Price spread on a 357xp & 359 ?

[Bobcat]

I often see almost a $100 price spread between these two models. The 359 has a little more torque, and a little less rpm's, and no auto-smartstart. So why the $100 spread? Is the 359 made with lesser quality parts, or wears out a little faster ?
bob

 

[ehp]

If left stock it is worth the extra for the 357 cause it rpm's better in the wood, but once both are ported it is not worth it cause the 359 runs real good ported so if you are going to port one of those saws buy the 359 and put the $100 towards the port job,

 

[hobby climber]

Go with an XP (pro series/commercial grade) saw. The 357XP is the better saw for the buck over the 359 which is not a pro series saw. Even if the 359 was $100 less than the 357XP, the 357Xp would still be the better buy! As far as power goes...their in the same range and your not likely to notice any difference. The difference is commercial grade saw (357XP) for less money OR a NON-commercial grade saw (359) for more money. Hope this helps. HC

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Go with an XP (pro series/commercial grade) saw. The 357XP is the better saw for the buck over the 359 which is not a pro series saw. Even if the 359 was $100 less than the 357XP, the 357Xp would still be the better buy! As far as power goes...their in the same range and your not likely to notice any difference. The difference is commercial grade saw (357XP) for less money OR a NON-commercial grade saw (359) for more money. Hope this helps. HC

I think the 359 is every bit as tough as the 357.

 

[Luke]

Other than a couple cc's and decompression, isn't the main difference closed ports vs. open and the associated cost of tooling (plus healthy mark up)?

 

[jimc]

357/359

Most of the parts in 357& 359 are the same in the book, although the 357 and 359 cranks and bearings , piston & jug have different part numbers. I think the 357 has more hot rodding potential due to the crank stuffers (?)

 

[ehp]

the saw are the same quality, the 357 has a smaller piston than the 359, the 357 has a full circle crank well the 359 has the normal pork chop crank. Both are closed port jugs just the 359 has doors on the outside of its transfers ports. the porting on the 359 is lower so it turns less rpm's stock compared to the 357. But if you hotrod the saw then this doesnot make any difference, as far as what is faster , it is up to you cause everyone has there own idea on what is fast, for myself the 357 is a great saw but if I have a choice on what to mod. I will take the 359. I like the fact that is doesnot have the full circle crank so I can get more air into the crankcase

 

[kodiakfisher]

My first post I don't know much about the saws and did get the parts breakdown for both saws, before purchasing.

I generally leave my saws stock and for $100 more getting .5 hp seemed like a good deal. I also liked that for the same job the 357 should be working less than the 359. I.E. same log same chain the 359 has to work closer to maximum to reach same chain speed and do the same amount of work in the same amount of time. I buy saws for the long haul and wanted one big enough to do 90% of my cutting and be able to be "easy" on the saw. The 357 has a more narrow power band. If you don't cut in the power than you may like the 359 better the power band is a little wider.

 

[SawTroll]

Why not MS361?

The Stihl MS 361 has more power (both max kw/hp and torque) stock than both these Huskys, and is considerably lighter.

Why not give it a try?

 

[SawTroll]

Trust Ed on this one. The 359 EHP ported is the way to go.

I certainly don't doubt that. Huskys and Jonsereds is reputed to take to mods better than Stihls.

I was referring to independent lab. tests (DLG-test) of stock saws.

 

[ehp]

As far as weight, the 359 is =12 pounds 12 oz.
the 361 is 12 pounds 11 oz. I weighed both on the same scale so it should be correct on them being almost the same weight. In stock form the 357 would be the fastest of the 3 , but ported they are fairly close and the 361 does take well to porting , it is a nice saw to run once it has some power

 

[SawTroll]

Weight issues

As far as weight, the 359 is =12 pounds 12 oz.
the 361 is 12 pounds 11 oz. I weighed both on the same scale so it should be correct on them being almost the same weight.

This is quite odd, as DLG-test show a .2 kg (about 7-8 oz) difference ( 5.6 vs 5.8) between 361 and 359, the 357 being another close to 4 oz heavier (5.9 kg). This being the versions without heated handles. Weights are empty, without bar & chain, but with clutch cover, bar nuts, dogs etc.

Weight results posted by D. Neiger some time ago on the "other sponsors" forum seemed to confirm these results (361 vs 357 only).

Could it be that the weights differ between different markets?

 

[SawTroll]

E-lux weight issues

Here is some more weight results from DLG, any comments on those (it is copied from one of my posts in another tread)?

"I have seen a lot of statements about Husky (and Jonsered) "overweight" on this site, and I have made such statements myself. Some posters have even tried to make/state general rules, as to how much overweight they are.

DLG has weighted the saws as they should be weighted, less bar & chain - but with cluch cover etc.

Just for the record:
Husky models 357xp, 359, 362xp, 365 and 372xp "advertised" weights are:
5.5, 5.5, 6.0, 6.0 and 6.1 kg.
Test weight for these were:
5.9, 5.8, 6.1, 6.1 and 6.4 kg.
As we can see it varies a lot how much overweight they are, with the 357 xp as the worst case (.4 kg equals about 8/9 of a pound)!

One conclusion is that, contrary to what many people believe, there are as much weight difference between 365 and 372xp, as there are between 359 and 365!

Most smaller Huskys weight .1 kg more than adverticed.

Stihl MS 361 was tested at 5.6 kg, as adverticed.
Stihl MS 440 was tested at 6.2 kg, .1 kg overweight.
Stihl MS 460 was tested at 6.5 kg, as adverticed.
Stihl MS 660 was rested at 7,3 kg, as adverticed in Germany.

Dolmar 6400, 7300 and 7900 were all tested at 6.4 kg, which is .1 or .2 kg overweight (adverticement varies).

Husky 385 was tested at 7.1 kg, .1 kg overweight."__________________

 

[ehp]

the scale I used was a governorment scale that is to be very good, we had the weights that you put on to see if it is was measuring correct, plus it gets checked by the governorment to make sure it is reading correct,

the 359 up here says it weighs 12 pounds 1 oz, that is what is on the tag at the store, I got 12 pounds 12 oz. I measured all saws with spikes on them just minus the bar and chain, I donot think it means anything but we donot have the Etech models here yet, there maybe something different in them.
as far as the 361 it came in at 12 pounds 11 oz,
and the 621 redmax came in at 12 pounds 10 oz.
I rounded the numbers off cause the scale went 3 numbers past the . so if it was 12 pounds 11.263 oz , I used 12 pounds 11 oz,
Up here most Husky weights are low cause they donot use the side cover or spikes when weighing the saw

 

[brent denny]

In the comparison Dave Neiger did I believe the 357 model he weighed was an xpg model with heated handles. This would account for some extra weight.

 

[SawTroll]

Stihl 361 weights

Yesterday it was concluded in another tread ("USA made") that the 361 are made (or at least assambled) at two factory sites, in Germany and at Virginia beach, USA.

According to the IPL, the saws for USA, CDN, AUS and NZ has some part numbers different from the rest (cylinder, piston, muffler), so I tend to believe that the saws for these markets are made/assambled in the USA, and saws for other markets in Germany.

This could explain at least some of the difference in weights, but what do I know.....