I think they’re good saws, and the production run on them was long enough that there must be a ton of them out there.
The replacement to the 346xp was the 550XP. It had autotune, rev boost, was lighter, stronger out of the box, and had better fuel economy and AV. The older 346xp could be ported to run faster that a 550xp could, buy it took some work grinding the cylinder, upgrading the carb, intake track and filter, modding the fuel tank vent, the muffler, etc. out of the box the 550xp was just better.
The 550xp mk II has just replaced the original 550xp, and it’s supposedly faster/stronger than the outgoing 550xp, with a better air filter, stronger case, better heat management, but a little heavier and no rev boost.
Nothing wrong with the 346xp, but at this point it’s two generations old. It’s a simpler design with quad fed transfer ports, no strato charging, and no auto tune. It doesn’t have the simplicity or quality or robustness of the 2-series, but it also doesn’t have the bells and whistles and ergonomics and efficiency of the 5-series. Kind of a middle child at this point. So it’s falling out of the spotlight. In a couple years collectors will be trying to get their hands on them as the remaining supply decreases, but I think at the moment there are plenty of spare parts support and plenty of working saws out there.
Also, if one were not brand blind, the Dolmar 5105 (I hear) has more ass to out cut the 346xp, and it too is a simple design saw that can be bought brand new today. If the Dolmar/Makita is too much $, which is still cheaper than the Husqvarna was when new, you can buy the Maruyama brand of it in different colors. So for people looking for a simple 50cc saw, there are multiple options out there to just buy new instead of wait for a used but not clapped out 346xp to come up.
