550XP/562XP Long Term Reliability

[Topbuilder]

Stihl love it! (sorry, I had to....)
As I have said, I do not use it every day. Even less now as I am doing less grinding.
In September my parents house was hit with a tornado. I drove up to help with clean up. The 562 had been sitting unused for several months. Long enough I automatically dumped the gas and poured fresh mix in. It started right up! I used it every day for 2 about weeks straight. I used a 20" bar the whole time. I brought a 24 with a skip chain but never used it. We hired a pro crew for the majority of the work. They had a crane and other heavy equipment. All the trees on the water, fell in the water. Everything I did not want to save for firewood had to be hauled out. Pretty big job. They had 30 something mature trees to start, 3 or 4 left after the storm. Many of them were blow-overs with 8' high root balls. Nasty.
Anyway, I was in Stihl country. Typical behavior from life long Stihl users usually starts with disinterest at the sight of the wrong color orange and after listening/watching it work, morphs to " what is that?" My BIL included...
One of the head guys had never used one, but had a competitor who claimed the 562 had the best power/weight ratio of any saw on the planet and used them exclusively. I must have pushed him over the edge. He bought one before he finished the job. He told me it surprised him (35 years in the tree business) how aggressively it reaches for more wood in the cut.
So, to answer your question, I have been very happy with the saw. I wish I would have bought a pro saw many years earlier. I don't know how your equipment is priced down under, but if the 562 is competitively priced, I highly recommend it.

 

[newforest]

I have been wondering about this same question, just on a comparison sense to others’ experiences. Longevity should be easy to compare now that AutoTune keeps a count of the hours running.

It looks like I might have worn out my first 550XP. It was a great saw for me; I recently bought another one before they ( Mark Is ) are gone, and might invest in one more.

My 2016 edition maybe has cratered the main bearings completely. There is too much play on the drive shaft to mount a chain on it. That is just a guess; there is no one less than 90 minutes away that I know or trust to figure it out. My regular shop will get a look at it next week; they will know what’s up.

Recently I asked the best shop in Indiana how many hours they’ve seen on their customers 550 XPs. They had 2 replies: “We have several over 200 hours” & “but we don’t hook them up to the cable unless we really need to.”

My shop at home has a few customers that have reached 500 hours on one. They routinely hook them up to insure the AutoTune has updates from Husqy.

I’m not too bummed if if turns out I need new main crank bearings and the saw might shuffle off to the boneyard. Such things happen, perhaps, when the little engines that can reach...900 hours on them.

 

[Jet47]

Update on my saws that I use everyday for work.
I have 2 550 xp's that are both running strong. One is about 7 years old, the other about 5. The newer one has never been in the shop. The first one had the carb swapped out under warranty.
My 1st 562xp (6 years old) still runs but I rarely use it.
I bought a 2260 that only lasted 2 years before I scuffed the piston. I have since been robbing it of parts. It was used pretty much everyday for a 1 1/2 years.
My second 562xp , which will be 2 years old this November is in the shop. It won't stay running and I suspect it is gas related.
My 390xp is about 14 months old and I use it at the mill cutting butt flares of logs. Just a guess but maybe 300 hours on it. Never been to the shop.
My 572xp was just recently bought and only have about 20 hours on it. So far I love it.
I also have a 372 that is 9 or 10 years old. Used it for work a lot at first but now is regulated to blocking firewood. Never been to a shop.

I love Husqvarna!

 

[Springfield]

I have been wondering about this same question, just on a comparison sense to others’ experiences. Longevity should be easy to compare now that AutoTune keeps a count of the hours running.

It looks like I might have worn out my first 550XP. It was a great saw for me; I recently bought another one before they ( Mark Is ) are gone, and might invest in one more.

My 2016 edition maybe has cratered the main bearings completely. There is too much play on the drive shaft to mount a chain on it. That is just a guess; there is no one less than 90 minutes away that I know or trust to figure it out. My regular shop will get a look at it next week; they will know what’s up.

Recently I asked the best shop in Indiana how many hours they’ve seen on their customers 550 XPs. They had 2 replies: “We have several over 200 hours” & “but we don’t hook them up to the cable unless we really need to.”

My shop at home has a few customers that have reached 500 hours on one. They routinely hook them up to insure the AutoTune has updates from Husqy.

I’m not too bummed if if turns out I need new main crank bearings and the saw might shuffle off to the boneyard. Such things happen, perhaps, when the little engines that can reach...900 hours on them.

you should be able to get it rebuilt