Got busy and forgot to update this, so here goes.
We demoed both machines for a while late fall, trying to get both of them into a variety of different situations we would normally face-a challenge in itself in the late fall in Minnesota while racing against mother nature. Both dealers are well-represented in our area with the advantage going to Cat in parts availability and the fact that the Cat dealer actually has mobile service. Both machines were capable of doing what we needed. Either one would have fit our needs. Pricing of the two was very similar, enough that price was not a determining factor. The Bobcat had the extendable arm, which was nice for the extra reach. The downside was it felt very poorly balanced and the arm itself seemed to bind up when retracting. After a less than satisfactory suggestion from the dealer (offered to replace the assembly under warranty after the deal was done) and given the cheaper overall feel of the cab, we decided to go with Cat. We ended up with a 2015 305.5e2 CR with 380 hours on the clock. I could not possibly be any happier with the machine. We got the machine with the thumb and three buckets to start with (24" tooth bucket, 36" tooth bucket and 63" ditch bucket). Needless to say, I cannot wait to put this machine to work this year. Thanks to everybody who replied here, always good to hear others opinions.