Electrolux bought Poulan at least 15 years ago.
If you examin any Craftsman, Husqvarna, or Poulan saw that is less than 3 cu in. disp.- the ONLY difference will be the color of the paint ! There is absolutly NO other differences in these models.
All Stihls have 2 piston rings. All but a couple Husqvarnas have 1 piston ring. The 2 rings on the Stihls give them better , faster heat transfer out of the piston dome to the cylinder wall and to the cooling fins. It also keeps the compression up higher, especially as the engines get some high hours on them. And it makes the piston run true and straight up and down the cyl. bore. The Husky with only a single ring will tend to allow the piston to rock and let the skirt slap the cyl wall - the double rings on the Stihl prevent this from happening to such a degree.
The Stihls all have their drive sprocket outside the clutch, so that the chain lifts right off with no interferance. The Husky still has the sprocket behind the clutch , so the chain and bar are more difficult to remove or replace.
If you ever have a tree trap the bar on a Stihl, it is simple to remove the bar nuts and side cover , and then just lift the saw engine off the stuck bar. You can then continue to cut down the tree with another saw or the same saw with another bar - whatever. The point is that your expensive saw engine won't be in harms way to be crushed by the falling tree.
A Husky, with its sprocket hidden behind the clutch will not let you remove the engine from the saw bar, because the chain will not go over the clutch, and this keeps the saw tied to the trapped bar in the half cut tree. What can you do to save your Huskey from being crushed by the tree when it finally comes down ? Lots of luck to you if you get caught like this with a Husky stuck in a half cut tree.
The bar adjusting screw is between the two bar nuts on most Stihls, this is easy to see and reach, and very convenient. This same screw is again hidden behind the bar on the Husky, and is harder to see and use when covered in oil and chips.
The air filter cover on a Stihl is removable in seconds , even with gloves on, with a single twist knob or lever, and you can clear off the dust and chips from the filter and go back to work in a minute or two. Many if not most Huskeys require removal of several small screws to open the top of the saw to clean out the air filter. The job is usually done on a Stihl , and back to work, before you get the second or third screw out of a Husky - and no screws get lost in the leaves of the woods.
The Stihls controls are simple and are all on a single thumb switch. Ignition on, trigger lock, and choke are all controled in one place and are integrated together - very very simple easy system, and all Stihls big and small have the same exact system.
The Stihl bar nose sprocket never needs to be greased ! The bar and chain are designed to deliver BAR OIL to the sprocket roller bearings, so it's one less chore for you to remember to do regularly , since the saw does it continuesly.
Stihl is the only company that makes their own saw chain, and it has several advantages. There are oil guide grooves in the driver links that propel oil up into the chain and get more oil around the rivets and up onto the bar rails. This extra oil that is guided to where it is needed is the reason that Stihls chains do not stretch and need the constant retightening that other brands require. It also is the reason that Stihls bar rails wear about twice as long as others do before they need to replace the saw bar. In fact, if you would use Stihls saw chain on a Husqvarna saw, you will find that it dramatically increases the length of time before the Husky bar wears out too.
In addition to having constant automatic oiling of the bars roller sprocket on Stihl bars, there is another good feature inside the Stihl bar. This is a little rounded metal insert that is down in the bar groove, at the REAR end of the bar. This acts as a small dam and prevents all the oil from draining and dripping out of the bar after the saw is shut down for the day - week - or month. This little pool of oil will always stay there, and when you start up the saw , even if it has been months since it last ran, this oil will coat the bar on the first revolution that the chain makes around it. There is no waiting for the oiler pump to finally get some oil to the dry bar and chain, and no galding of dry metal to metal takes place in the Stihl system.
Even the oil, and fuel caps are better on Stihl. There is a flip up lever on these caps, and you only turn them a 1/4 turn and they release. There are O rings on them , not flat gaskets, so they seal much much better. They also close and seal with just a 1/4 turn, and the lever handle snaps down and actually locks the cap closed. There is no need to use a tee wrench to open and close them. A child could open them with their bare fingers - they are so easy to turn. Also, the tank openings are larger and easier to pour into, and it is the good sealing properties at little pressure of the caps O rings that make this design work so well.
There are other features on Stihl, like a drive sprocket that can be changed or greased in about 2 minutes, without the hassle of disasemling the clutch. This same job takes 5 to 10 times longer on a Husky. Or a chain brake safety system that is more effective and NOT mounted in the side cover and in the way as it is on Husky. Or on some models, the spring loaded EZ starter systems, and the quick adjust tool less chain tensioner. The design differences just go on and on and on.
There is no model of Husky , big or small, that will rev up to a higher top RPM than the like model of Stihl. There is no Husky that has more compression , or more torque, or more horsepower than the equal model of Stihl. In fact, because of the single piston ring, verses the double rings in all Stihls, quite the opposite is true.
Whether we consider the under 3 cu. inch Orange Poulans/ Husky units, or the larger [over 3 cu. in] Husky units, this company is still offering essentially the same product they designed 20 years ago. If you took a Husky Rancher from 1985 and put it next to a new Husky of the same size today - what great design advance could you point out ? The only one I can think of is that the top sheild has been lengthened so that the heat of the muffler doesn't burn the knuckles on your left hand so badly that you had to wear a glove to protect yourself from it. Other than that - it's still the same machine !
This is an example of a company that has spent all its time, effort, and money on advertising and self promotion, but virtually nothing on R+D.