that didn't take long. I received a memo today faxed by a Swedish engineer from Husqvarna. He told me about lean seizures on the new 576. Apparently if they are not run under heavy load when first started, the computer does not reset from the factory default setting, (Which is lean to pass the emissions tests at the factory). Now the funny part, he states the saw must be run in a big log at full throttle for 2-5 minutes to "clue" itself in. I guess they will send a log with every 20 saws? Another Tech manager from Canada told me the saw needs 60 revolutions to complete the feedback loop required to recalibrate. This tells me the saw runs between 12 and 30 rpms, a tad slow for a chainsaw, (or water-wheel for that matter). Cheers, Simon.
So thats the bad news, how do they run once calibrated? Sounds like an instruction to the customer & or dealer setup vs. the trashing of a brand. Couple of things strike me from this series of posts.
1) The is a precursor as the EPA has ultimate power on the emission standards. Trying to build and sell while also developing new technology from scratch isn't easy. The strato saws and now evolving towards Electronic Fuel Injection to run that fine line between epa regs and real world performance is...rough. These regulations require solution unfunded by the legislation and therefore have to be by the marketplace and manufacturers (typical of big gov.). The regulation driven compressed time frames mean offerings like the 575 and 576. Remember the "Bad Casting" thread? Having support from customers and dealers alike is survival in this new world. Look to the Stihl support, thick or thin, at all levels; for a lesson in survival.
2) Husqvarna with the purchase of Redmax and the introduction of a few "strato" saws bit the bullet and defined the problems making it a little easier for the competition to "one up" the origional offerings..Stihl's 441 is like a second generation of that concept.
3) Both Stihl & Husqvarna are "plowing" the road for the rest at SO many levels..Stihl's 280 and now Husqvarna's 576 are first generation adaptive controls...strato saws, 4-Mix motors..etc
4) I would be more PO'ed at the politicians who bought into the global warming scam than the manufacturers.. Canadian's haven't done much to blunt that all encompassing attack! We all live with the results of that political nightmare! I would hope the distribution channels would be more helpfull to support the industry deal with this vs. attacking them as they try.
5) The fact that cyber intelligence is used to control motor performance means by its very nature changes and updates will be cheaper over time as they develop interfaces (They always do!) to update timing curves, mixture curves etc. If I was in the business of tuning and building performace saws, that would be a welcome feature as it would allow aftermarket "value add" that is not available to this point. Its a big thing in the motorcycle and automotive world! You cut metal with CNC machines with programs built by evaluating cyber models built with with CAD systems (Or are you one of the Point Control mindless robots of the CNC world)...get a grip on the electronic ignition/ fuel control devices and move on!
Not impressed with this tone what so ever..and I like the fact that The Stihl folks picked up on the attitude portrayed in this thread so quickly. Marketing..Sales..understanding the art of grabbing market share! Me? If I buy new, I'll buy Jonsered for a lot of non technical reasons, possibly a Stihl 441 for the same types of reasons. And my bet is they will do what I need.
