Hello I Need some help getting up to speed on an mini ex. I have a small farm and need a ex/backhoe to do some work around the property. The land is all shale, some breaks easy, however some large chunks can be a real bear to bust up. I need to dig 3 or 4 water lines a couple hundred feet, need to run electric lines about same distance, I need to cut a new drive into the side of a hill, and I need to dig a foundation for a green house. The greenhouse will require bogging 5ft down excuvationg all the shale and backfilling with a matrix of pipe and clean fill. after all this is done the unit would be used to plant trees, and mayber put a cutter to cut a few areas I cannot get to with other equipment. My cat guy is recomending a 302.7, I am worried this unit will be too small. He going to let me demo it, so that's good. I am looking for some opinions, I want to stick with cat, as I have a cat skid steer and the service from the dealer has been great.
If you demo it then surely that would be the time to make a decision whether it's large enough for the job or not..?
+1 on what Nige says It really comes down to how much time you want to spend doing a task with a machine of that size...
My advice is to buy as big as you can afford, and transport.