Ive owned 3 wheeled machines and 1 track machine and the track machine will go just about anywhere, they'll still. tare up lawns up just as quick as a wheel unit no matter how careful and how many turns you make. Just traded my 19 Bobcat T590 in on a brand new Kubota SSV 65 and the biggest reason is the door opening over head. What I do I need to get out while (in my case) the log grapple is off the ground a foot or so. I think in most cases a track machine is not worth the extra initial cost and additional money down the road, you mentioned the cost of new tracks but another huge expense is idle wheels, those things are right around 3-400 each and to replace a full undercarriage is pushing 10k.
I have a 10k# tracked machine with the low ground pressure (LGP) option and it tears the ground up in a big way. Every time you turn the machine it shreds the ground. I was told by my dealer that I should have purchased a tire machine. I messed with a wheeled machine today and it also tears the ground. A skip loader is what I use whenever I can, to avoid the ground damage.
Had to watch the section around the 3:30 mark a couple times. I think you referred to the tired machine as a tracked machine once during the comparison. Figured it out eventually. Nice machines and nice video. Wish I could afford one!
I was a tanker in the army back in the '80s, and I had the pleasure of driving an M-60A3 across Germany during winter. I can say from firsthand experience that even though the tank weighed around 60 tons, it felt like being in a giant bobsled at times. We slid all over the place. Tanks do an excellent job of not getting bogged down in heavy snow, but they also have a tendency to slide around quite a bit which can be scary for the crew as well as anyone outside near the tank. I would imagine there are similar differences between these two types of skid steers. The wheeled version is likely to have better traction in snow compared to the tracked version, especially when it comes to clearing snow from your driveway.
