I was thinking about this anyway and was in the store where you "save big money" and stumbled across them walking to the hardware department. They were on sale till the 12th for $179. I didn't even know they carried this model there.
I was curious to see what these were about and why Poulan/Husqvarna decided to come out with a new and bigger then what they put out in a while 50cc saw.
Now before I go any farther, all you saw snobs and Poulan haters, read if you want to but I dont want to hear a bunch of BS about Pullons and such. These are low priced consumer saws, no more no less and I just wanted to see what there all about. I doubt if I keep it, I will test it out for a while and then probably move it along but who knows it might be decent and I may keep it around for a while.
It comes with a decent hard case, manuals and a bottle of Poulan synthetic 2 cycle oil. It also comes with a common K041 mount Oregon laminated 70DL sprocket nosed bar with a Oregon V72 Vanguard chain. Not pro stuff but not bad. The rear handle has a mount to keep the scrench underneath it. It is secured with a metal clip.
The air filter cover is large and is secured with one thumb screw and lets you get to the filter and plug very easily. The filter is fairly large and pleated and reminds me of the PP 330 style. The only thing that bothers me though is it is only secured at the bottom with a flip up wire clamp. Seems a little loose on the top when secured but a gasket between the filter and base may secure it up some.
The clutch cover is a metal cover and houses the Husqvarna style chain brake and a conventional front mounted chain adjuster. Not a bad setup. No its not a side adjuster but at least its cover mounted and not hard to get to.
Pulling all the covers to inspect its innerds only took a T25 torx driver for the recoil cover and a 4mm allan wrench for the top cover.
The muffler came off with a T27 torx and I was shocked to see a completly hollow tin can, not even a diffuser in it. The top mounted outlet is pretty small in dia though, maybe just a little over 1/2". It should be easy to mod this one.
It appears to be a chrome bore with a single ring piston.
The 3/8s sprocket is a spur and the clutch is a common looking Poulan style 2 shoe which appears small but this style has been around for many years with good service on up to 60cc models so the clutch dont concern me at all. I dont know at this point if the spur sprocket is model specific yet but I'm betting it might be the same as some other Poulan Pro models like the 330 and maybe a rim setup will fit it.
I put the empty power head on the scales right away and found its no super light weight as it tipped the scales at 12lbs 6oz and fully loaded with fuel, oil, bar and chain it was 16lbs 8oz. Again were talking a $200 clamshell, strato, consumer saw so I guess the weight isnt awfull.
It started right up in 3 pulls but like most strato saws I have run it was plenty cold blooded and took a few seconds to warm up some. I was surprised that the carb settings were pretty much right on it seemed and while I attempted to fool with the L screw I ended up returningt it to about the original position. Now this could change when it sees wood, but after warming it up I held it wide open and it seemed to have a little 4 stroking going on and the tach read 13196 RPM.
The fit and finish of the plastics seem pretty good with everything lining up well and the parts seemed to fit together pretty well.
I like the fact that the spring mounted antivibe handles seem to be seperate from the engine cradle and it seemed pretty smooth in my hands. The oil and fuel tanks seemed pretty large and had the nice large caps on them. The controls are the common two lever choke and stop lever kinda combined like the Husky 350 etc...
Now I'm just relaying my first impressions and am trying to be objective here with it. If I see something bad I will point it out but first impressions are not too bad especially if you keep in mind the original price paid for it.
I'll post a few pictures of it and will try to get it out to the wood pile soon but that probaly wont happen till the weekend as I dont get home before dark most nights.
