Light chainsaw recommendation?

[5thelement]

21 hours ago, AHPP said:

Stihl released the 500i six years ago. They're the bollocks. Why aren't more saws injected by now?

Husqvarna are bringing out their first fuel injected saw shortly, I have one on order, 564xpg. 
As light as a 50cc with the power of a 70cc, had a blast on one recently, a fantastic mid range snedding machine. 

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, 5thelement said:

Husqvarna are bringing out their first fuel injected saw shortly, I have one on order, 564xpg. 
As light as a 50cc with the power of a 70cc, had a blast on one recently, a fantastic mid range snedding machine. 

 

My point is more that Stihl has had the computer and injector working for six years. Why haven't they put it on other saws? They must have tried!

[AHPP]

2 hours ago, Stubby said:

I used one briefly and yes it zipped up almost like a ported saw but I thought it felt a bit flimsy for a bigish saw . Yours I take it is holding up ok ? 

 

Yep. Had mine since June 2020. Still in great nick. I'm a pretty light user though.

[5thelement]

17 minutes ago, AHPP said:

 

My point is more that Stihl has had the computer and injector working for six years. Why haven't they put it on other saws? They must have tried!

If I remember right, Stihl never had any intention of running the 500i for more than a short run in production terms. Maybe it cost more to produce than the standard set up, making the margins too narrow to spread the technology over that many models, it is very thirsty, maybe it doesn’t work well on smaller units?
The 400.1 is a great saw without the fuel injection, do they need it?

[AHPP]

Progress happens in steps. Otherwise we'd still be using flint axes.

 

Must be a wider business decision. Moving people towards battery maybe.

[Dan Maynard]

In the car world fuel injection took over from carbs because of efficient combustion over a wide range of operating conditions, really hard to run a catalytic converter without it. Also makes it easier to balance across the cylinders, than multi -barrel carbs or twin carbs. It is still just mixing fuel and air, little bit less resistance to flow maybe but power is determined fundamentally by cylinder capacity, compression ratio. 

 

I don't think chainsaws have the same wide range of conditions as car engines, hence no overwhelming case for injection. Yes you can get super fast acceleration, but I think it's jamming 80cc in a 461 chassis that makes the 500i seem good, same as jamming 67cc into a 362 case makes the 400 a good saw to use.