Have they worked the bugs out of the 540xp? Heard they have their own set of problems
Man, maybe wait till I get some miles on this pig before you drop all that $ on one, because, I'm just over the moon about it. Obviously, the big hairy-scary is the microprocessor, but the thing pulls 37.7 cc's, and the 201 is 35.2. The 540 is a solid two and a half horse power while the gutless pig of a 201 is only 2.41. I actually timed it in big wood against my modded 201, and it beat the Stihl, by a full second (in stock form) every time.
Now having boasted about all of that, I will say this: the 540 is THE most cold-blooded saw I've ever run in my entire life. I predict that the ground guys will hate it, because you can't just snap up the saw to make a couple of cuts without choking it. But other than that, man, that pig is a dream. Awesome AV, no silly flippy caps, way better ergo. O.k.... maybe the gas tank might seem a bit small, if you're used to Stihl top handles.
I can't wait till the boys at the shop try to give me a hard time over it, cause I'll just make them sharpen their stupid 201's, and them beat them silly, in a good, old-fashioned redneck cookie-cutter.