with.

I won’t tell you which stock saw cuts faster but I always run my Husqvarnas when time is money.
 
A good dealer will order you parts, a great dealer will have the part in stock or take the part off a scrap saw or take the part off a new saw to keep you running that’s how I judge a great dealer he knows in wood cutting with permits there’s time limits, get in there cut and get out. If your dealer isn’t a class act then find one.


My shop of choice, about an hour and a half North of where I live is like that. They were out of anti-vibe mounts one time after one of mine broke. He said if you gotta have it for the coming week's work, he'd go pull one off a new saw, no problem. Knowing it's not easy for me to get up there, especially in the winter, he waives the emergency fee if I need work done that day, so long as I call him the day before (and once when I couldn't get cell service at the job site before they closed) to let him know what's up. The shop in town (still 30 minutes away) is only good in absolutely must-haves before work, like a bar-tip, sprocket, or bar oil.

What's nice is that most of the shops around the area are friendly with one another and will steer them in one another's direction if unable to fulfill the needs of the customer. So few shops and so many loggers/homesteaders there's no point in being competitive to the point of being rude.




I go with husqy cause it's mostly what I've run plus excellent shop support. That being said, I've run a couple nice stihls and would love to get my hands on a 462 over a new 572xp if I could afford either right now.
 
I purchased used running husky 570 saws cheap that run great. I purchased 8 of them. Two need rebuilding, two need rings, four run great one son is hammering one every weekend doing firewood. The other son runs his, but it’s the first saw he grabs, I told them to run a ratio of 40:1. These can be found still affordable. The last 570 that runs cost me $150. Again it was used for a job plus it was hard starting for the owner. Got it here it fired right up. So may of these puppies need good homes.
 
I had a stihl for a long time and quite liked it. However I got into a 455 rancher and was just blown away. Not just from the performance and anti vibe but the reliability. I couldn’t get it to crap out under the worst of conditions, I also started to take it apart for maintenance and repair. It was doing this I found how easy it was to completely disassemble...
my moms boyfriend always talked husky’s when I was a kid and now I was starting to fall in love (with the brand not my moms boyfriend haha).
Since then I’ve been hooked, and I will never ever spend big money on a stihl cause I just don’t know it as well as I do husky. I got no big problems with stihl but I got husqvarna in my blood now and I can’t get rid of it.

I have to say that the 550 was definitely the biggest disappointment I’ve had with the brand, but every brand has its doosies.
One thing I can’t stand is how they are literally everywhere here, I only know of two husky dealers in my city of 1.4 million people...
 
I give the Stihl bigger saws credit there torquey, and with long bars there ok. Husqvarna are high rpm and the chain needs to be kept razor sharp. My son was running a Poulan wild thing for two decades+ around the house. Since he offered to clean up my land in vt I bought him a new husky 460 rancher, after he came home he had a smile ear to ear the kid couldn’t thank me enough. Then I gave him a good running husky 570. He’s very happy now. My other son likes jred, I gave him a jred 910e and a husky 570 too. Another happy cutter.

A lot of tree cutting companies use husky 460 ranchers and abuse them.
 
I give the Stihl bigger saws credit there torquey, and with long bars there ok. Husqvarna are high rpm and the chain needs to be kept razor sharp.

Maybe 30 years ago, but your notions about the rpms don't match up with today's saws. Ever since the 026/034/etc saws, Stihls have been high rpm machines. My 261 likes high rpms, my 440 and 036 do too.
 
One of my reckless buddies bought a Stihl chain saw that he didn't like. He took the saw completely apart and sold them all on e-bay, one or two at a time. His prices were about half of the dealer's list price for each part. Nevertheless, he almost sold all the OEM parts and obtained about twice as much revenue as he originally paid for the saw, even after shipping. What parts he did not sell, he kept for repairs on other models that used the same parts.

He must be a great guy. I would do that too. Thanks
 
Maybe 30 years ago, but your notions about the rpms don't match up with today's saws. Ever since the 026/034/etc saws, Stihls have been high rpm machines. My 261 likes high rpms, my 440 and 036 do too.

I have a few stihls that sound slow when I run them maybe there older, 170, 041, 290.
 
I worked for Husqvarna for most of the 1980s. We often compared Huskys with Stihls but I never heard anyone at Husqvarna actually rubbish the opposition.
At the time, working with a Stihl felt to me like cutting with a machine whereas a Husky felt more like surgery with a scalpel. First Stihl that really impressed me in that way was the 064.
Of course, that was then, this is now!

Go with the better dealer if you need good support.

And remember, even if you buy a Stihl, you're supporting Husqvarna because they get the license fee for both XTorq and Autotune/MTronic (I guess only until Stihl can get their fuel injection cheap enough to use it on every model).
 
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