Husqvarna 346XP E-Tech

     Up until today, we had been running two chainsaws. We use a Poulan Pro 4218 and a Husqvarna 372XP X-Torq. We started cutting our own firewood early last year and started with a cheap saw, the Poulan Pro, which we bought from Walmart for about $130. It was $150, but because I opened an account with them, they knocked $20 off of the price. My friend, John Bollman, lent me his Jonsered 625ii to help with the bigger cutting jobs. His 625ii was an old saw, one that he found in a barn without a muffler. He didn’t know the history on it. All he did was put a muffler, bar, and chain on it. He filled it with gas and oil and pulled the cord. It fired up. He used it quite a bit and it worked well for us for a time. My wife was running the saw and sat it down to refill it. After refilling, it never started again. We tore it apart and it needed a ring. It was black below the ring and had been blowing by for some time. The ring stuck and that was that. We spoke to John who said not to worry about it. I need to get it back together for him sometime, but anyhow….. We needed a saw right then and there. I didn’t want to borrow a saw anymore because I felt terrible that John’s saw died on our watch. I wanted a good saw which would compare to the Jonsered, so we bought the 372XP. It has been a wonderful saw. I should write about that saw sometime. It’s worth every penny of its price. But this is supposed to be about the 346XP……

     We got all of our wood cut that we needed last year. We prepped the saws and put them away for the winter. We stored them in our basement, which is a concrete floor, and because of the wood furnace down there, it’s warm and dry. Spring sprung early this year, and we got the saws out and were preparing them for spring cutting when we noticed that the Poulan is puking bar and chain oil out something fierce. When you go to cut with it, the bar and chain oil just flies off of the bar. It doesn’t matter if you idle between cuts or not. It’s bad enough that you almost have to fill it two extra times between fills of gas, when we also fill the bar and chain oil. Something isn’t right with it. Do I fix this cheap Poulan or do I replace it? To be quite honest, it was the excuse I needed to replace it. The 372XP is such a wonderful saw that I’m sold on these Huskies. I looked for a comparable saw and settled on the 346. I should point out, it’s only comparable in overall size and weight. The comparison ends there. The Husky 346XP E-Tech is a 50cc saw while the Poulan is a 42cc. The Poulan has a plastic crankcase while the Husky is metal. The Husky has an adjustable oil pump, the Poulan does not. The Husky has springs for its anti-vibration and the Poulan has nothing. You run the Poulan and your hands go numb from the vibration. Not with the Husky.

     The Husky has easy access to the air filter. The Poulan requires taking a couple of Torx screws out. The Husky has a cartridge style air filter, the Poulan has a cotton looking pad. The only thing that I can say the Poulan has over the 346XP is an inboard clutch. I prefer an inboard clutch. The 346XP has an outboard clutch.

     This is being written in early April, 2012. I use the Husqvarna website to help me choose my saws as I live 40 minutes away from the dealer. As of right now, the website doesn’t mention that ALL 346XPs sold in the United States are now E-Techs. The only E-Tech that they show on the website is the Trio-Brake model. I asked my dealer and they say that every 346XP now has the green gas cap and catalytic converter in the muffler. You can’t get it any other way. Bailey’s still sells a non EPA muffler for the 346XP. It’s not cheap!

     I had a hard time finding good information about this saw. I thought I’d take the opportunity to say a little about it for the folks who are considering purchasing this saw. I bought mine at Edgewood Saw & Supply in Edgewood, Iowa. I bought my 372XP from them and that’s why I returned to them to purchase this saw. They’ve treated me right, so I plan on purchasing my next saw from them as well. 

     Here’s some information that I found hard to ascertain on the web. Again, this is being written in early April 2012. First, all of these saws sold in the U.S. are supposedly E-Techs now. I was told that you can’t buy the non-EPA saws here anymore – at least new. The badge on the side of my 346XP says E-Tech below it, in the same spot my 372XP has the word X-Torq. Speaking of which, this saw is NOT an X-Torq engine. Why it’s not is beyond me. Secondly, this saw comes with a SPUR SPROCKET. I prefer rim sprockets. My dealer wasn’t sure if they made a rim sprocket setup for this saw, so I went to the Oregon website and found the part number. The Oregon part number is 108215X. That leads me to the next factoid. This saw comes factory with a .325 chain as opposed to the 3/8” chain. My Poulan even used a 3/8” chain, although it had the small cutters. I did some looking into this and some say the .325 is better for this saw because it runs faster, due to the shortened length of the links. I’ve never ran a .325 chain before, so I thought I’d give it a fair try. I just bought the saw, so I’ll have to write about our experience with it in the next article about this saw. I ordered this saw with a 20” bar because we don’t like stooping over when we cut. The dealer was kind enough to order and switch the spur sprocket out for the rim sprocket when they set the saw up for us. The 372XP came with a rim sprocket on it from the factory.

     This 346XP is an OUTBOARD CLUTCH. I don’t like outboard clutches just because they are a bear to tear apart and put back together. I lube the needle bearing cage frequently, and it’s a cinch on the 372XP. With the outboard clutch, I’ll have to take the spark plug out, block the piston, and fart around and fart around. Why don’t they just switch it to an inboard like the 372XP?

     A few final tidbits. The air filter isn’t as nice as the 372XP. The 372 has an automotive style filter. This 346 uses a cartridge that is held on “bail style” with a piece of wire. The top cover comes off easy enough with 3 snaps, and unlike the 372, the entire top comes off. I see this saw has a port for opening up in the winter to allow warm air to enter the carburetor chamber. I didn’t see that on the 372. Last but not least, this saw has a decompression valve, and the combined start and choke controls like the Poulan. It also has the primer bulb. 

     Only time will tell if this saw will exceed my expectations like the 372XP. I’m concerned about the cat muffler. I don’t want to spend the money right now to switch it. I’ll give it a fair shake. Once we get into the wood cutting season this spring, I’ll know more about this saw and I’ll post an update to how we’re doing with this 346XP E-Tech.