Husqvarna 550 opinions please

[Tommy_B]

I'd have a 550 over a 261 any day.

[Mick Dempsey]

I've had mine over a year, first saw out of the work shop every morning. Great ground saw, light, fast, well balanced. No problems as yet.

[polish pete]

mine is in it's third year and suddenly everything starts to go: apart from usual av springs (x3) and brake bands (x2) I had clutch issues (overall in 3 years I had to replace every part of it), cracked exhaust, and recently it lost power and my local dealer spent ages replacing bit by bit to sort it (piston ring, gasket).

When it runs (first 2 years) it's great, well balanced but when it gets to a point of me waiting for another problem to appear I'm starting to lean towards Echo. I have 2 other mates in similar situation, almost as if saws are made to reach certain age/ hours on the clock and then go bang

[Mick Dempsey]

mine is in it's third year and suddenly everything starts to go: apart from usual av springs (x3) and brake bands (x2) I had clutch issues (overall in 3 years I had to replace every part of it), cracked exhaust, and recently it lost power and my local dealer spent ages replacing bit by bit to sort it (piston ring, gasket).

When it runs (first 2 years) it's great, well balanced but when it gets to a point of me waiting for another problem to appear I'm starting to lean towards Echo. I have 2 other mates in similar situation, almost as if saws are made to reach certain age/ hours on the clock and then go bang

 

What does your daily work involve Pete?

[Bob The Dog]

Had mine 3 years now, and done a fair bit of work. I love it. Only issue I find is when starting from cold, it has to be left to tick over for 30 secs or so, otherwise it just bogs down when trying to rev it. May be just because it's an early auto tune version. One broken brake band, but they have since been redesigned. I do strip, clean and grease fairly frequently, so that probably helps with longevity. I'd defo have another.

[Stubby]

I have been thinking I should have one for a while now ( got a 560 ) but the fact that I have a Spud ported 346 makes it pointless !

[Pinkfoot]

You could have a Spud ported 550 toooo.

[Rob D]

You should have a look at the Echo 501SX which is very new on the market. I've had a small play on it and it is a lovely saw to use.

 

 

 

 

Husky 550XP weighs 4.9kg power is 2.8kW

 

 

Echo 501SX weighs 4.7kg power is 2.57kW

 

 

 

 

What might swing it for you is the Husky is prob cheaper at the mo as there is a special offer on them Husqvarna 550XP chainsaw (50.1cc)

[Chris Sheppard]

I've got one of the very first, late 2011, ones and it's been fine on the whole.

 

It got used a lot early on, mainly in mixed thinnings, but some scrub clearing and a bit of mixed groundying.

 

In the woods is where it shines - handles like a 242 but cuts more like a 357.

 

It's never needed any work and other than occasionally acting like it's flooded after refuelling, been faultless. The flooding is supposedly solved by fitting an upgraded tank breather kit (which I have) but it never bothered me enough to fit it.

 

It's not been used a lot lately but only because I've been using supplied saws more so it could be going on arbtrader shortly.

[Peter]

I've had mine a couple of years now, love it. I run it on 3/8s lo pro chain which fairly flies too.