I think thats the big attraction for me also , I ran a factory 372xp and thought it would be fun to see what a ported clone could do without messing up a good oem one. It went well for me and I learned alot researching the opinions of others.
Same with my clone 090 Stihl ,no way in hell would I take a dremel to an original! But I got my knock off for 60.00 from Craigslist. I had to send the cylinder out to be shaved because not alot of people had the 66mm plug.
I have a hard time grinding on originals because its hard to improve on a good design in my mind. Messing around with a cheap saw has definitely given me more confidence to work on quality stuff also.