Echo

Here is a link to the Husqvarna website covering Ireland, https://www.husqvarna.com/ie/products/chainsaws/newchainsawgeneration/ 3/4 way down you will see how they market the 550 and 545 as having a 2 year warranty, then click on the link that says read more, and it wont take you anywhere, why is that, its because there are conditions, just as I said you have to have the saw serviced by the dealer, but why not make it known like they do in other parts, like below, 2 Year Warranty All Husqvarna Automower® carry a two year warranty, registration is still required Option for 2 Year Warranty: All ‘Husqvarna’ branded products will benefit from an enhanced warranty of twenty four (24) months from the date of purchase, subject to the following conditions: The dealer must register the purchase of the product with Husqvarna Outdoor Products using the on line warranty registration facility. The product must have a proven service history in accordance with the product operator manual. *The product must have been operated within the manufacturer’s recommendation for use: ie Homeowner product for home use. Landowner product for estate, farm and semi-professional use. Professional for all professional ground care and forest applications, use outside these recommendations will only be covered by 6 Months warranty. Husqvarna UK Ltd may also complement the timescale with a maximum hours of use. This could be the case for some commercial “professional” use products. And am pleased you have had a good experience with your dealer, mine is exactly as stated, an expensive saw came with a bar smaller than is on most 35 cc saws, and it 70 cc pro saw, I brought this to their attention when I called in to collect the saw, they completely refused to change it for a more suitable bar, then charging 40.00 to put a recoil spring to pull back the pull cord on a midget of a saw that was a week old, that had a warranty in the first place, some warranty that, and some customer service to go with it, and again, why can other dealers get you the saw you want, its not as if Stihl don't make it, now that really builds confidence, they can't get in a 700.00 euro saw that is available from Stihl and others have them, and you think these are good to deal with, and go on to conclude am looking for problems, may be you can point out which of the above problems I had with the local dealer were the ones I went looking for, facts as you say, get them straight yourself.

A cat also acts a a heat sink, red hot, sitting right in the doorway between the cylinder piston combo and the muffler, it radiates heat back, yes we know it is suppose to neutralize some pollutants, but it will be difficult to keep it clean in a two stroke. Am just stating in my above post how difficult it is to buy on-line, then open a muffler to remove a cat, and expect the warranty to be honored, and that if a dealer took out the cat, he might well be happy with this and sending out the saw to a customer, charge for it yes, that way he would know no one else was tampering, but then, the law could step in, and it's simply not worth it for the dealer, catch 22 situation, thats not being pessimistic, thats dealing with the facts., sure I would trust a dealer to remove a cat tune and send me a makita, but where will I find one to do this, and what happens with warranty, thats why I decided on giving an AT or MS a go, and was hoping to hear peoples thoughts on them, nothing pessimistic about the local dealers not having the up to date Stihl that has a good record by all accounts, nothing pessimistic about Stihl not allowing saws to be posted out to customers.

I wish it was that easy, I would not hesitate if I had local support, for when the muffler is modded a good man to tune the saw is hard to find, taking mufflers apart will not help if a warranty claim is inevitable, I understand there is a serious reason that a dealer will not alter your muffler, that would make him liable to prosecution for breaching these epa laws, so its not as straight forward as it could be, personally I would modify the muffler if the saw was out of warranty, but if something goes wrong in the meantime, then the dealer may not want to help, and I understand this, different if you know someone, and have a feel for how they treat their stuff, but thats not likely to happen on the net.

Thanks Plodalong I am in no hurry, just gathering info on what is what, I had two Husqvarna saws, one cheapie that was traded asap, and a nice 372, now that was a fine saw. I wish I could depend on the local dealer for that kind of support, but even that 372 I ordered, they sent it out with a 13 inch bar, I had the saw paid for, and they completely refused to put a longer bar on the saw, there is no way would any one buy a 372 and be thrown a 13 inch bar, thats what am up against, I know well that no matter what I would go back with they would blame the fuel, and I would be screwed, buy somewhere else, that means no local support, and as murphys law would have it, the saw you buy online or withing driving distance will be the one that needs the dealer support, as far as I know its only a One year warranty too, and it depends on having the saw serviced, I read this on the Husky site some time back, there are dealers and there are dealers, anyone who has local support can count themselves lucky, here, they have no interest after your money is in their hand, selling fancy lawn mowers quads and that kind of thing is what they are into, a saw is just a pain to them.

