Just wanted to give an update...a friend/coworker of mine brought in his 441 and let me take it home for a few days. I ran a tank through it bucking wood out of my pile...
Wow, the difference in power from the 261 is incredible, it cuts through the big red oaks like butter. Its noticeably heavier but when Im just going down a line bucking up the large log its not super noticeable, once I was on the throttle cutting into the wood the weight is on the bar more so than my arms, it just pushes through on its own very nice.
Unfortunately on the smaller logs (I cut from a pile thats dropped on my property, so Im constantly going from very large diameter logs to tiny logs and everything in between when I cut) I found it tiring, it zipped though super fast then I was lifting it 24" down to the next cut more often.
Another thing, I use the bar/mark on the saw as a measuring stick for where to make my next cut so I make the cut, then put the saw 90 degrees so its parallel with the wood, then back to perpendicular to make the cut. That was tiring with the 441 as well, constantly swinging it back and forth.
Overall totally sweet saw, but its got some heft to it.
I wasnt really considering the Huskys because I thought the nearest dealer was a ways away, but with a little googling I found out a nearby forge/fireplace shop carries them, its about 10 minutes further than the Stihl dealer, so not a big deal. Ive been reading about the Husqvarna 562XP quite a bit...I understand its the equivalent to the Stihl 362 in terms of weight/engine size...its $60 cheaper locally ($699 vs $759 for the Stihl) so not enough to sway me one way or another.
Anyway Im going to go handle the 562xp and see what I think. Depending how I like it I think Ill spring for either that or the ms362.
Stay tuned! Hopefully my next post in a few days will have a picture of a shiny new saw
