I did not say that a Mahle cylinder was better. I gave my experience in how to tell the difference on a 361, in response to another members indication that he would like to know before he bought a 361.
Of course I realize that you know much more than me.
I didn't mean to sound as though you was making the claim the Mahle's are better. If it seemed that way my bad.
I just brought it up for two reasns, one because there is alot of hoop la floating around the board that somehow because a few cylinders with the Stihl name on them not suiting the tastes of some is somehow reason for all to be alarmed. As with your reply to the poster pointing out how to make sure the saw has a Mahle cylinder on it before he buys it. He is asking because of these recent threads. Thats an indication of how this non-sense has affected some people reading this board. He needed to be aware of Mahle as well if he thought Mahle never made or makes a bad cylinder, they do, I got proof. Reason to be alarmed, not at all, there are bad cylinders out there made by everyone. The % is small but yes there are bad apples outhere from all makers. I guess with Stihl being the biggest name in the saw biz for the last 40 years they will catch more slack than anyone else over a so called bad cylinder. Defining bad seems to be a matter of opinion on some though.
My second and main point in bringing up the cylinder I had to replace on a Stihl 361 saw that was indeed a Mahle puts things back where they belong. As you can see nobody came and started ragging on Mahle over that cylinder. It was not an appearance issue, a casting issue or a performance issue, it was worse, a cylinder with the wall coating chipping off under use, low hours at that. These same folks that found all these so called faults with the few Stihl cylinders have been boasting Mahle. Funny they sure didn't seem to be boasting about Mahle cylinders on one I had to replace. In fact that defective Mahle cylinder was found and replaced over a year ago. Some folks have very short memories. We had a nice thread about that Mahle cylinder replacement. No one jumped up and down, it was what it was, simply a cylinder with wall coating chipping off. It was defective. Quality issue of all Mahle cylinders or quality issue of one cylinder out of millions, I think the ladder. No big deal to me, just a cylinder. I find it funny reading all the non-sense of late knowing the only cylinder I have ever replaced that was actually defective was a Mahle, not a Stihl. Topping that the defect was small and I was gonna use that cylinder myself but it didn't survive under the knife,LOL
On to more brighter things I used my own 361 this morning and made a few dollars. It ran mighty fine as it always does. I even let the man I was doing the job for run it, he was like wowow, that thing cuts great. What brand of cylinder is on it, I don't have a clue, don't know, don't care. Should I look for the name on it or pull the muffler and look for wall coating chipping off, I know I am, righttttttttttttt. I'm a firm beleiver in if its not broke don't fix it.