Here is my opinion after spending some time on the new series CASE skid steers. These machines will be released officially in a couple weeks and so I will not post any pictures of them.
Productivity: I went down to AZ with a chip on my shoulder concerning losing the 4.5L engine. I worked the largest machines hard, even taking my own time during other events to maximize my time in them. I am not concerned about lack of power (at least at this elevation, well see about high elevation performance), through the use of better performing drive motors the wheel torque is the same as before on comparable models. Through the use of a better design of sprockets and drives the 120 size chains are not needed as in the 465 and 450 current machines. The torque curve is excellent, recover is very fast. I left AZ totally at ease on the power plant. Considering how pissed I was about losing the 4.5, the 3.2 and 2.2 are excellent motors. The smaller machines blew everyone away by how strong they were. Excellent job on engine performance.
Comfort: The new cab is excellent. The wind was blowing at about 25-30 mph. I would purposely dump the dry AZ sand and dirt into the wind to wash the machine in dust and dirt. The cab is very tight. Reportedly tighter than anyone elses cab on the market. I believe it. It is also very quiet. The room in the cab is perfect. Wide enough for room but not too wide as to not be able to see the sides of the machine. The Kubota tracked machine which was there as a comparision could have learned something from this. Ergonomics was good everything is adjustable to the different operators sizes. Heated, air ride seats are nice. The method used to pull clean air into the cab was excellent and I am surprised more don't do something similiar, especially considering how much issue CAT has had with keeping their cabs clean in difficult conditions. Visibity is outstanding.
Control: They come, depending on model with no servos, servos and E/H. The nonservo machines were surprising to me in that they don't have as much push back as I would have expected overall not bad much better than the BC nonservo machine. The servo machines were typical CASE which is to say excellent. Short throws (relative to manual controls, not compared to pilots or other E/H systems obviously). The real news of course is in the E/H. Overall the system is good, it is responsive and fast. No one has brought their E/H to market and not had to continually evolve the system. I expect the same here. I was happy with most of it. However I really wanted to be able to dial in sensitivity and speed or at least give me (like an excavator) different settings to fit job or operator. That is not present in this release.
Serviceability: All routine services can be done from the rear of the machine. All filters are easy to reach. The cab no longer is a tool free release as on the large current machines you have to release two bolts like the 430 sized machines. Servicing the machine will be a breeze. A great deal of thought when into being able to service this machine and it shows. A couple small things would have made it even better, this was from a mulching perspective. I brought those ideas up and who knows maybe they will be added later.
Subjective thoughts This new series was very well done. Perfect? not in my eyes, however this machine will without a doubt grab considerable marketshare. This series will have two high flow options like the old XT did. The standard highflow will be decent, the super high flow will be well...super. This makes me very happy. One thing I noticed about this group of engineers and platform managers is these guys are passionate about this project. Not "this is my job and I need to do it well" passionate, I mean these guys get it. They are very competent and I believe truly care about this project. Passion about this machine at all levels was very evident and beyond what I have seen in years past. I have many examples of this, but safe to say, it is definetly there.
A couple things worth noting:
The Kubota was extremely disappointing to me. It was the 75 sized machine. I really thought this would be impressive given Kubota's standing in the compact market. The OROPS on this machine is too wide. Push power was unimpressive, breakout was good, control system unimpressive and lift power very unimpressive. I really thought this machine would blow me away, it did not. Not even close. I am curious to see what others think of this machine. I would not own one.
A couple of the star models as I and others saw them. The small 130 sized machine surprised everyone on how capable it was. The 175/185 were also surprising to me, they will sell a lot of these machines without a doubt.
The TR270 which is a radial lift track machine was very impressive. I wanted one. Very well done, excellent push power, breakout on all these machines is impressive, lift was excellent. Way more powerful than you would expect for this size machine.
The SR250 which is a radial lift wheeled machine. I spent a lot of time in this machine. I thought this was my favorate wheeled machine, excellent balance, excellent power. I think this machine would be very productive wheeled machine.
After getting back yesterday, I built a machine for order, it is a TR320. They did not have this model there but after running the 270, I felt this machine would replace my 440 VTS perfectly.
