I've seen no reviews or posts about this mini. Anybody have any opinions? I've narrowed my choice to the Case made by Kobelco or the Bobcat E50.
There are three of them in my area that I know of. I rented one for a day last year. I liked it, the control system I thought was good. The job I had it on wasn't very taxing so I could not speak to breakout, but on paper they look strong. I think Kobleco builds a good mini excavator.
I know you like the power tan.....I've ran the CX36 and a CX18 for a tight job in the past. I've still have a Case 580SMII and a 550 that have been good machines. Both my compact track loaders are Bobcat and I get good support from both dealers. Didn't know if anybody has put both head to head to compare.
I am partial to Power Tan but I actually own a Taki mini ex. The good news on the CASE is it sounds like CASE and Kobelco are keeping their relationship with the mini excavators. I was concerned for while when Kobleco split from CNH what would happen.
I bought a brand new 2014 model in May of 2014. Has been a great little machine. I am using it to dig my crawlspace foundation, put in water lines, culverts etc. I bought the loaded up model including the angle blade. I have a 12", 24" and 36" bucket. The 12" bucket has proved worthless because the thumb at the pins is about 14" wide. The machine has enough oomph to dig with the 36" bucket, which kinda surprised me. Recently I had to dig a full basement so I hired a friend with a CAT 420 backhoe just because of the size of the hole. We were digging in soil consisting of clay and gravel that was hard as hell! I had some time on my hands so I pulled up next to him to dig a little and he just laughed at me. An hour later he commented on how powerful the little machine was. He had to say something because scoop for scoop, I passed him up.. By the time he pulled 20 scoops of dirt, I had pulled 24. The problem was moving the pile of dirt out of the way. I had to switch machines and get on my skid steer. By the time I was back on my machine digging, he was moving his second pile of dirt. So, they have their place no doubt. It is a great machine and I have nothing to say but good about how it operates, how the controls feels and the durability up to this point.
Thanks for the insight. I ended up buying an Bobcat E50. Fits in nicely with my 2 Bobcats and definitely much more versatile than the Case backhoe I traded off. I agree that the 12" bucket will not work with a thumb...so I didn't buy one. If I end up needing a 12" bucket, the thumb comes off pretty easily on the e50. Glad to hear that the Case is a good machine. Turns out that the Bobcat dealer worked out better for me and seems that the Case dealership wasn't terribly interested in selling me a machine....never got the chance to demo one. I used to have multiple Case machines and am down to one now.
Glad to hear you found a machine. I'm sorry to hear Case didn't provide you with a little better customer service. Or any service. You will be happy with the E50, it's a very nice machine. Not sure what you had to pay for one of those out in you neck of the woods but here with all the options as the Case has is about $8000 more. But I love their brand. I have 2- S300 skid steers and wouldn't trade them for any other machine at this time. Good luck with your new toy and I hope it works well for you.