Selection & Shopping days are officially over...on my way home last night, I swung by one of the 3 J-Red/Husky dealers which are on my way home and I pulled the trigger on the J-Red 2171. Got it with an 18" and exactly the price I was expecting. Excellent Dealer (all the Husky & J-Red dealers I went to were actually)
Brought it home and spent 2 hours in the woods with it....My face still hurts from all the smiling & grinning I did while using it, its everything I expected plus more. Not suprisingly it powered thru everything I threw at it.
All in all, no complaints, a nice well built powerhouse of a saw.
Thanks to all of you who responded & guided me thru this process.