Big (but not MASSIVE) chippers

[benedmonds]

Is this Forst bashing just from GreenMech staff/dealers and Mick? 

The guys liked the one we tried and there are some on here who seem to be very positive, I seem to recall Mick Dempsey was when he first got one?

[Mick Dempsey]

.....

Edited November 1, 2019 by Mick Dempsey
Don’t want to get into it.

[ForestryFinance]

Yep, I'm a little biased, and of course I base residual values on what is for sale rather than what I've ever been offered on trade in (I've never bought or traded one in myself). There are clearly flaws with this approach as was pointed out somewhere above because of the way Redwood treat their trade-ins. 

Residual value comment aside, they're good chippers for a lot of reasons. I think they are more popular up North of the border here which again will affect my perception. Everyone has a brand they like, and for varying reasons. Having never chipped a branch in my life, I like Forst. When it comes to forestry I love Ponsse, even though I've never cut down a tree either...

 

I think this forum is a little bit anti-Forst, perhaps partly because there's no Forst people here and there's TW and a Greenmech dealer, so I guess I just want to fly the flag for a brand I care about. 

 

Anyway, it turned out to be totally irrelevant to the conversation here as they are probably in the small chippers bracket currently, but we've all had fun regardless. 

[GA Groundcare]

We have a TP 215 in our workshops for service this morning. It is a lovely, well built bit of kit with some nice features.

 

Understand there is a change of dealer for England now and no longer JPW.

[PeteB]

Sorry Ben, I derailed your thread. A pure observation though - I will not be able to help Forst owners who wish to get out and go to another make. If you are after newish bigger units, I would go to Bandit drum machines as they don't break often and, as Ashley at GA says, the TP235 has some nice touches and is now sold via Kilworths at Ashby de la Zouch.

 

I look at Schiesling and think "why are they so expensive as they cost about the same as everyone else to build and they chip stuff the same as everything else. Build quality is okay at best and have the same paint issues as every other machine on the market....back up and support may be hindered by distance and the Germans are not over helpful at times - same goes for Jensen. Jensen do do bigger units but again, Germans are not helping the brand along much...

[benedmonds]

14 minutes ago, PeteB said:

Sorry Ben, I derailed your thread.

I am happy with threads going slightly off track... My initial feeling was for a 10 inch machine as when we went that way it gave us an advantage over the competition, but it has to make economic sense.

 

Most of the work we do is domestic and many cope with smaller chippers and they are MUCH more affordable. Technology has changed and the sub 750 chippers these days seem to have output similar to the bigger machines of yesteryear when I was on the tools.. 

 

If the same is the case for the 8 inch machines then they might be not far off the output of our old 10 inch machines, and therefore its worth considering them also.  There are lots more of the middle size machines about and so used is more likely an option.  If I could have 2 or 3 medium chippers for the price of 1 large..  That might make more sense..

 

There are also a lot more specialist firms with massive chippers who do all the ground clearance stuff these days. I don't want to go down that route..

[steve30]

I have a st8 very capable machine, we hand feed and machine feed the chipper, if you have a bigger chipper can you hand feed it to capacity, at the moment if we are hand feeding it it can chip what ever we can

carry to it, Normally we can’t carry it  before the chipper won’t chip it 

just my thoughts 

 

[s o c]

I’m hoping to go see a 12inch bandit in the next week or two. The guy selling it is now doing most of his “non grab fed chipping” with a TW 280, says it’s an amazing chipper .

ive nothing against Forst but there seem to be an awful lot of 2 and 3 year old ones for sale around the place.

[Rough Hewn]

We had two forst tracked chippers go wrong in one week. Great machine when it worked.
Big bandits are monsters,
A winch is a must for a big chipper.
[emoji106]

[Stubby]

8 hours ago, ForestryFinance said:

Yep, I'm a little biased, and of course I base residual values on what is for sale rather than what I've ever been offered on trade in (I've never bought or traded one in myself). There are clearly flaws with this approach as was pointed out somewhere above because of the way Redwood treat their trade-ins. 

Residual value comment aside, they're good chippers for a lot of reasons. I think they are more popular up North of the border here which again will affect my perception. Everyone has a brand they like, and for varying reasons. Having never chipped a branch in my life, I like Forst. When it comes to forestry I love Ponsse, even though I've never cut down a tree either...

 

I think this forum is a little bit anti-Forst, perhaps partly because there's no Forst people here and there's TW and a Greenmech dealer, so I guess I just want to fly the flag for a brand I care about. 

 

Anyway, it turned out to be totally irrelevant to the conversation here as they are probably in the small chippers bracket currently, but we've all had fun regardless. 

When the Forst first came on the market I was told by someone ( dunno who , maybe Red Wood ) that Forst took all the good bits from the Jensen and eliminated all the bad bits . It seems to me , from some posts on here , that they retained all the bad bits and added some of their own .  Since the ST 6 and ST 8 came out our old Jensen A 540 is still going strong with no problems .  If you want a bigger one go Bandit . To quote the chocolate bar advert ...Get yourself and Bandit if you know whats good for you senior ?