first day out with new husky 550 xp

[newfie bullet]

bought a brand new husky 550xp yesterday and headed in the woods to try her out today.
  A bit of history about me , I have been using a 254xp for the last 20+ yrs. so I decided I would get  a lighter saw for harvesting my firewood , about ten cords a year. I recently bought a like new used 543xp but found it couldn't replace the 254xp , a very nice saw , but seemed underpowered , compared to the 254xp.
  A friend of mine showed up yesterday with a new broken in 545 , so  we done a little comparison test , 254xp ,543xp and his 545. we used a 12 inch spruce log, and I was surprised to see his 545 cut right along side my 254xp. and both these saws out cut the 543xp by a nice margin.
   weight wise the saws full of gas and oil and equipped with bar and chains , 15 inch bars on the 545 ,254xp and 16 inch bar on the 543xp. 254xp was 16.13 lbs ,545 was 14.42 lbs and the 543xp was 13.22 lbs.
   This comparison lead me to going to the husky dealer , and I picked up the 550xp for $693.00 with the 3 cans of mixed gas for the 4 year warranty plus taxes.
   this saw can and will replace the 254xp and the 543xp, so the later two will be sold .
   Today when using the new 550xp I was impressed with the weight and handling qualities  compared to my old 254xp , and it cut just as good or if not better with the less weight.
   The saw was no problem starting cold or when it got warmed up, only issue I had was quite often just as I started to accelerate , she would bog out and stall. I would then pull the choke out and up and then put back in fast idle mode and she would start up with one haul. the saw idled well , just the issue when I sometimes stared to cut she would stall, I just burned one tank of gas today and it was the husky premixed can. will see tomorrow if she will fix herself with a few more tanks of gas. temperature here is around -15 Celsius . is there something I should  know about using this saw for the first few times , different than is in the  manual ?

[WV Mountaineer]

I don't own a 550.  I have friends that do.  They all say it takes 6-8 tanks for the auto tune to get it right.  Personally, I'd mix my own before buying premix.  God Bless

[Willis30]

I'm on 550XP #4. I haven't dared fuel or run it yet and may trade it for the revised MS261 when it becomes available. The 1st one was an early 2014 and after eight trips to two different dealers & 3 or 4 tanks of bog & stalling I took the haircut and traded for a 562XP which has been fantastic. Last September I got the urge to try again and picked up a week 16 2015. Ran almost a tank through it with the same symptoms. Dealer gave me a week 3 2015 replacement saw the next morning which did the same thing (0 for 3). This time he wouldn't do the replacement thing & wanted to figure it out. 6 trips later I'd had enough & asked for the saw back as is. I planned to go to a 3rd dealer & involve the regional rep if necessary. Upon learning this he offered me a 2nd replacement saw which of course I accepted. I have been following several threads on the bog & stalling issue with the 550XP but haven't seen a resolution posted yet. May have just missed it. I did try the hidden air bypass screw behind the welch plug. It didn't have any effect on saw #3. I would be interested to see if you are able to resolve this. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but it seems to me the bog & stalling you're experiencing is unacceptable. You shouldn't have to restart a saw every time you set it down to move a stick out of the way. Perhaps as WV Mountaineer says it takes a few more tanks.

[newfie bullet]

thanks guys, will be back in the woods tomorrow afternoon , will see how it goes and keep you updated.

[newfie bullet]

back in the woods today and burned a few  tanks of gas . after the second half of her second  tank , she started to work better. by the third tank she would start on one pull without fast idle on and the bogging out and stalling gave up, this saw is real impressive, just feels so nice in hand I don't want to put her down.
newfie bullet

[crazy4saws]

You will be very happy with 550xp. I purchased mine 2 year ago and have gone through 25 or 30 tanks of fuel. The saw ran better with each tank of gas ran through it. I'm very pleased with mine.

Thisnlastbpart is just my opinion. l own a 254se, side by side the 254 with semichisel chain out cuts the 550 with full chisel chain not by much but enough to notice. The 254se is a strong saw, perfect for firewood. I could be wrong however I thought husqvarna made changes from the se (older version) to the xp (newer version) perhaps changing the performance.

Either way enjoy your 550xp and post some pictures if you get a chance.

[SawTroll]

The manual tells you to always use the fast idle when starting, and I understand it actually is true in this case.

A lot of complaints could have been avoided, if people could be bothered to take a look in the manual.