My thoughts are that husky has met or overtaken stihl is many aspects. Huskies are definately smoother to run (yes, even in the cut) and much easier on the hands. Their air injection is awesome as far as keeping a clean filter. That being said, stihl is supposedly on the right track with the new 361 in both respects. Hopefully, that will carry over into their other new models. I think pro husky saws are just as or if not more popular now with professionals as stihls. As far as consumer saws, I have heard of a lot more problems with stihls than huskies. Many of stihls new "innovations" seem to be aimed at the consumer market. Things like the quick side tensioner, easy to start, and triple activated chain brakes may be attractive to the consumer, but arent really applicable to most pro saws. A lot of saw companies out there right now seem to have one or two models in their lineup that really shine, but seem to lack the dealer support and advertising power that it takes to really get competitive.