If its any consolation, I probably would have went through the same thing with my new ms261 had the dealer not given me a demo
when I purchased the saw. (Faulk lawn and equip in Delaware) The tech/sales guy took the time to explain what not to do and not to do when starting the saw and made sure I fully understood every aspect of owning the saw.( Possibly, he recognised that I wouldnt RTFM after I explained that I owned various other saws for over 25 years)
As the ms261 has no "primer bulb " and appears that it will never vapor lock after a hard run...i am happy to comply with the change in starting methods. The whole spectrum of criticism i have read here reminds me of when fuel injection first appeared on cars. (it took a long time before people stopped pushing the gas pedal as though their car still had a carbuerator
)
I do wish there was a "brand loyalty" filter on this forum as well as an "oil thread" filter as their is absolutely nothing anyone can
post here that will pursuade me to sell my stihl and buy a brand x, or adjust my oil mix, or even care that I might be useing saws
(stihl,echo,homelite) that are seen as inferior by others......unless the saw came with a really revolutionary development like a detacheable body warmer attachment with accessory boots and gloves to go with it. Or even a butt warmer. That would be something I could really use.
I still like reading the rest of the posts. The filter would just help me to get to the interesting stuff faster.
I too have "over purchased". This saw will probably outlast me but hopefully I wont be passing on junk to my heirs. If the other brands
should come out with a detacheable body warmer, I will probably here about it on the news. People will be buying them for uses that
have NOTHING to do with cutting wood.( In that case,I am pretty confident I could resell my stihl easily without takeing too big of a loss to get one)