HUSQVARNA 572 XP

“HUSQVARNA BRINGS OUT SOMETHING BIG”

First of all, in the interests of transparency I felt it best to open with the statement that I am and have been a diehard husky fan since the start of my career. So when Hayden Ritchie [Husqvarna NZ North Island Commercial Manager] came knocking to ask if I was interested in trialling their new 70cc saw, I certainly didn’t have to think twice about my answer.

There’s much to be said about the rivalry between the two main chainsaw brands & I don’t intend to delve into that quagmire here other than to recant an excellent analogy that was brought to me by a former manager. This goes something like this:

“IF A STIHL IS A V8 SUPERCAR THEN A HUSQVARNA IS A FINELY TUNED FERRARI”

You can take from that what you will, but that’s enough about the great divide, let’s talk about the brand new Husqvarna 572 XP!

At 70cc, the 572 XP has ample power to do the majority of tasks encountered by the production arborist, I found it equally useful in the tree and on the ground, it has the grunt you need for cross cutting big wood but also the dexterity required for use during crane removals. This brings me onto the main thing you need to know about this saw - the handling.

“IT FEELS LIKE A SAW HALF ITS SIZE”

At 6.6 kg [excluding bar & chain] this saw is by no means heavy but it feels like a saw half its size. My understanding is that Husqvarna have put a lot of work into keeping the saw width & weight down. The reduction in flywheel size & newly designed crankshaft allows for noticeably faster acceleration, resulting in an extremely responsive trigger. Once you combine all these weight savings with an updated AutoTune system & a 70cc engine, you end up with a saw that is both highly productive & a pleasure to use.

We worked the saw hard on its first day by crosscutting a significant quantity of dead wattle [Acacia sp.], for this the extended power band really came into play. My favourite day with the saw was whilst removing a mature Norfolk Island pine [Araucaria heterophylla], for those that don’t know, these are extremely sappy trees and regularly reach heights of over 50 metres.

One thing that I noticed first hand was the saw’s ability to avoid clogging, this is something that Husqvarna claim to have worked on and it’s clear that they’ve succeeded - the saw handled the Norfolk Island pine sap effortlessly. We ran a 20 inch bar on the saw, personally I thought the saw was a weapon in this configuration but technically it sits in the middle of its bar length range. My next challenge for the saw is to see if it can take the rigours of helicopter work whilst running a bar at the top end of its capacity [28 inches].

I only had the saw for a week so it’s not possible for me to comment definitively on durability, but the redesigned side cover & updated AutoTune suggest to me that it may last well.

Release dates vary across the globe but the saw is already available in parts of Europe, it should reach the UK by Spring 2018 with the Australia & NZ markets following after that. Below is a summary of the key features you need to know about this saw. If you’re interested in more detail then head over to Husqvarna’s page for their full press release about the saw.

• CYLINDER DISPLACEMENT | 70.6 [cm^3]
• POWER OUTPUT | 4.3 [kW]
• MIN - MAX BAR LENGTH | 15 - 28 [inch]
• WEIGHT [ENGINE UNIT ONLY] | 6.6 [kg]
• INCREASED RPM POWER BAND | [NOTICEABLE WHEN CROSS-CUTTING]
• SMALLER FLYWHEEL & REDESIGNED CRANKSHAFT | [RESULTS IN FASTER ACCELERATION]