Reliability Stihl Ms261 Husky 346xp NE

[Sam Thompson]

Incidently if its predominantly forestry work your doing dont bother looking at anything other than the 550 , some may disagree just my opinion

 

Ditto after a play with one the other week. Fantastic.

 

 

346 is good. It's like a range rover sport. Your happy with it until you see someone in a proper range rover (550), then you kick yourself.

[Kay 9]

Ditto after a play with one the other week. Fantastic.

 

 

346 is good. It's like a range rover sport. Your happy with it until you see someone in a proper range rover (550), then you kick yourself.

 

Nice way of putting it lad:D I think you have all swung me towards the 550. Now to fund it lol. Waiting on the sale of a bike:001_cool:

[teepeeat]

In exactly the same position as Kay9 and came up with the same two choices - 261 or 346. 550 sounds good, but when chatting at a dealers recently, they did say if anything needed tweeking you had to take it in? Dont fancy having to go back and forth to dealers more than is necessary as they are not very local to us.

[Kay 9]

In exactly the same position as Kay9 and came up with the same two choices - 261 or 346. 550 sounds good, but when chatting at a dealers recently, they did say if anything needed tweeking you had to take it in? Dont fancy having to go back and forth to dealers more than is necessary as they are not very local to us.

 

Yeah that's the only thing that turns me off the Autotune too, I like to be able work on and fix my own saws. When were the first autotunes released I wonder?

[Kay 9]

After doing a little research and not sure if the 550 xp is available in Ireland yet. Now the only prob is going across the pond to purchase is I can't fix these saws myself I presume and will be kinda screwed. hmmm

[s o c]

803euro? should be around 650, i paid 625 for mine(pre vat increace 21 to 23%and brian did say it was 2011 price).somebody said they got one for 600 from mchale agristore castlebar.

you may find you can sometimes get really good deals on new models over here if they are slow to take off. the time the 575 came out we bought some a good bit cheaper than 372. garrys husqvarna barna also worth a try.they are really trying to push husky and ive found their back-up really good

[Kay 9]

803euro? should be around 650, i paid 625 for mine(pre vat increace 21 to 23%and brian did say it was 2011 price).somebody said they got one for 600 from mchale agristore castlebar.

you may find you can sometimes get really good deals on new models over here if they are slow to take off. the time the 575 came out we bought some a good bit cheaper than 372. garrys husqvarna barna also worth a try.they are really trying to push husky and ive found their back-up really good

 

Thanks for that buddy, must look into that advice. Really appreciate it. That's a fair bit cheaper than I thought they were here. Would especially like to buy local if I get the 550AT as it has to go back to the shop with the computer tuning possibly. Will make a few phone calls tomorrow and get a few prices.

[Stubby]

Yeah that's the only thing that turns me off the Autotune too, I like to be able work on and fix my own saws. When were the first autotunes released I wonder?

 

I think ( but could be wrong ) the first auto tune was on the 576 . The version that is on the 560 / 550 is the second generation. If you plug it in it can tell you how many hours it has run how long it has idled and what make of pants you were wearing on any Tuesday . Your dealer needs the soft ware and a pc to be able to use it . Having said that if you set it when you first get the saw ( by cutting heavily the full width of the bar for 3-5 mins ) it should take care of its self hence the name auto tune . We shall see --------

[spudulike]

I have used a 560 briefly on the "Boys day out", the auto tune is impressive in its power delivery, it gives the delivery in the midrange of a ported saw, slightly less top on WOT revs but there is a real difference in how they work to the earlier generation saws.

 

The bad news is that if the saw plays up, you are much more unlikely to resolve the problem yourself or through guys like myself. It will be back to the dealer at dealer rates unless it is in waranty and that cost may get steep if it goes wrong in a big way.

 

So the choice it whether you use latest technology without long term 3-5 years experience or go for older technology and not have quite the same wallop as the latest saws but a tune can be done by ear or with a £0.50p screwdriver and £70 tach!

 

Currently I am comparing my 357XP and 346XP against a 560XP, the 357 was around 0.3 secs slower on a 7 second run but had a 17" bar copmpared to the 15" on the 560XP - my saws are woods tuned so a working saw tune up - same as Stubbys 346XP.

 

The 346XP is a damn good saw, uses many parts that are used on other saws and is easy to work on!

[arbormatt]

ive got a 261 its fine! nothing atall gone wrong!......year warranty if you buy it from anywhere decent?! depends what you will be using it for really doesnt it budddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyy