Tell me I'm not making a terrible mistake.. or maybe I am.

OTG AuGres said:

Not being able to demo a machine is exactly why I have Bobcat and not Kubota. My Bobcat dealer will give me any machine or attachment i want to try for at least a couple of days, no questions asked. Local Kubota dealer thought sitting in a machine in the parking lot should be adequate. IMO there are a lot of good machines out there. Really good dealers…maybe not so much.

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Yeah dealer support is #1 deciding factor for me. The Yanmar and Wacker Neuson dealer gained some points in having the units side by side to demo.
I ended up talking to my deere rep yesterday. I got stuck with my tractor and he actually came out to help me get it out of the snowbank lol... now that's service. I discussed the wacker neuson with him and he's offering to match the price I got on the WN for a deere 60G. Guess I'll have to at least consider it and try it. It seems that the WN still has more breakout force than the 60G for a lower operating weight.. but heavier means more flexibility with heavier weight extended out. It also means that I'd need to go bigger on the trailer...and my budget does have a limit haha. Decision decisions.

To the OP, your intended use is very similar to what I do, except I don’t do it for hire. I started with a Bobcat e42, extendible arm. I did a lot of stump work with it and personally wouldn’t want anything smaller for that type of work. A year or so ago I moved up to Bobcat e50, standard arm. World of difference in capacity, much more so than paper specs would indicate. For me, in the woods, i prefer the zero tail swing. The e50 has a wider undercarrage with bigger tracks, another bonus. The standard length arm maximizes lifting capacity, something you’ll appreciate doing stump work. I don’t know about other brands and dealers, but i had to order the standard length arm as my dealer almost exclusively has long arms on the lot.

OTG AuGres said:

To the OP, your intended use is very similar to what I do, except I don’t do it for hire. I started with a Bobcat e42, extendible arm. I did a lot of stump work with it and personally wouldn’t want anything smaller for that type of work. A year or so ago I moved up to Bobcat e50, standard arm. World of difference in capacity, much more so than paper specs would indicate. For me, in the woods, i prefer the zero tail swing. The e50 has a wider undercarrage with bigger tracks, another bonus. The standard length arm maximizes lifting capacity, something you’ll appreciate doing stump work. I don’t know about other brands and dealers, but i had to order the standard length arm as my dealer almost exclusively has long arms on the lot.

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Thanks for chiming in. I am looking forward to gauge how quickly I can pull stumps since it'll be one of the bottlenecks in my operation. I have been closely looking at my finances and put forward a proposal to the finance ministry (my wife) and at this point I will likely quit my job in a few weeks and work on my properties for a few months to gain experience and develop my skills before getting into business. There are also some items like commercial wood chippers and pick up trucks that have very long waiting lists. So even ordering now I wouldn't get them before august-september.

Welp, I went and tried the Deere 60G. It's definitely another size class of machine from the SV40 and ET42. Wider frame and longer reach, larger buckets etc. I was very comfortable in the cab and except for the thumb control I managed some very precise and smooth movements pretty quickly. Sound proofing was not as good as the Wacker Neuson but still decent.
The size is a bit intimidating for me to be honest but all the comments I've gotten here and from the sales rep, family and friends with a bit of experience have convinced me to go big or go home.
The service I've gotten so far from the deere dealer is a big deciding factor too. The dealer is also giving a pretty solid price on it too (pretty much the same as the WN really) since it's my second machine from them and they are bunching it with a few other purchases like pallet forks for my tractor etc.
So Looks like I'll be a proud owner of a Deere 60G in a month or 2! No renting after all!HA!
Thank you all for the advice and sharing your experience. I'll post some pics and more feedback when I get it.

Quick update and thread resurrection 5 months later! Things are going pretty well and business is picking up!

That's a very nice setup and a great way to tow a 60.