SD51555
5 year old buck +
When it comes to owning one, keep in mind, either you have to haul it in for repairs, or someone has to come out and fix it. Both options cost time and money. Figure on at least a $500 trip charge just to get a field tech to come look at it. If he's got to make multiple trips, each one is gonna be $500 one way or another. This is how dealers make their money, labor markup. Also figure in $150-$250/hr for on-site labor rates.I guess part of my question is what hour range I should be looking for. I am definitely looking for reliability as repairs are a pain to organize when you live on the other side of the country. On the other hand, I will probably put less than 100 hrs per year on it. would something in the 2000-3000 hour range make more sense? On the sizing, I feel like bigger is better for most of the things I would be doing, but I was wondering if anybody would have gone smaller due to difficulty getting around in a wooded setting. That 80 is on the large size for a mini.
When it comes to used equipment, I'd buy from a reputable dealer. The good ones will sell a trashed machine they took in trade on the auction. If good machine passes trade inspection in good shape, they'll fix it up and put their name on it. This is also where the dealer may have work order history on it too, and better yet, know the customer to know how well they treat their machines. Some go to auction automatically, and some get fought over by employees at the dealership because they know the first customer had solid operators and maintenance practices.
Having seen more machines the past year, I'd put a Cat 308 as about the perfect habitat excavator. It's big enough to grab a 50' oak tree in one piece, small enough to maneuver around your atv trails without turning them into landing strips. You're not gonna dig a gigantic pond with a 308, and you're not gonna be able to handle 5 foot DBH cottonwoods, but for everything else, I think it'd be perfect.