I certainly wouldn't call the 953C inferior by any means. For a long, long time, Cat had nearly complete market dominance and really didn't have the need to worry about making its hydrostatics superior... because, all alone at the top, its hystats were superior.
If you get a chance, I'd test them both out at least a little bit. If your Deere dealer doesn't show interest in getting people hooked on their line of track loaders, however, I'd be cautious to be the first to experiment with them unless you know the dealer well enough to know they'll back you up 100%.