All of the previous reviews were accurate. One mentioned fumes or exhaust being a problem - never noticed it. Anyway...

When a huge Hickory (directly behind my house) needed to be dropped in pieces, I had a professional drop it. Once on the ground, he left the bulk of the cutting up to me. I pulled my old Homelite (16") out a few days later and went to work. After 2 1/2 hours of cutting and 3 1/2 hours of working on the saw (sharpening, loose chain, etc.), the saw and I both gave up. The chain saw locked up and I was completely frustrated. On top of that, I was not even half way through the job. I had also promised to finish up a neighbor's tree.

At this point, it was time to buy a better chain saw. I asked friends for opinions. They all agreed on one thing: buy a brand of good quality - pay the extra money - it's worth it. They all recommended either Stihl or Husqvarna. I struggled with the fact that I really use a chain saw maybe once or twice a year, so it was difficult to justify spending much money on this. I was looking at the Huskie 55 or the Stihl 026, but after reading the reviews, the Huskie 350 sounded like what I needed. I decided to give it a try.

The Huskie 350 weighs in at 10.6 lbs with a 49.4cc/3.1hp engine at 12,500 rpm. An 18 to 20" bar is recommended. You might compare this to the Huskie 55 (now discontinued) or 55R which comes in at 11.4 lbs and 53.2cc/3.3 hp engine. One of my friends said afterwards that, "You could have bought a bigger chain saw for a little more money." But I said, "Yeah, and for a little more money, I could have bought an even bigger saw." I'm confident that I bought just the right model for me. By the way, I found a site, http://www.southwestfastener.com/productsHusqChainsaw.htm, that had prices $20.00 to $50.00 cheaper than all of the dealers in my local area, who all had the same price. Southwest also offered free shipping in the continental U.S. I would have bought from that site if I did not have a neighbor waiting. I HAVE NOT DEALT WITH THEM BEFORE, SO TAKE THAT FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH. At the time, the 350 went for about $273 at southwest versus the $299 that I paid.

Even after purchasing the saw, I was still wondering if I had done the right thing. Ten seconds after laying the bar into the first piece of wood, I knew that I had. This is a smooth cutting saw with low vibrations and easy starts. If you've never worn eye protection when cutting wood before, I suggest that you do so with this chain saw; It goes through the wood quickly and you can expect to have saw dust flying all over.

I agree with one other review which warned of becoming too comfortable with the saw. It cuts so smooth with low vibration that you might easily forget that it's a dangerous tool that you're using. DON'T LET IT FOOL YOU. IT IS A POWERFUL SAW FOR THE HOMEOWNER. SO BE CAREFUL WITH IT. It is, of course, equipped with a chain brake, but dangerous nonetheless.

I would suggest that you mix only a gallon of gasoline with this saw. I was used to going through wood at a much slower rate, thus using more gasoline than necessary.

So what happened with the Hickory. I finished it up in less than 15 minutes with the 350. The neighbor's tree was nothing. I was almost disappointed that I finished it all up so fast. I wanted something else to cut. I did all of this with one tank of gas.

If you're the occasional cutter, this saw is what you're looking for. Pay the extra money. It's more than worth it!!

To add on, it's been 8 years since I bought the 350 and wrote all of the stuff you've just read.  First, I'm amazed that I remembered the password to login to this account again.  Second, I hope the info helps someone out.  I thought I'd return to add some info due to what I've learned recently...

My wife and I decided to find a bigger lot with the boys growing up so much and needing more room, so we moved - ended up with a 12 acre lot when we were just looking for 2 to 3.  We had previously heated with natural gas.  Our new house already had a propane tank buried in the back yard.  With propane prices being as they are (my main heating source), my wife and I have decided to install a word-burning fireplace insert.  We have the land to supply all the wood we need, I enjoy cutting and our boys have grown into some strong teenagers now :)

Anyway, I pull out the 350 and fire it up to cut 5 or 6 cord of wood preparing for next year's heating season.  One gallon of gas got me through quite a bit of wood.  It still cuts like a champ.  When I'm done with the gallon of gas, I go to buy some more, but forgot to bring along the container of husky 2-cycle.  So I buy a no-name brand at the service station - big mistake!!  Arrgghh...  It turned out to be way too lean and the engine ran hot.  It shutdown after about 30 more minutes of use.  It would start and then run for like 5 seconds and shut down again.  I noticed smoke coming from the muffler area.  When it cooled I removed it to see that it had slightly melted some of the plastic around the muffler.  Arrgghhh...  I'm not done for the season, so I wanted to get this repaired as quickly as possible or buy a new saw if I need to.  The first place I visit says they can get back to me within 2 weeks, so does the next place.  I finally find a place where one of the workers looked it over immediately, told me that the gas was too lean and that I had scored the cylinder by running it this way.  He said it was toast.  He showed me what appeared to be marks on the cylinder by shining a flashlight down the sparkplug hole. 

