What's the general consensus on Volvo Excavators "C" series? Likes, dislikes? How do they seem to fair against the Cat, Komatsu and Deere/Hitachi?
i do not own a volvo machine. i wish i did. I became good frineds with the volvo rep a couple years ago and got the chance to go on a trip to the proving grounds in NC where we got to run every machine they have. it was an all expenses paid trip by the dealer and i fealt like a king. i own a Kobelco and they did all this for me. i have a lot of time in a ec160B and that was a very smooth machine. the C models are even better. fuel economy is great. and the serviceabilty is awesome. i have run every brand of machine (not all comparable sizes) and volvo is by far the smoothest. we have a hitachi 160 out at a job right now and it is a very sweet machine but i would still pick even the B model volvo over it. when i buy a new machine im 98% sure i will buy a volvo.
I have a 240b, and the only other hoe i have ever run was a pc228 short radius komatsu. The komatsu was a lot faster in swing. Otherwise the volvo seems to be a great machine. It doesn't do anything i would have a concern with. Mine has straight travel, progressive auxiliary on the floor, plus on/off buttons on the rt handgrip. It has a pile of filters, where other machines do without. It has full length track guides. It has a pile of nice features that don't mean much till you look at a machine without them. I would say the real standout thing is how little fuel it uses. Travels at a good speed. If i had one complaint, and i only have one, it would be the location of the radio. It's behind the seat, and changing stations requires some stretching. The Kom had a radio panel beside the seat. I wish i had more exposure to other machines so i could shed more light on the volvo. I don't think you give up anything in a volvo though.
i enjoy the volvo 210 b and c series. Ive ran everything else and i find there the nicest (just my opinion) there good on fuel 16-17 Litres an hour working them hard, thats way less compared to jd or link belt which are up over 20. Had a few small warranty issues but nothing serious, nothings ever perfect
I have been running a new 360 and love it moved about 7000 yards with it loading A-30 Volvo trucks I thought that it was slow at first but as I got used to it I like it more!
i have ran a few volvo's. smooth as hell. comfy, too. awful factory quick coupler, cant run a bucket backwards.
Spent last winter doing quarry stripping with a 360, had about 4500hrs on it. Was very good machine and one thing that our dealer rep told me was to run it in G1 mode(one below highest setting) and that everything ran like a total extenstion of my arms. Nice balanced machine, roomy commfy cab, always started right up even on the cold cold days. Ony downfall I had with it was the fact that we were using A40 haul trucks and my drivers were moving, a 460 would have been perfect. I have a friend that works for a hwy dept and all they run for excavators are volvos and they all love them. Trbo