Anybody on here deal with Butler on Cat SSL/MTL/CTL's? I stumbled on their videos again and remember watching them last winter and shaking my head. I commented on a few but realized it was no use. I'm kind of surprised Cat would let them make such poor comparison's. Maybe Cat themselves doesn't have control over them though. There's nothing suggesting its anything other than a sales pitch simply from Butler, not meant to represent Cat. I still think it makes Cat look bad though. This is not the way you sell machines. Maybe Butler didn't like the Bobcat Advantage so they decided to do their own version from the Cat point of view. The Bobcat Advantage was a nicely executed sales pitch that was put together very well. I still don't agree with this type of advertising though. I'm one of those people who tends to run away from any salesman that feels they need to talk down the competition to sell their product. Do they really think anyone really believes these videos regardless of who puts them on? They are made to highlight one brands strengths, not to be an actual comparison obviously. Why even waste the time and money, along with the embarrassment and hate mail that follows. You get all the youtube pro's fired up in the comments section with these vids and nothing intelligent happens. I'm all for making some videos showing the features and advantages of a machine without having to try and compare it to the others. Unless its a 3rd party evaluating them, nobody will believe its fair anyways. Besides, many "advantages" are personal opinions anyways. In addition to the above, there are many errors in the videos as well. It's clear the people talking in them do not know very much about the machines, especially those from the other brands. If you don't know them well, why not save the embarrassment. Just curious if anyone one here deals with them, and what they are like in person to deal with. Every minute of these videos just made me pull my hair out for multiple reasons. Maybe others feel the same way. Here is the link to their Youtube which has comparison videos for Bobcat, Case, and some for Deere as well IIRC. https://www.youtube.com/user/butlermachinery Since the videos were not enough, they also felt the need to make some fancy brochures comparing the machines. http://www.butlermachinery.com/whatsyourstandard/ I wouldn't pick on them so much if every other brand and dealer was doing this, but outside of the Bobcat Advantage and the few Deere videos I have seen, its really not common and its certainly unprofessional IMO. Rant of the day over, off my soapbox now.
They're not even current machines either. I have to laugh at the Bobcat videos too. I get a kick out of the one video where the guy talks about Bobcat's superior cooling and there is no mention of any cooling capability mentioned anywhere in the video. Only some dude walking around in a lab coat with a smoke machine showing where the machines pull in air. Not one word about cooling.
They were current machines at the time of the video. Why they used the B3 for comparison in the brochures is beyond me though. Its all in the wording and how you present things. I guess I just hate sales pitches that involve comparing to the competition, claiming to be the first, or any variant of claiming to be the "best". What I mean by the latter is statements like "Most horsepower in its class", but when you actually compare it to the others it only has 2 more hp. Things like CNH's claim to having the widest SSL cab in the industry. Going off their spec, and using a tape measure in a C2 series Cat, their cab is 0.5" wider. IIRC the JCB is within 1" as well. Not every other OEM lists every spec and dimension that their competition lists and if they do, its not always measured the same or its hard to understand and compare. The best ones are the claims all of the big three make with their pickup trucks. When it comes to anything, I usually stop listening when someone says brand "x" is the best. Nothing is the best for everyone. Often times those who feel a certain brand is simply the best, tend to have very little useful information to share about why its the best, and many don't have experience with competitive products, just a story that their brothers uncles sisters brother told them. I just don't understand why its so hard to design and build a good machine that sells itself by listening to customers, not by telling them what they need or what is best because that is in the eye of the beholder. I've always told salesman/reps that if they feel the need to claim they were the first, the biggest, the best, etc. then their machine must not be all that impressive. It's not grade school, I could care less who was first at anything, I just want to know more about your version. Often times the companies who "copied" the idea, find ways to improve on it. I could care less if on paper something is the biggest, smallest, best, etc. What matters is how it actually performs. Something could have 10hp more than a competitors machine, but if the lesser power machine has a better power and torque curve, its probably going to be nicer to run day in and day out. I really wish more of the specs would go to graphs instead of just peak numbers. Seeing how a machine actually performs throughout the entire range would allow you to compare machines more accurately on paper. Somebody needs to start a 3rd party organization to round up these things and compare them. It's actually something I thought about doing, but don't have the funds necessary to setup testing equipment. I guess this all drives home the point that nothing replaces a demo, and dealers, salesman and OEM's need to make sure they realize this. If I were them, I would want the customer to demo the machine before buying. It removes the risk of them being disappointed when they get the machine and its not what they expected. Now you have an unhappy customer that wont return. I'd rather send them a demo and have them decide to go buy a different brand, then sell them a machine they end up not liking. They are much more likely to buy something down the road in the first scenario. Loose the sale in the short term, but still make out in the long term. Good equipment will sell itself. The advertising, salesman and dealer can all make or break the deal depending on their professionalism. There's still a lot of good salesman out there, I deal with good ones every day and try to deal with them as much as possible, but the equipment they sell is still the most important part. Some stuff is good enough that its worth dealing with a crappy salesman, other stuff is poor enough that even the best salesman wont change my mind. Anybody remember the John Deere Smackdown? The Powerlift challenge portion. In this one the Bobcat appears stable, the tipping load is identical to the Deere (9,200lbs). Just seems to not have the hydraulics to lift it for some reason? The Cat is tippy but the tipping load is over 600lbs lower. It a very boring 7 minutes thats for sure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B830GG5jmcA Then theres this one. The Bobcat hydraulics can't lift it again. This time they use a 299C which has a tipping load thats 200lbs lower than the 297C but it just appears to not have the hydraulics. The best part is the Case 450CT which comes right up and lifts the thing but then the guy quick drops it. Whats really funny is that the tipping load I see listed for this thing is only 7700lbs. Thats 1500lbs less than the Deere. Its also very obvious that with the Case and the NH they lift the load further out on the forks. The NH tipping load is 8300lbs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1mRBPeE7r4 I guess you could ask why I even waste my time. That's a good question, maybe because I have hope that others agree with me.
I think it is funny when the comparisons are stupid little stuff, like door seals, ac placement, etc. While important for comfort it does nothing for the operation of the machine, personal preference imo. I got a good laugh out of the Bobcat advantage videos!