A Little Underpowered

I'm liking the functionality of the 290. Starts easily...appears well made. Wishing I had a little more power though. Just a thought. There's times she just doesn't power through as quickly as I would like. Thinking a 65 cc saw or higher would be ideal for me.

Hog the muffler out a bit and adjust the carb. Makes a decent difference. With only a 16" bar though you shouldn't have any trouble with the 290.

You can get whatever you want. Some people think they need an 3500 Dodge diesel to tow a jetski

You are suffering the "I want a new saw" disease.
To stop the "want" the only cure is to buy a new saw.
It'll cut rounds 1 or 2 seconds faster.

In a year or 3 you'll have the "Want a new saw" virus again . LOL

290 is a fine saw for anyone who cuts less than 7 -8 cord/year. It will do most anything you want except "be new".
It'll make a fine "back up saw"

Post a picture of your new saw

Bogydave and nate379 pretty much covered it.

The only thing I'll add is that switching form the semi-chisel, low-kickback chain that came on mine (Stihl RMC3/RM3) to full-chisel (RSC/RS) regular chain.also made an improvement. Mine was a .325 pitch, .063 gauge, 20" bar setup.

The next jump up in performance would be a good 60cc (or larger) saw running regular 3/8 pitch chain.

You do not need to go to 65cc in the Stihl line. At 60cc there are two good options. The 310 is the 60cc version of the 290 and a sweeter saw in that group. It vibrates a lot less and it has 500 more top end RPM for 10% more power than the 290. If you want to bump up the quality and power, go with the 361. You will get far better AV, less weight, more power, far better quality and a saw that will last a lifetime.

However you can get better performance from a 290 by putting a Euro muffler on it, or by drilling two small holes to replicate it on the stock muffler. Then re-tune the carb for about 10% more power. Really easy to do and the performance gains are noticable without a lot of gain in noise. I have modified about a dozen of these saws this way. It will definately give you that little bit of more power (and about what a stock 310 has). Here is a thread about opening up the muffler and photos of the Euro model 290 muffler is in post #9:

http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/ms-290-exhaust.99912/#post-1281622

Mod the muffler or sell it, but don't mod the muffler if your going to sell it.

An ms 361/362 will make a big difference over the 290 if you are looking for something around 60cc. I have an ms390 that is the same basic saw as the 290 with more grunt.

I have the 290 and have cut well over 12 cord this year. Works great for me, cut 40" oak rounds this summer and it did well enough. It would have been nice to have a bigger saw for that but I don't think I will do many trees that size. Everything else I cut it rips right through.

Sell the 290 and look at the 362,441,460.

I've got a fever and the only prescription is more chainsaw...

CAD=Chainsaw Acquisition Disorder. No known cure, temporary remission after a new saw purchase. Can cause marital strife, voluntary isolation from social functions, withdrawal from urban/suburban societies, weird looks from others, long hours on craigslist, & a host of other symptoms. Hang around here long & you'll get infected. A C

LoL!
Go 5 cubes and don't look back.

If your only going to own one saw get an MS361/362 or the orange equivalent. If your going to own two saws, then go 50 & 70cc.

If your going to keep the MS290, then get a 440. Doesn't weigh much more. You'll sell the 290 pretty quick. Then you'll have half the money for an MS261.

Your chain is sharp, right and/or yes? I ask because a 290 should run the sh_t out of a 16" bar assuming the chain is sharp.

Randy, I thought that was 6 cubes?

i had a case of the thought "i need a diesel to pull a jet ski" last week.... Do i really need at 70cc saw?? absolutly not. Do i really want one? Absolutely! Merry christmas to me! I don't want to sit here 3 yrs later and say to myself "man i wish i had more power" or "i should of just bought it to begin with" one and done!

Don't have big saw envy. Have a big saw.

It has come to my attention that most of the World has become a 50cc place, the leap to 5 cubes is huge.

Life begins at 82cc.

Once I made the leap from 56cc to 77cc in 1994,not once have I sat & thought "Hmmmm....I really regret going larger than I need 80% of the time...." The way my luck works is if I'm ''stranded'' with only a smaller saw,all I'd ever see was 20"+ logs.Dont use it much,but am so grateful to have it when I do.

76.5 cc's is where its at for me!

I think the chain is sharp. I don't think I've ever hit the ground.

I'd like to test drive a 440 or 660 just to see the difference.

For zing at the throttle, the Husky 390s have it, for more torque the 395s are nice.

How long has it been since you last sharpened. Most of us do not exceed 2-3 tanks of fuel before we sharpen/swap chains.

I bought a 361 as it would be the perfect saw for me. Then I started hanging out here and AS and realized I was woefully underequipped. Since then I bought a burned up 260 that I rebuilt. I do like the 260 and I bought a 460 for one big tree I got. Of the three, for my modest needs, I still grab the 361 most often. The 260 is a fine saw but doesn't cut nearly as fast for me as my 361 (may have something to do with the idiot that rebuilt the 260). The 460 has only a couple tanks through it and I have it maxed out on bar length for hardwood (28") so I can't really speak to it. It cuts ok with a 28" but I'm going get a 24" for it and I bet I'll like it better....or maybe just put a 20" on it and have some real fun.

I need a sharpening then. I have run about 1.5 gallons of gas through the saw.