Any comments on real world experience with these two machines?
I've briefly demoed and/or ran both. The TB 290 is probably my dream machine in that weight class. It's a beast with tons of power/lift capacity. It's not a reduced tail swing machine though, so if you do a lot of work in tight quarters, probably not the right machine. The volvo I ran was a bit older. 2012ish.. It had a side mount engine. It did feel a bit out of balance. But I believe it was a zero/reduced tail swing.
It is a zero swing or very close to it. The volvo is comfortable and well put together. The Takeuchi is pretty bare bones but it has everything where it counts. No tail swing is a nice feature but not a deal breaker. We have smaller Takeuchi excavtors and they are very capable, notably regarding digging ability and being able to really push with the blade.