Stihl 500i reviews and opinions

Everyone’s philosophy of use is going to be different and that’s okay. I have 3 ported Dolmar 7900/7910s so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Having said that if I liked the 500, I’d have that instead of the Dolmars.

For the price I was never all that impressed with the 500. I was at the dealer last week and they were actually asking more for a 500 than the 661 sitting right next to it. That’s an easy decision to make for me. 661 is going to give you more power and yes better fuel economy if you’re worried about that. When I need a big saw I grab a 90+cc saw. When I don’t I grab any number of smaller saws I have depending on the task at hand.

However, I realize not everyone has a dozen or so saws. In that case a 500 might make good sense paired up with a 50cc saw for a good 2 saw plan. I’d probably still rather have the 661 though. Better power, better chassis for long bars, better fuel usage, etc… Your mileage may vary.

 

It really depends how your 362 was ported. If you are happy with the ported 362, I wouldn’t spend the money to run a stock 500i. Now if you have the budget to buy a new 500i and have it stuffed with extra sausage, then I would say absolutely do it and don’t look back.

 

What size bar are you gonna run on it ?

 

My go to saws for a trip to the woods are the 500i and my Husqvarna 550.
The 500i is lighting fast and strong. Cuts anything I need it to and can run big bars if needed.
The 550 is lighter for limbing and handling smaller stuff.
Since I got the 500 the Husqvarna 372 I also own has been used maybe once and seemed slower and less powerful to me than the 500 while weighing more.

 

That is a great question. I hope the OP isn’t trying to run anything over a 25” bar on the 362. If he wants to run a 28” or bigger, then I would be looking for a bigger saw.

 

I have an XS 500i Kevin LaVanway (huskihl) built for me last winter. It's a heck of a saw. I never ran it stock so I can't speak to whether it's sluggish or how it runs that way. All I can say is the XS version is everything I was hoping for. Great power to weight, instant throttle response, good low end torque with a longer bar. Probably 5 or 6 pulls to start from cold, one pull if it's hot. It loves to have the primer bulb pushed, a lot. The only real draw back I guess is that it does like fuel. If it was a car it'd definitely be in the muscle/hot rod category...lol. That said, if something happened to the one I've got I would buy another one as soon as I could and it would go straight to Kevin.

 

Oh, forgot. Based on Kevin's recommendation I put an oiled filter on my 500i and haven't been concerned at all about the quality of filtration or fines getting in.

 

It was my understanding that the fuel tank is smaller than comparable cc saws, due to the fuel injection system taking up space, which gives the impression its a fuel hog. Someone on here was explaining that. May have been huskihl .

 

They burn a little bit more fuel than other models as well as having a smaller tank. It is not a strato, so saws like the 462 will seem like they run forever on a tank compared to the 500

 

Makes sense.

 

It just provides more opportunities to have a break when you're working. For me, that is a good thing

 

The MS500i to me is just over hyped. Not saying it's a bad saw.

I have used one, and I am more than happy with the stable I have for the tasks I use my saws for.


The MS400 seems to be the MS362 with an oversized piston for the most part. Is it worth the extra $400 over the MS362? Apparently not because I bought the MS362.

But I sure couldn't justify the difference in price from the MS362 to the MS500i.

To me, it's marketing hype.

 

I have not seen much on fines getting by, moreso that the filter just gets clogged faster and needs cleaned more frequently because more stuff makes it to the filter from lack of centrifugal air flow/air injection/turbo...lol They didn't cheap out, there just isn't room for it is what I gather.

 

A 400 is a 362 with the oversized piston (series 1141) and I agree on the extra $400 not being worth it. Luckily I got my 400 BARELY used with some nice extras attached to it.

 

Some of us gotta get it done..I think I took 3 lunch breaks this summer..literally.

An 80cc saw that doesn't cut much faster than most 70cc saws with bars 28" and under that burns a ton of gas with a 60cc sized clutch that costs more than a 90cc saw doesn't gain me anything, not to mention I can't re-set it on my own..I'm not that in to it.

Personal opinion.

 

Had to satisfy my curiosity. I just looked and a 400 is less than $100 more than a 362. Stihl MSRP

 

400 = nice saw.

Good power to weight ratio.

 

When I bought my 362, it was $799. The 400 was $1099.

that was December 2022 though. Prices have been up and started to drop a little lately

 

Just looked. Only paid $800 for the MS400.

 

How long ago was that…

I paid that for my 362