I was thinking about the makita, but its got a cat, after seeing one in the cs 352, I can't stand the idea of, keep things too hot, and over time they clog up.

Would this 550 mk 2 you are getting be doing the kind of work the few generations back 346 was made for. I only want it for firewood, thinning, and tidying up wind falls, nothing over 18 inch, with the majority being under a foot.

That should be interesting, either way I hope you like the saw. Did you consider the MS 261 at all.

Could be a while before we see a ported one, have not seen anyone dissect on either, like they did with the Stihls when they came along, have seen the innards of this new saw for what its worth.

Yes, only available here in 13 or 15 inch .325, did not ask if it was 1.3 or 1.5 as I was rather taken back by the fact they did not have the latest version of the 261, and could not get it in, so I did not get into further detail.

Well I planned on buying a 50cc saw, and this plan is being brought forward as a result of my CS 352 experience, that saw has me puzzled in how it is so easily effected by weather, altitude and may be even mix oil used. I feel if a cloud comes over or you put it behind your back it changes tune, may be am listening too attentively to it. So, the local dealer does not have the version 2 of the MS 261, that only leaves the new 550xp mk 2. The Husky costs 665.00 eoro, the old 261 costs 30 more more at 695.00. Still a bit timid about the AT and on a relatively untested new saw. Whats your opinions on the new 550 mk2, not worried about the weight difference between the Husky and the Stihl as I won't off the ground with them, and then there is the possability of a 50cc echo, if I go this way it would be my third one of them, depending of course on what my Echo dealer will allow me on the 352, which distracts me to no end, the saw cuts very well, but we have different personalities. I like constant repeatable functionality, not a different mood every so often.

I just do not know, this is the strangest saw ever, I went out and started it, paid no heed to the three pull for first fire it was doing before, started up, and let it warm, it performs like it did the week I was using it, running the same temp and good plug colour. I can't understand it, so far thats three times it ran differently from new, it ran good at the delers, it ran rich with me, then it stopped running rich, then it went from choking three times to two when even the weather would dictate otherwise, and now its running spot on again, if I disregard the fact it needs less choking. One would think there was something sticking the carb up slightly, then releasing the flow to normal again, but it good fuel, and oil. Anyway, I planned on buying a 50cc saw, and who ever takes this one as a trade will get my custom. I traded last year and both parties were happy, ended up with a 362. There is only one problem, I may be forced into taking a Husky 550 mk2, because there is no updated / version 2 of the 261 available locally, only the older one, and they only bring them in in bulk, so no hope of getting one. Am going to post a new thread asking about these two saws, but if my Echo supplier cares to take in my old saw, then I will be dealing with him, I have always liked the 501, but they are very close to Husky and Stihl territory in price.

Well the idle changed a little, not variable as in racing up and down, just quite jerky on the mounts at idle, and is a little low, I find this odd seeing as it had none of this before I loaned it, ten eleven tanks of fuel through it now.

New

Thats fantastic news, those saws do not like heat, people in the US have had quite a lot of bother with them vapor locking and refusing to start. Odd you mention heat, during last week my small saw seemed to swell up, taking the lid off the tank was like opening a bottle of coke, I took the lid off as after two days doing nothing began to leak on the bench, where it sat dry as a bone before hand.

The MT on the Stihls seems to be able to put in more fuel to deal with temperatures, but I see a guy on another site who mods them struggling with getting enough fuel in to keep the saw cool, but its looking like he is putting way to much pressure on the saw, something like a 24 inch bar burried, it was explained to him that a 261 can not cope with this, and the saw is fine, to back off with the long bar, but at least the MT bogs down to stop you running the saw into the danger zone. It definitely can read temperatures which is a good thing, people are now suggesting drilling the carb to put more flow in, but it won't help because there is only so much power you can get out of a small saw, if boring a carb worked we would all do it and run tiny saws instead of heavy ones.

