Been looking at a lot of excavators lately, and noticed that some of the ones, old Komatsus, smaller machines (ie the excavator I learned on an old TB125 Takeuchi my grandfather had) where it's not full long sticks but it's like half way sticks. I've dealt with long and medium sticks, not really near as much as use with the joysticks. Guess the question is how much do the joysticks make a difference? Looking at some old old good quality Link Belt's for example, or a Deere 290 and I just am curious whether I'm going to regret having this control scheme... Half Sticks Joysticks This is what I'm talking about when I'm talking about 'half' sticks if that makes sense. Thanks for the help!
Half sticks with wrist/arm supports are my preference.
We used to call the stick in your first photo chicken legs. Somer are pilot operated and even earlier machines are manual with rods and linkages. Wrist controls are the only way to go.
Long sticks would be fine for occasional use. If it's a machine that you'd be sitting on for 8hrs/ day or for any kind of professional use, don't waste your time on them
Makes sense, so interesting that folks like Komatsu and Link Belt and even Deere on like the 290 kept up with the 'chicken leg' controls much longer than Mitshubishi or Hitachi... Wonder why that was.... I'm looking for a machine for a few projects including two house foundations, and keep running into models with the half sticks so again that's where my question lay, whether if it's a good machine besides for those controls if I should take a shot at it or would be shooting myself in the foot by doing so...
There's a very good reason that every manufacturer stopped making the long sticks. Wear doesn't just occur to the machine, the operator takes a beating as well. Having a comfortable machine to operate isn't about having something "cushy", it's about reducing stress and work specific injuries to the operator.