Husqvarna 560XP

Spot on!
Theyre a bit like buses, new saws:
you dont see one for ages then a
great load of them come along at
once.
The latest ones to appear have
come from Husqvarna a new
top-handled saw that I dont really
have much use for, and a new 60cc
machine that I certainly do.
The saw it replaces, the 357, has
been around for a few years now.
This was the completely new saw
that replaced the 254, the last saw
that equipped the great motormanual harvesting era of the latter
part of the 20th century. With the
shift to mechanical harvesting, the
fast, durable and lightweight saw
was no longer needed, and as this
century grew older it slowly became
clear that chainsaws needed to
evolve. The shift to harvesting hardwood for fuel, and a consequent rise
in the value of this type of work has
seen a new raison dtre for small
powerful chainsaws. Machines like

the 357, however, were a thing

of the past. A good machine that
had been developed over a long
lifetime it may have been, but it
belonged to a different era and any
attempts to get the engine to comply with future emissions legislation
just added to the complexity of the
fuel system until it became clear to
the engineers that a new route to
low emissions was required.
Husqvarna introduced its first
X-Torq engined saw, the 575, about
five years ago and since then it has
become the 576 and then the 576
AutoTune an exceptional machine
in the 70cc class that is just too big
to use as a fast felling and dressing saw. Something smaller was
needed, an X-Torq version of the
357 perhaps.
To give credit to Husqvarna, the
new 560 is a ground-up design
that bears no resemblance to the
357. The 560 is long and low. It has
newly positioned handles angled to

The profile is different but the 560 is definitely a Husqvarna.

feel natural. They are bigger and the
back handle has a new grip. It has
plenty of features decompressor,
side chain tensioner, see-through
panel in the fuel tank and, back to
the buses, captive bar nuts that stay
attached to the side cover when you
remove it for cleaning and maintenance.
All this pales into insignificance
once you start the saw up though,
or at least once its run in. I have spoken to various engineers about this
supposedly nonexistent running-in

period. We would go through quite

a routine with a new saw back in
the day when we had a couple of
new saws a year. We would knock
the top revs back by as much as
1500 rpm for a day or two, then
carefully build the saw up to top
revs as it loosened up. A saw that
had been run in carefully would run
better with more power and less
vibrations than one that had been
abused from the first tank of fuel.
This, in my opinion, is still true
today, but with a saw like the 560

(Top left) The new

engine layout is unlike
anything a hardened
Husky user will have
seen before.
(Top right) The carb is
hidden but the wires
to the AutoTune unit
can be clearly seen.
(Bottom left) Big AV
springs work superbly.
The fuel level window
is a nice touch.
(Bottom right) The
new back handle is
comfy. Note the noise
level sticker 118 dB.

34

www.forestryjournal.co.uk

Forestry Journal 10/11

that has no manual tuning facility, the running in must be done

with the throttle and the operators
experience. With this in mind we
always warmed the 560 up properly
before subjecting it to any serious
cutting. When it was used to fell big
trees during the running-in period
it was always allowed to make big
cuts at a gentle speed; it was never
forced on, and of course we never
ran it short of fuel. The microprocessor keeps the tuning spot on, so this
gentle approach is now the way to
run in a new saw.
Once run in, this new machine
quickly proves that all the excitement and hype that the guys at
Husqvarna were enthused with
whenever they talked about the 560
was more than warranted. It lives up
to everything they promised. It is
light but it feels solid; it is fast but it
doesnt feel stressed, and it is loaded
with lots of smooth, usable power. It
is also packed with features not
pointless, headline-seeking features
but ones that make life easier for a
professional user.
The captive bar nuts are not
new, but they are just such a simple idea that saves so much hassle
when doing maintenance in the
wood. The fuel level sight window
is also simple but useful, as is the
combined control lever that returns
to the start position automatically
not a huge innovation but one

that makes you wonder how you

managed without it, especially as
it is a chunky design that is easy to
operate wearing felling gloves.
The AV system is of course top
notch, and it needs to be because
this saw can rev. The blurb from
Husqvarna lists the features as
X-Torq, which we have seen before,
AutoTune, thats something else we
are familiar with, and a new one:
RevBoost.
X-Torq is the low-emission engine
that gives more torque for less fuel
and consequently lower emissions
and AutoTune is the system used
on the 576 that keeps the saw running at its optimum performance
level through changing conditions,
but RevBoost is a new system that
makes the revs pick up more quickly
during on/off throttle work such as
brashing out, and boy does it work.
The 560 picks up from tickover to
flat out in an instant.
This hat trick of features comes
together to make Husqvarnas newest mainstream 60cc machine feel
like something completely new. It
has all the poise, power and features
to make it the number one saw for
serious cutters who spend all day
relying on a top-of-the-range felling saw.
The more mundane stuff is as
you would expect. The 560 is fitted
with the standard Husqvarna bar
and chain used by all the smaller

The 560 cuts fast, even with most of the bar in use.
saws in the professional range. The
chain is .325, but you can fit 3/8 cutting gear (although I get the distinct
impression that my local Husqvarna
dealer isnt too keen on this) and
the 15 bar with a .325 chain on
the test saw worked extremely well
both in the oak thinning and the
big larch felling we used it in.
Felling small hardwood proves
the benefit of the smaller chain.
A saw that revs this hard could
be prone to a bit of chatter with
the bigger 3/8 chain, particularly
if it wasnt sharpened sympathetically, but as supplied it proved super
smooth and suffered no loss of cut-

(Left) The combined control lever is easy to use, even

with felling gloves. (Above) The 560 is loaded with nice
touches: this isnt one of them.

ting performance. I would imagine

this is one time where a change to
a bigger drive sprocket might be an
idea as the 560 will surely run an
eight tooth sprocket with a 15 bar
or even longer.
Felling larch up to a metre in
volume didnt provide much of a
challenge to the 560 either. I do
prefer to fell bigger timber with the
bigger chain nowadays. Maybe its
because Im getting a bit long in
the tooth but I like the extra bite
the big chain offers. But again the
.325-equipped 560 proved well up
to the job, with that characteristic
X-Torq power delivery that allows
the engine to keep on pushing out
the revs, even with the full length of
the bar buried in a big tree.
The overwhelming impression I
get from this saw now it is run in is
one of compact power. This is combined with an admirable usability
capped off with smoothness.
In conclusion, I will say that this
new Husqvarna 560 tops the list
of very good saws we have tested
this year, although Im struggling
to accept both the colour scheme
and the silly instruction on the chain
brake handle.
Simon Bowes

Fuelwood woodfuel Fuelwood woodfuel Fuelwood - woodfuel

New
Japa 700

High output logs

& kindling wood
up to 120 nets/hr

- Sawbenches
- Firewood machines
- PTO & Self Powered
- Towable versions

New
Model for
2011
Range of trailer and cranes

Range of mobile sawmills

Log Splitters
8 ton to 38 ton
Various power options

Drum
chippers

Claywood, Beausale, Warwick, CV35 7NX - Tel: 01926 484673

e-mail:- sales@fuelwood.co.uk
Forestry Journal 10/11

www.forestryjournal.co.uk

web:- www.fuelwood.co.uk
35