I wound up stopping at another dealer, no mention of what I had been told previously. I gave them the exact same explanation of what I was looking for and what I wanted to do. The recommendation this time was for the 290 with a 20in bar. So far its a coin toss realistically. I have no fear of a larger saw (respect yes as I know this will be a WORLD of difference in saw performance from what I am used to. Additionally no aggressive chains until I am very comfortable with the additional power.) The weight... no issue there as I don't think I would be turning if a pound made that much of a difference in what I did.

I have finally gotten my wife to adopt the idea of buying the best product you can afford, as she has seen what it has cost us is time and extra $$ to get renovations done in the past. Hence I started this discussion to see if there was a "better" choice.