ALFA Greece Here's the skinny after spending some time with the MS500i. I put it through some decently tough usage today. The tree was already down so no felling action.
I got pretty good vids, I think, that will further give everyone an idea of where this saw is. It's through the 5th tank of fuel running 40:1 semi-synthetic and Oregon bar oil.
My point of doing the thread is to give everyone an honest bit of feedback. I don't like saw bias and I'm going to give this thing the same abuse I give my other saws.

Again, these are just my opinions for my cutting style. Both saws were ran with an 8-pin today.
My initial pros:
- Holds great RPM in the cut...it's got really good torque
- Doesn't seem to have AT/MT issues. In other words, if you run it out of fuel, it recovers instantly.
- Doesn't seem to have hot start issues. I got it HOT and no problem with restarts or leaning out. Weather was close to 85f today
- Ergonomics are good. You can work this saw for hours comfortably
- It's light for the displacement
- Fit and finish is clean
- Clears chips well
Initial cons:
- Still not liking the filtration...you'll see from the vids
- AV is on the soft side for long bars...24-25 is the sweet spot IMO...
- Fuel tank is small or it's not very efficient....gotta check the specs and see how much it holds
- Exhaust note is wicked annoying IMO
Grey area (time will tell):
- Durability--here because I haven't ran it enough to see what kind of abuse it can take
- Speed. Not the fastest saw....we may see it gain with break in time...
- Heat retention...it gets hot compared to other saws...excessive? We'll see...
This is not in anyway conclusive or scientific. The lists will grow with time......TBC
500i Fuel capacity is 0,785l (MS 462 is 0,72l) Dolmar/Makita 64/73/79xx hold 0.75 liter of fuel
https://youtu.be/c0_JynL1ntghttps://youtu.be/hB_WgC1BZCkhttps://youtu.be/ltEzFMO2s-ghttps://youtu.be/4pl39QqkEqA