Being a self admitted StihlHead, I bougth a 346xpne last fall, mm'd the saw and was extremely pleased with the saw. It's lightning throttle response and handling characteristics made it the best limb/ homeowner firewood saw I had run. I sung the praises of the saw on here as much as anyone.
Stopped by my Stihl dealer yesterday, had even heard of a 261, lol.
When he does get them in I will definetly give one a try. If the saw lives up to the hype, I'll be the first to trade in the 346. Not for the extra speed, but simply because I can stick a 3/8 18" bar on it and run the same chain set up I do on 80% of my firewood saws. It would be worth the convienence to me.
I do prefer the inboard clutch, the only gripe I have about the 346 is it falls over all the time. If I trade it's definetly not because of the Husky/Stihl branding as the 346 exceeded every expectation I had of the saw.
People need to take the "brand" glasses off. Competition is what keeps making saws better. What made Stihl create 261 to perform like it does,
prolly the way the 346 performed. Husky will prolly use the 261 as the benchmark to beat when they replace the 346. It's all good for the end user, we get a product that has improved performance and prolly will use less fuel.
Stihl certainly seems to have put the money and engineering in the line of "strato" saws. Hopefully Husky will be as successful. The competition drives innovation.