Bought this to partially clear 5 acres of incredibly dense ticket on the Texas Coastal bend (mostly live oak sapling, yupon holly and greenbriar).
Have used chainsaws for about 45 years (since well before there were safety brakes), but I was pretty apprehensive about this puppy. I mean, it's a gasoline-powered circular saw on a POLE dangling from your waist. What could possibly go wrong?
Turns-out this is one of the best tools I've ever owned, and that covers a lot of ground, so to speak.
(1) bought RENEGADE "Razor" 56 tooth carbide blades based on lots of reviews. About $12 each in pairs. Fantastic choice. Have about 10 hours on the first one and still sharp. Just try to avoid cutting dirt with it (!)
(2) bought the Husky rather than the Stihl primarily because it includes a very well-reviewed harness. In fact, Stihl folks recommend using the Husky harness. Very comfortable, feels natural the first time out, absolutely NO back strain at all.
(3) Selected this model because it looked like a weight & power sweet spot (15 lbs and 35 ccs) for an amateur, part-time user. That turned-out to be exactly right.
(4) Really good power when revved-up, but still easy to control. The 2-stroke Husky has plenty of torque when revved, but the lack of torque at partial throttle seems to make it safer when you hit something unexpectedly. Between the harness and the bike
handlebars and the 2-stroke torque curve, it's extremely controllable.
(5) Cuts clumps of 6-8 yupon holly (average about 1 inch diameter) in ONE pass at full throttle, right-to-left. Fantastic. Drops 4 inch live oaks in two quick cuts with ease.
Most controllable taking sythe-like motions, right-to-left, but for cleaning-up the small stuff, you can sweep back and forth, left-right-left in a broad arc. Easy to keep it about 1/2 inch off the ground.
This is a pretty expensive tool, but it's super high quality (frankly, better fit-and-finish than my 362 Stihl chainsaw), Jack's shipping was super fast, and she started first pull every time. Awesome. Feed it 89 octane with Bailey's 2-stroke synthetic
oil (with stabilizer). Runs like a 35 cc Swiss watch.
I figure that less than ten percent of tools I've owned actually do exactly what they're supposed-to, and exceed expectations... this Husky is part of that ten percent.