So I sadly take my 350 home with my tail between my legs.  At this point, I have no idea as to what I'm going to do with it.  I decide to give Stihl a try, so I pick up a 290.  It's comparable to the 350, but weighs 3 pounds more and is supposed to be a wee bit more powerful (3.8 hp as opposed to the 350's 3.3).  Most reviews said that the 290 would be hard to start, but I haven't had any issues yet.

I happened to be in my old neighborhood about a week ago and started talking to one of my old neighbors.  He told me how he had used a 350 based on my recommendation.  He had a mishap with his chainsaw; the butt end of a tree ended up falling on the saw (turning it into a U shape) - bent the bar horribly, cracked the case, etc.  He thought he'd fix it at his leisure, so he gathered up all the parts in a box and stored them in his attic.  That was back in '04 or '05.  He said that he'd now determined that he'd never use the parts, but that I might be able to use them.  What timing!!  I relayed my story about the lean mixture and said that I'd be happy to take them and tinker with it.

I spent some time over a couple of evenings taking both engines apart.  There was a time when I looked at all the parts all over my basement workshop table that I thought there's no way that I'll get one saw completely assembled again, let alone have it fire and run.  And if it did run, would it actually cut anything?  And if it did cut anything would the performance be so poor that I wouldn't want to use it?  I decided to try the magneto from my ex-neighbors saw in mine.  After getting that all set up, I go to pull the chord to start it.  I notice that it's hard to pull, but it actually fires on the 3rd pull.  Not only was it hard to pull, it was clear that the piston was not rotating freely, so even after it started, it would only run for a few seconds and shutdown again.  Back to the drawing board - I take it all apart again.  This time, I actually remove the cylinder from the crankcase so that I can see what's going on there.  In doing this I do notice that there really is no scoring on the cylinder.  Whatever the marks were (oil or whatever), they are not there now.  I determine that the cylinder must be bottoming out on the plastic saw casing.  I turn it by hand and notice that it catches every 3/4 turn or so, but I can't determine exactly where.  Finally, I happen to be looking at it from the side while turning the flywheel and I notice that it is coming into contact with the magneto every 3/4 turn or so - aha.  What I had not noticed when I installed the magneto was that there was a little wiggle room when tightening the screws for it.  So I loosen those, slide it to the left a little and voila, life is good.  It turns freely.  So I put it all back together, gas her up and it fires again on the 3rd pull.  This time, it runs smoothly.  Awesome - I now have to chainsaws.  My guess on the magneto was correct.

The next day I spend some time cutting up some trees for a neighbor who still had damage to trees from the winter's snow storms.  I decided to try both chainsaws.  The verdict:

- The old Husky 350 (rebuilt by me - and that's not saying much), cuts better than the Stihl 290 which is supposed to have a bit more power.
- The Stihl weighs a few pounds more
- The Stihl seems to use about 3 times the gas that the Husky does for some reason
- The new Stihl (with new chain and all), bogs down in wood sometimes.  It does go through the wood very well for the most part, but it bogs down where the Husky 350 rarely does.
- The Husky seems to be more powerful than the 290. 
- I like the cutting feel that the Husky has compared to the Stihl.  Maybe it's the angled handle or something.  Or maybe it's that I've used it more than the Stihl - I don't know...
- I do like the oil and gas fill caps on the Stihl.  The caps and the wide openings, compared to the Husky, makes it easier to fill.

So there you have it.  After going through that ordeal, it's clear to me more than ever that this model is still more than adequate for the average homeowner.  And that's coming from someone who is using it now to cut wood as the primary heating source.

A final note: be careful out there.  Spend a little money on some safety items - good gloves, ear muffs, goggles (I actually have the full facial mask) and some chaps (especially if you're cutting what amounts to at least 4 to 5 cord of wood per year).  I have a friend who was not wearing his goggles a few months ago when a piece flew up into his eye - he needed surgery to repair the damage.  If you cut long enough, there's bound to be a time where some little accident occurs, so be prepared with the safety equipment to limit damage as much as possible.

I hope this addition is of some help to others out there.

Recommended: Yes