I have had my ported 500i out in down to -30, no issues with the primer bulb. It seems that if the temp of the saw on the first start up of the day is warmer it’s a one pull as the temp if both the saw and ambient is in the -30* range 3 pulls seem to be the most. The pull on the 500 seem to be a little shorter than my 362. I would say it’s 1 pull between 50-60%, 2 pull 20-30% and 3 pull less than 10%. The thing that bothered me about the 500 was how would the bulb be when it’s well below zero. To my surprise it has stayed soft at the -30’s. I don’t give it a second thought and won’t on the 400. The throttle response on the 500 is amazing. huskihl told me the 400 has a different alloy piston. I think I am going to wait a bit to get into the 400 and see what shakes out. I don’t remember the exact content of that conversation but I will going with a ported 261 first over the 400. I most likely will get a 400 because I like the throttle response if the fuel injection. When Huskihl is porting it, seems like I may have a aftermarket piston put in to replace the the stock piston. Looking forward to hearing the reviews on the 400.
This made me look up the specs between the 400 and 261, being the 400 is not FI, I don’t see a reason to run it over a ported 261.
Snagged it on the way back from a job.... $807 PHO. With a 20” bar and chain it would have been $899.
16" likely. Thats the most efficient size for my cutting table. The 500 has a 24" for the bigger stuff. I do have a 20" I may try just to see how it handles it. I'm sure it'll be fine but its an odd size for me. The very recent addition of a Husky 550 and 562 is going to make for an interesting cutting season.
Where you at in MI? I'm pretty sure I could take a ride to uh help ya break it in.Nice saw, may it serve you well!
Stoped at the local dealer on Saturday to compare a 261 to a 400. Salesman says it could be over a year before they are in stock. Seems kind of odd since some dealers already have them. I’ve never seen their inventory so low, didn’t even have a 362 on the shelf! So what states/areas have the 400’s in stock?
Talking with the dealer in my area when I picked up the 500i and the only reason he's getting anything in is he has had them on order for a while now. As far as ordering anything else now , he would not expect to see them until fall unless things do a complete 180 sooner than later. He had also said that Husky might be the next one to start falling behind. I just bought a Husky 550xp and the 500i so I have had my fix for a while. I was looking for a MS261 but couldn't get one so decided to give the 550xp a try. Actually extremely pleased so far. I am going to swap out the chain to the Stihl RS and that should make it even better. I run the RS on anything I can and really love that chain.
This shelf has 2 261’s, 362, 462, 500 This is the Stihl sales leader for my area. I was in the area, so I wanted to see what kind of inventory the top Stihl seller had. I was impressed by the amount of ppe they have on the shelf and lots of stihl hatchets and axes.
You seem to have a lot more available there than what we have in our area. Almost wished I had asked around here to see about a 261 , that someone would have been willing to ship to me. Oh well.