As these machines start to trickle out, they are certainly worth a demo. I look forward to hearing what others think of them.
Productivity: I went down to AZ with a chip on my shoulder concerning losing the 4.5L engine. I worked the largest machines hard, even taking my own time during other events to maximize my time in them. I am not concerned about lack of power (at least at this elevation, well see about high elevation performance), through the use of better performing drive motors the wheel torque is the same as before on comparable models. Through the use of a better design of sprockets and drives the 120 size chains are not needed as in the 465 and 450 current machines. The torque curve is excellent, recover is very fast. I left AZ totally at ease on the power plant. Considering how pissed I was about losing the 4.5, the 3.2 and 2.2 are excellent motors. The smaller machines blew everyone away by how strong they were. Excellent job on engine performance.
Comfort: The new cab is excellent. The wind was blowing at about 25-30 mph. I would purposely dump the dry AZ sand and dirt into the wind to wash the machine in dust and dirt. The cab is very tight. Reportedly tighter than anyone elses cab on the market. I believe it. It is also very quiet. The room in the cab is perfect. Wide enough for room but not too wide as to not be able to see the sides of the machine. The Kubota tracked machine which was there as a comparision could have learned something from this. Ergonomics was good everything is adjustable to the different operators sizes. Heated, air ride seats are nice. The method used to pull clean air into the cab was excellent and I am surprised more don't do something similiar, especially considering how much issue CAT has had with keeping their cabs clean in difficult conditions. Visibity is outstanding.
Control: They come, depending on model with no servos, servos and E/H. The nonservo machines were surprising to me in that they don't have as much push back as I would have expected overall not bad much better than the BC nonservo machine. The servo machines were typical CASE which is to say excellent. Short throws (relative to manual controls, not compared to pilots or other E/H systems obviously). The real news of course is in the E/H. Overall the system is good, it is responsive and fast. No one has brought their E/H to market and not had to continually evolve the system. I expect the same here. I was happy with most of it. However I really wanted to be able to dial in sensitivity and speed or at least give me (like an excavator) different settings to fit job or operator. That is not present in this release.
Serviceability: All routine services can be done from the rear of the machine. All filters are easy to reach. The cab no longer is a tool free release as on the large current machines you have to release two bolts like the 430 sized machines. Servicing the machine will be a breeze. A great deal of thought when into being able to service this machine and it shows. A couple small things would have made it even better, this was from a mulching perspective. I brought those ideas up and who knows maybe they will be added later.
Subjective thoughts This new series was very well done. Perfect? not in my eyes, however this machine will without a doubt grab considerable marketshare. This series will have two high flow options like the old XT did. The standard highflow will be decent, the super high flow will be well...super. This makes me very happy. One thing I noticed about this group of engineers and platform managers is these guys are passionate about this project. Not "this is my job and I need to do it well" passionate, I mean these guys get it. They are very competent and I believe truly care about this project. Passion about this machine at all levels was very evident and beyond what I have seen in years past. I have many examples of this, but safe to say, it is definetly there.
A couple things worth noting:
The Kubota was extremely disappointing to me. It was the 75 sized machine. I really thought this would be impressive given Kubota's standing in the compact market. The OROPS on this machine is too wide. Push power was unimpressive, breakout was good, control system unimpressive and lift power very unimpressive. I really thought this machine would blow me away, it did not. Not even close. I am curious to see what others think of this machine. I would not own one.
A couple of the star models as I and others saw them. The small 130 sized machine surprised everyone on how capable it was. The 175/185 were also surprising to me, they will sell a lot of these machines without a doubt.
The TR270 which is a radial lift track machine was very impressive. I wanted one. Very well done, excellent push power, breakout on all these machines is impressive, lift was excellent. Way more powerful than you would expect for this size machine.
The SR250 which is a radial lift wheeled machine. I spent a lot of time in this machine. I thought this was my favorate wheeled machine, excellent balance, excellent power. I think this machine would be very productive wheeled machine.
After getting back yesterday, I built a machine for order, it is a TR320. They did not have this model there but after running the 270, I felt this machine would replace my 440 VTS perfectly.
As these machines start to trickle out, they are certainly worth a demo. I look forward to hearing what others think of them.
