Looking at buying a mini soon, narrowed it down to these two. Looking for opinions from anyone with experience with either of these. Pricing is. So similar between them it's a nonissue, Cat has a better warranty and I suspect better parts availability since my Bobcat dealer is a small local outfit. Bobcat has extendable arm which I see as good and bad. Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated.
I don't know that I could say anything useful on the machines themselves, but I would suggest that you come up with a list of accessories that you could conceivably decide to purchase in the future and check out the prices before you decide on a specific machine.
How much do they want for these machines? Curious... Agree with previous poster on attachment costs...First, I'd look at all the buckets. Some are made better than others. I'm always fiddling with buckets (repairing). But I do live on a rock. Since your buying new, parts won't come into play unless you plan on keeping machine for a spell...if it going to be a keeper, then get a quote on tracks, idlers, rollers, etc. I dream of owning those sized machines...I might be placated by a E42.
Cat parts availability will be much better, especially if your Bobcat dealer is small. My Bobcat dealer is fairly large, they have 100 machines in their rental fleet, and I have to wait on parts sometimes. Check prices on common parts between the two, Bobcat parts tend to be higher than Cat at least here locally.
I find Cat buckets and comparable attachments are much easier to find then Bobcat stuff. Not only for OEM but plenty of aftermarket attachments too since it is a pin grabber rather then the goofy Bobcat quick change.
We run a 2013 cat 305.5 cab machine and it is a beast! I have not ran a e55 but had the option to buy one when we went cat. I have moved 8000lb boulders with this thing! What is the price diff??
You should make sure that Bobcat has a good mechanic....competent and experienced.....If they are close in cost, then Cat will have a better retained value..Tony
I have a 4 year old 305.5E Cat and the machine is amazing. We have some much bigger excavators but dollar for dollar the 305.5E is an exceptional machine. Without exaggeration, we have added $100,000.00 a year to our gross with that machine. I have about 1800 hours on mine and it still looks and runs like new. Never had any issues with it.
We have the E55 extendable it's pretty amazing for what we do. Looked them both over and compared them and we went with the Bobcat. There's plenty of Bobcat dealers around here and the Cathouse seems to be higher on everything.
Got busy and forgot to update this, so here goes. We demoed both machines for a while late fall, trying to get both of them into a variety of different situations we would normally face-a challenge in itself in the late fall in Minnesota while racing against mother nature. Both dealers are well-represented in our area with the advantage going to Cat in parts availability and the fact that the Cat dealer actually has mobile service. Both machines were capable of doing what we needed. Either one would have fit our needs. Pricing of the two was very similar, enough that price was not a determining factor. The Bobcat had the extendable arm, which was nice for the extra reach. The downside was it felt very poorly balanced and the arm itself seemed to bind up when retracting. After a less than satisfactory suggestion from the dealer (offered to replace the assembly under warranty after the deal was done) and given the cheaper overall feel of the cab, we decided to go with Cat. We ended up with a 2015 305.5e2 CR with 380 hours on the clock. I could not possibly be any happier with the machine. We got the machine with the thumb and three buckets to start with (24" tooth bucket, 36" tooth bucket and 63" ditch bucket). Needless to say, I cannot wait to put this machine to work this year. Thanks to everybody who replied here, always good to hear others opinions.
Good deal, I hope it serves you well. Was it a dealer demo or in the rental fleet?
Came from Ziegler Cat's rental fleet. They maintain their rental fleet better than most companies I know of, so I wasnt afraid to buy a rental machine from them. Plus, the savings from new were significant. Now I just need things to dry up a bit around here so I can put it to work.
Good pick. You should be served well by the machine itself and more so by the CAT dealer in terms of parts and service. Good luck with your new machine....
Same here. I bought my 321 from Thompson, it was in their rental fleet. Depending on how they have internally depreciated the machine you can get a good deal on a low hour used machine, I saved 30% of the new price and the machine had 1800 hrs on the clock.