Boxer skid steer opinions

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Diggers are certainly more versatile but that’s probably for another thread sometime
 
in short I’ve never regretted getting rid of my boxer, I found that you could easily get large pieces of timber onto a arb trolley or similar then we would lift them into a trailer with the roofmount at the other end all without damaging a lawn, that said a skid steer changed the way I worked and I probably wouldn’t be working the way I do now without it
 
i did wrote a blog post for treekit a couple of years ago on the subject if anybody’s interested 
 
http://www.treekit.com/blog/investment-in-big-machinery-is-it-worth-it/

Thanks John, I’ll give it a read this evening and report back. It’s my thinking that I want to work smart not hard and the mini skid certainly fits the bill for a lot of the work.

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Maybe, but for the uses he wants it for, namely tree work and a house build. I could see both a digger and a wheeled loader could be ideal for both tasks, my gut tells me a boxer might be a disappointment in comparison.
 
The thing about lawns is. A tracked machine going in straight lines isn't a problem and with a digger you can keep turning to a bare minimum (turn on a board if necessary) but a tracked skid steer is going to have to a lot of turning to do the same work.
 
i think if it was me I'd toss it up between the wheeled loader and the digger as I can't see what benefit the boxer would really have over either? Perhaps in very confined spaces it might have the edge as can spin on the spot...

I see your point about having a wheeled machine to avoid ripping lawns up.
It’s all in the pipeline at the moment I just feel the small size of the boxer may come in handy and if I need to put a couple of ply boards down every now and then I can live with that.

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Can you even buy boxers any more in the UK?
 
Yes they are handy for building work, spreading gravel and just generally knocking materials around on site. Also good for pushing out stuck vehicles and trailers, ramming brash into bonfires etc. 

Yeah there is a supplier Tetbury. About an hour from me.

[John Shutler]

The dealer support when I had mine was awful and as far as I’m aware it still is, the dealer was based in tetbury

[Thesnarlingbadger]

The dealer support when I had mine was awful and as far as I’m aware it still is, the dealer was based in tetbury

Is it really that bad? That might be a bit of a game changer.

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Diggers are certainly more versatile but that’s probably for another thread sometime
 
in short I’ve never regretted getting rid of my boxer, I found that you could easily get large pieces of timber onto a arb trolley or similar then we would lift them into a trailer with the roofmount at the other end all without damaging a lawn, that said a skid steer changed the way I worked and I probably wouldn’t be working the way I do now without it
 
i did wrote a blog post for treekit a couple of years ago on the subject if anybody’s interested 
 
http://www.treekit.com/blog/investment-in-big-machinery-is-it-worth-it/

Good read a John, it has definitely made me want to buy more kit though :-/

[chopalog]

I am looking for something for loading timber onto a firewood processor and can't decide between a boxer or an avant.  Has anyone on here used both options?

[Mick Dempsey]

If someone can explain to me the advantages of a skidsteer over a wheeled loader in domestic arb, then, that'd be great.

[Jon@CareFell]

Cheaper, smaller, 0 turn, more pulling/pushing power for the size and easier to get on and off quickly. Horses for courses.

[Jon@CareFell]

We can get our HB20 and our ditch witch in our tipping ifor together.