I like fast saws, but I like fuel efficiency and clean air to - especially when I'm standing next to it breathing the exhaust. Many years ago I read that Ford removed a rice grain sized divot used as an alignment mark on one of their pistons. Why? Because the engine ran so clean that the unburned fuel hiding in that feature had become a significant source of HC. Yet here we have engines that blow a large portion of the fuel they draw in right out the exhaust, and fuel systems designed to run so rich that puking raw fuel is used as a speed governor!
I also like elegant design solutions, and it turns out that huge improvements can be made in both these defects with hardly any additional parts (moving or otherwise). I'm not sure where is this additional complexity that is discussed? An additional throttle plate (newer stratos don't have this)? An H screw replaced by a fuel solenoid, a wiring harness and a stone simple microcontroller?
I read all sorts of claims about strato, like the pistons are too heavy to rev and they get too hot and don't lube. Yet I see an elegant solution with no moving parts that improves performance while reducing emissions and increasing fuel efficiency. Now that's heads-up engineering I can respect. I know some builders get good gains on some stratos by gutting them, but it isn't the only way and adding fuel to the strato air path is not what gives the benefits. Here is a strato I ported by increasing the duration of the air-only inlet and enhancing the strato effect - it's cutting a small branch to show that the strato design does not prevent it from revving (that's 12,700rpm):
I've been a fan of carbs for a very long time and have spent many hours figuring out how they work and tuning cars, but never paid much attention to 2 strokes. When I finally figured out why my saws were all misfiring so badly I was amazed - they were designed to do that! While the engines are small, people don't realize just how much unburned fuel is coming out in comparison to most any other modern engine. And you are holding it, breathing that stuff - sure, we're all young and invincible, until we're not. There's real nasty stuff in exhaust fumes. Feedback carbs use almost no sensors, and finally solve that problem. A proper mixture saves fuel, reduces emissions and improves performance. The system is so simple that Husqvarna could easily put an AT carb on every cheap Poulan sold, but clearly the regulations are too lose and they don't have to.
The manufacturers that have not invested in technology development or paid to use what others developed will try to promote what they sell. Sure, you can reduce scavenging losses as best you can with careful porting and stuff a cat on it, but the performance will be compromised and the cat just turns the lost fuel into heat. And if you mod it all the improvements are lost - you can improve the performance of an AT strato saw while keeping both functions.