I'm not intending to on this machine, it doesn't do the hours for me to justify the purchase price but you never know for the future and at least with the S30 hitch I have options should it start doing more finishing work for me.
Good review but everything you have mentioned as a slight niggle the bobcat E20 has got sorted. Blade don’t have the double edge Proper track pedals Boom is slightly offset for vision. Bobcat for me all day long. 👍
Bobcat make a very good machine now, and whilst I haven't had a go on the E20, I was impressed by the E19. The only thing that lets them down for me is niggly bits of quality and the paintwork. Otherwise they are spot on the mark. They have been very popular round here since a new dealer opened up and I believe they do some very tempting finance deals too. I really don't think there is much between the makes now - almost comes down to what colour you prefer!
@@Olliegunns you are 100% right. And for me everything I have for my business is white, so fitted in well. The only thing I could say about the bobcat is they are slightly under powered in the undercarriage department. But again like you say they all have very small pros and cons and very much down to badge and colour. Hard to buy a bad machine these days which is a good thing
Takeuchi in this weight class have been living off the reputation on the 016 for too long. The 216 for me just isn't quite up there with the likes of the new gen JCB, Bobcat and now CAT's. Feels a bit slow and outdated but to be fair I haven't run one for a while and it would be interesting to put a few of these brands side by side and see who can do what!
@@Olliegunns In fairness, my boss has had a Takeuchi TB219 for a few years now and has racked up about 3900 hours on it in about 6 years and he has had it serviced regularly and had it new pins and bushes on it three times and that's about it. But other than that runs like a clock and with the extended dipper it is brilliant for digging holes for septic tanks etc. But I may be a bit bias towards Takeuchi as we've had one for a few years and it has been faultless for a 14 year old machine and I think what is brilliant about them is that they are just simple and reliable, nothing more nothing less. Still think the likes of bobcat, JCB, CAT and Kubota have a lot to offer though.
Many thanks for a really helpful review. I like kobelco’s - I have an sk10-3 that I brought because of pilot controls, flat floor and my first machine (a sk07-3) lasting so long. Just had a sk17-3 on hire for a week and pretty impressed with it - obviously biased….. but would also like to add that rather comparing it directly to the kubota u17’s we normally hire; I’ve noticed a significant variance in performance and characteristics of the fleet we hire from. Only one bordering on poor, the rest just different to each other. Appreciate everyone ends up preferring a brand but doubt that anyone makes a bad machine anymore and encourage everyone to be open minded and try as many options as they can. Thanks again Olly.
Kobelco make a great machine, their micros were years ahead of many of the other manufacturers and they would be in the mix for me to run if the dealer was closer. A friend has a mid 00's Kobelco 8 tonner on his farm and its still a lovely machine to drive now.
Ollie, I know it’s two years since you did the video but I’ve just purchased this machine but I am having difficulty finding a thumb that bolts on to the dipper. Did you find a bolt on thumb?
17k for this?! Wow I just dropped 51k OTD on an E20 enclosed cab with thumb, 9”,18” and 36” grading bucket. Taxes was almost 4k here in Southern California. Unit had a base price of 39k. Pricy little things
Some set up you’ve got Ollie, I’m 23 run a 8010 and u17, that 18z is very very similar to the u17 it’s almost like the bloke from Kubota now works for JCB 😂
Not wrong ! Hiring one in Thursday and Friday this week, only thing a ton dumper and the u17 I’d be over weight wouldn’t I ? Don’t fancy the trips back to lock up as can work quite far sometimes And a track dumper:I’ve found two good labours couple of belle’s wheelbarrows a lot better for the tight access ones to be honest, also ur videos are great keep it up 👍
I am going back to JCB mini diggers i have always purchased Hitachi from 1.8, 3.0, 8.5ton i still have the Hitachi 8.5USB but looking at selling to purchase the JCB100 2 like the quality of the cabin, tilt bull dozer blade. I also own 2019 JCB 3CX APC PRO servo control, with extra pipe work down the boom as we use tilt bucket and grab check out one of my videos. Considering I-dig what did this cost to purchase Ollie and who from.
Great review as always Ollie 👍🏻 I’ve ordered a 19C-1 Any advice on what to spec…. I’m thinking of getting a 1800 dipper vs 1100 but unsure of the pro’s and cons. Love the channel 🤩
The "gravedigger" dipper gives massive dig depth and a huge reach, but the disadvantages are it is quite difficult to grade with, and you have to be so far away from a dumper to get the height to load, it becomes quite awkward. You also loose breakout force. Depends on your priorities and the work you do.
Those Volvos are nice, if they had better dealer coverage in my area they would be in my top 3 for sure. Do they do a zero tail machine in this class? Not sure I've seen one?
I'd like to see more Komatsu minis as I think they make a good digger, but not very well supported in my area, no dealers about and £26k for a 1.5t class machine is 3t money!
@@Olliegunns yeb I agree, I ended up buying a used pc30 which is a 3 ton machine, it was better value.... Caterpillar was around 24k but also included a tilt grader bucket
Nice reveiw!, really like the jcb 18z, quite impressed compared to older models, a very compareable model would also be the Eurocomach 18zt which i used to run, i really liked that one :D
Thanks Adrian, yes its settling into the fleet nicely. Thought long and hard about running a micro and 2.7t like you do but I find I need more power more often than I need to fit through a gate, so whilst the two aren't that far apart in weight, they both serve a purpose for me. Micro next... or maybe something bigger?
@@Olliegunns I bet it looks well next to the 8026… yes it was the same for me when I bought my first micro it was either micro or 1.5 but for me the right choice was a micro as i always seem to get the tight ones… I’m thinking of going for a 5-8 ton digger next or maybe even a hook loader lorry 🤔