Oh boy, that's not good at all, yes, the old ones, different altogether, lets hope the MK2 has addressed the issues with the older 550, and even the updated 562.

Thats good to know, hopefully no ceasures. Really odd how they both won't start, but if I remember hot starts were an issue with these saws, and the solutions varied, some gave one pump of the primer with the red leaver in the position it auto returns to when you stop, others had to choke for a pull or two, then go to run position, others had to let them cool off, others had to go into the carb and adjust the metering level, others had to do away with the primer circuit, and what worked for one did not work for another. These saws simply could not stay cool enough when under a heavy load, hot weather made matter considerably worse, I think the MK2 550 will have addressed this. Another thing, 50:1 is not a lot of oil in an Atotune or any saw for that matter, given they run hot supports my theory that the Autotune does not put in enough fuel to cool them a bit, thus it does not put in enough oil either, so things spiral into the hot zone. I hope its something simple like a hot start issue.

Did Mark_Skyland not already say it was the same set up as the older 550, and he sells them so he should know.

If it did not fire on starting fluid, then it may not be fuel related. Did you try flooding the saw, keep the choke on and see if after about Ten pulls if the plug is wet, it it is then you are getting fuel. The obvious, is there a spark at the plug, if not, then it's not starting. The bad news, if Two saws do the same thing, and they had the same fuel used in both, then I would question the fuel, if it was straight petrol it would be high on the list of possible reasons your saws started acting up at the same time, may be take the muffler off the oldest saw that is our of warranty, and have a look for the dreaded scoring, even look in the plug hole for scoring with a good bright light, but muffler off is better. If they are scored, then you could still build them again, way cheaper than replacing Two saws. Echo are definitely a reliable saw, not as powerful but they are dependable. I have had Two CS 501SX saws, with 16 inch bars, and they have been trouble free, I plugged the hole in the case where the idle screw gets adjusted to keep out dust, and put Vaseline on the o ring that the air filter sits over, and that was all I needed to do, they are easily muffler modded too. The Stihl 261 is another option, I seem to read less problems with them, they were reported to have soft cranks, but I hear nothing about this for a good while now.

Use the shortest bar you can get away with, you could use an18 inch, but you would have to be careful not to overload the saw, an 18 will keep you from being stooped over too if your cutting small stuff close to the ground, like bushes, saplings and the likes, if its your only saw use as short as you can get away with,, less sharpening, less tiring, and less likely to bend or twist a short bar of the same make up.

Am not sure, but why would they change the rim sprocket, is it not a rim sprocket that you just need to change over, and of course your bar would need to be a 3/8 as well, so the sprocket that comes on the new 550 will only require a 3/8 rim, and am quite sure Husqvarna would not make a new saw that had a different rim, that would be one way not to sell a saw.

As mentioned, report it to your credit card provider, they have the time and money to make people like this regret they ever heard of you, people who treat others like this need to meet their match, the credit card providers are it, its fraud not to provide goods or services that one has paid for, give them no more time, you may not be the only one this lot are messing around. Well done for posting the warning. If this company is flying under the Trust Pilot banner, make a complaint on their site, and ask trust pilot to remove their certification, their web host wont be too happy either to know they are a bunch of frauds, same with their domain registrar. Do it all in writing, email, as there will be a record of their antics, your credit card provider will ask for proof that you have been in contact with this lot and will handle the rest, they are better than solicitors, infact they will use their own to bring it to court if they have to.

181 will still be handy, up a tree, in confined spaces with lots of branches in the way, its small size will let you in at stuff if your pruning and can't just cut your way to where you want to go. I thought my small Echo 352 was small, pruning palm trees proved different, branches everywhere, a smaller saw would be better for this.

Thanks for clearing that up. Am guessing the new 545 mk2 would be close in power to the NE 346, but it does not seem to be designated as pro, though am sure there is not a lot of difference in it and the new 550, other than the power output, 2.7kw versus 3kw. The new 550 is not available in the local shops yet, and they don't know when the 545 is coming, so will jsut have to wait and see how others are getting on with them. Does anyone know if the new 545 and 550 use the same bar mount.

Was the 346 46 or 50 cc, or am I picking this up wrong.