I bought a ms 261c about 4/5 months ago and have been using it a lot cutting up firewood. Today I decided to run my ms290 since it has been sitting unused for awhile and man what a few lbs make. The 261c weighs in at 10.8 lbs and the 290 at 13.0 lbs. You wouldn't think 2 lbs would make that much difference but after just a few tanks of gas I was ready to put the 290 back up and use the 261. I run 20'' bars on both so all the difference was in the power head. I always liked the 290 and still do but I love the 261 even better.