I picked up a 299D2 with the high flow (not the 106 hp model) to demo.
Here are some things I like about it. The display in the machine is real nice, the best I have run in a skid steer. It is intuitive to run, I like the bar graphs for setting speeds and response. The machine tie down locations are very good. The control handles are very nice, liked the feel of them. View to the bucket is good and to the side of the machine. The window out the back is purely ornamental. The camera helps, but its not perfect, sun positioning creates shadows making it hard to see at times. I think sonar like that in pickups would be helpful in conjunction with the camera. The ride is really nice, the torsion suspension is a comfortable feature. The cab is quiet, the noise you hear is not, at least to me objectionable. I did miss not having a storage area you can put gloves and so forth. Not a lot of room in the cab, but I liked the layout.
Some things I am not excited about. Bucket breakout is not impressive. The bucket is an 84" extended lip bucket and they are not easy to breakout of a pile but for machine of this size I would expect more. Dump height is limited, made worse by the long lip bucket. The reach is fine, just wish it would reach higher. My Mack has a demo body on it and even with that short sided bed it struggles dumping. The seating position is not very comfortable for me. The floor is high in the cab which positions by knees up higher. I am 6' so certainly not the tallest guy but still found it uncomfortable after hour 5 in the machine. Entering the machine is not as easy as I am used to, door doesn't open very far.
Push power was not very impressive, the machine detunes itself like CATs do and it does it often in this machine. Perhaps that can be adjusted to get a little more out of it. It is a great feature for an inexperienced operator but not set right if your trying to get more out of it. I am surprised at how little push power the machine has, maybe something is not set right with it. My TR320 will push much harder than this machine. It does have more torque than the CAT but gives up some weight and some hp, but you would never know that by running them side by side. It does not appear that this machine has the ability to switch between ISO and H pattern. I see no reason with EH controls that the feature should not be standard. This machine did not have a hyd quick attach, reminded me how much manual couplers suck. The ride control is not as aggressive as it is on my Case machines. Torsion suspension may negate some of the need for ride control. The speed setting on the ride control can have some advantages I guess, but still having the ability to actuate a button on the handle would be helpful as well. Setting it to activate at a certain speed does not allow for changing conditions on the jobsite and it is not a feature you want on all the time.
I have put about 6 hours on it so far but it is not the horse I was expecting it to be. Maybe the 106 hp XPS machine is the one to demo. I am not sure what the price is on this model, I priced a XPS model with the forestry adds and it was 91K, that is a lot of scratch. This model I am running should be much cheaper I would think.
Here are some things I like about it. The display in the machine is real nice, the best I have run in a skid steer. It is intuitive to run, I like the bar graphs for setting speeds and response. The machine tie down locations are very good. The control handles are very nice, liked the feel of them. View to the bucket is good and to the side of the machine. The window out the back is purely ornamental. The camera helps, but its not perfect, sun positioning creates shadows making it hard to see at times. I think sonar like that in pickups would be helpful in conjunction with the camera. The ride is really nice, the torsion suspension is a comfortable feature. The cab is quiet, the noise you hear is not, at least to me objectionable. I did miss not having a storage area you can put gloves and so forth. Not a lot of room in the cab, but I liked the layout.
Some things I am not excited about. Bucket breakout is not impressive. The bucket is an 84" extended lip bucket and they are not easy to breakout of a pile but for machine of this size I would expect more. Dump height is limited, made worse by the long lip bucket. The reach is fine, just wish it would reach higher. My Mack has a demo body on it and even with that short sided bed it struggles dumping. The seating position is not very comfortable for me. The floor is high in the cab which positions by knees up higher. I am 6' so certainly not the tallest guy but still found it uncomfortable after hour 5 in the machine. Entering the machine is not as easy as I am used to, door doesn't open very far.
Push power was not very impressive, the machine detunes itself like CATs do and it does it often in this machine. Perhaps that can be adjusted to get a little more out of it. It is a great feature for an inexperienced operator but not set right if your trying to get more out of it. I am surprised at how little push power the machine has, maybe something is not set right with it. My TR320 will push much harder than this machine. It does have more torque than the CAT but gives up some weight and some hp, but you would never know that by running them side by side. It does not appear that this machine has the ability to switch between ISO and H pattern. I see no reason with EH controls that the feature should not be standard. This machine did not have a hyd quick attach, reminded me how much manual couplers suck. The ride control is not as aggressive as it is on my Case machines. Torsion suspension may negate some of the need for ride control. The speed setting on the ride control can have some advantages I guess, but still having the ability to actuate a button on the handle would be helpful as well. Setting it to activate at a certain speed does not allow for changing conditions on the jobsite and it is not a feature you want on all the time.
I have put about 6 hours on it so far but it is not the horse I was expecting it to be. Maybe the 106 hp XPS machine is the one to demo. I am not sure what the price is on this model, I priced a XPS model with the forestry adds and it was 91K, that is a lot of scratch. This model I am running should be much cheaper I would think.
