Finished a job today where I kept a 550 and a 562 on-hand and would switch back and forth based on diameters I was falling (nothing epic). The 550 could have made 90% of the cuts - but the 562 would make most of them faster. But the 562 is no good for taking apart a shrub colony. My saw partner switched between a 395 and a 576 all day - he would rather just make all the cuts as fast as possible.
I realized today I should probably get a new 50cc saw for a long job this summer, cutting 1-10" Spruce all day, every day. My 550 XP is over 800 hours now. I have had zero issues with it, aside from the drum deciding to disintegrate last month. How many hours can I get on it? I dunno. I just know that when working 20 minutes from pavement and 60 minutes from anywhere selling parts, etc., I would rather just have a new saw on hand ready to go when and if the time comes.
So I am mostly typing something in so this excellent website will automatically alert me when new reviews come in. I would have thought a few more folks have had this saw in their hands by now.
To me, working on a site all day, cutting all day - no firewood loading, etc. - just cutting, cutting, cutting and a lot of walking too, well Power:Weight ratio is very important. And even with small 50cc saws, fatigue eventually relates to safety on a long day. So I can't say I am very pleased to read that the Mark II will be adding a pound of weight.
Meanwhile, economics come into play too. I would guess that quite soon I will be able to buy the final production version of the 550 XP from my dealer (largest by volume of saws sold in my state) for a very good price vs. this new Mark II. And I generally don't buy a saw the first year it is on the market, anyway.
I should note here that it is worth remembering that the 550 XP has had - 3 ? Carbs now? - at least 2 different ones, for sure. And I learned the other day that there have been 5 different ignition modules along the way too. When these are hooked up to a laptop the correct ignition module has to be confirmed to get all the stats and firmware updates, etc., correct.
So I figure the final version of the 550 XP Mark I is probably pretty darn good. (Mine is early 2016). So ... why would I want to spend a likely extra $50 - $100 for the latest and greatest?
Even higher fuel efficiency does appeal to me though. Maybe worth an extra pound of weight. Even though I replaced the carb in my beloved and trusty old 346 XP, I know I will hardly ever run it again because of the fuel efficiency, and will probably soon give it to a curmudgeonly friend of mine who still refuses to touch an AutoTune saw of any kind. Doing the same work in the same wood with a 346 and 550 is pretty eye opening.
[This thread also had some 3/8 vs .325 talk on the Mk I - I run 3/8 on mine. Sometimes I wonder why. It is probably because my Dad always ran 55s and 455s and those came with 3/8, but the XP versions of 50cc come with .325 instead. So I would always switch them up to 3/8 because that made it easier to use bars and chains all the way to the end. And I like 3/8 and am used to it. But I do kind of want to try .325, going forward, just to see. But when anyone asks what kind of wood I cut, I have to say - "every kind" - at once, in the same hour, on the same job - green wood, dead wood, large wood, small wood, hard wood, soft wood, deciduous species, conifer species (pure Spruce job a one-off); I try to carefully avoid the dirty wood the best I can. So I have a hard time following chain recommendations and don't really know the smartest choice there sometimes.]
[[My 562XP has also offered flawless performance but it probably doesn't have 100 hours on it, and I don't often have a job with diameters that really call for it - and I haven't tried to run it all day on a really hot summer day, yet. I have no plans to replace it for years to come. I believe I have the 2nd, re-designed cylinder cover so that probably helps, and I deleted the decompression button too.]]
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