Mini Excavator

The side by side return on investment. 3 yrs old. 800 miles of trios around the property.
100s of loads, wood chips, dirt, wood, small equipment like chain saws, fuel, garden tools, fencing, our harvesting.

It's got a stereo, heater, and AC. When the weather is too hot, I have a place to cool off.

It's made life alot easier around the property.

So how does one determine "Return on investment" actually?
That shows a good track record of what the machine is capable of doing without much down time if any. Sounds good to me.
 

That shows a good track record of what the machine is capable of doing without much down time if any. Sounds good to me.
Personally I’d expect that kind of reliability and then a lot more given that price range.

My Honda quad is 20 years old and has only required regular oil changes. Spinning 10k RPM on less than 1 quart of oil!
 

Personally I’d expect that kind of reliability and then a lot more given that price range.

My Honda quad is 20 years old and has only required regular oil changes. Spinning 10k RPM on less than 1 quart of oil!
Excellent points about reliability.
 

We have several 4 x 4 trucks and several 4x4 quads towing something around is not a problem. But working with Chinese junk that you have to repair daily is a problem. We rent real equipment when we need it and have it delivered.
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That was the only picture I had. Hauled it in on a car trailer to use it to carefully tip over a water tank. Crazy useful. Despite working in construction, I had no idea.

Not sure what you can get for $10k in new Chinese equipment, but I suspect you will not get 7,000 pounds digging force. Be terrible if you actually got on a good vein only to find out it has limited digging capability in weathered bedrock.

Rent it first and do some digging?
 

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My brother bought a used Bobcat excavator for $10K and it has been so useful clearing brush, lifting stuff, moving boulders, ect. 7,500 to 8,000 pounds maybe. Something you can haul around on a 10k trailer easily.
It handles steep country well as long as you know how to operate it. Only you know what your country looks like.
Tracked equipment make it easily up and down just need to be cautions side hilling.
 

Tracked equipment make it easily up and down just need to be cautions side hilling.
It’s very useful for brushing with the thumb. Clean burn piles without a bunch of dirt and disturbed ground to fill in with invasive weeds compared to a loader bucket or dozer blade.

It will also feed a trommel really comfortably.
 

Tracked equipment make it easily up and down just need to be cautions side hilling.
If the tracked equipment is on ground say over 15 - 20 degrees time to think about winches. Just saying.
 

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