Opico Skidster or sherpa mini loaders

[Dilz]

yeah i can slim down the diesel to about 85cm on narrow wheels...and it does have greater lifting capacity...but the weight of the small machine means i can maybe slide it in to the side of the van without attachments on... which would be handy. 

[william127]

On 14/01/2022 at 09:34, doobin said:

That's the Sherpa 'Small', which is £1k more than the Sherpa 'Agri' (red)- the differences are a larger pump, better drive motors and electric start. Well worth the extra in my book.

 

I demoed both the Sherpa and the Cast. The Cast is much more solid than it might look in pictures- I couldn't fault the build qulity. However the Sherpa drove better and handled the weight better for me- so much so that I was willing to accept the overall width of 76cm vs the Cast's narrower 74cm. Yes it's a bit dated in the design, but there is steel where it counts and it's time proven in Europe on internal demolition. The attachments are exceptionally well built, I can't believe how strong they are.

 

I did 3.2 hours on it yesterday. Clearing sandstone that we were veritcally facing with the air spade, loading five tippers and then clearing a tipper load of mud from the side of a way by the road. Then shunting the little chipper around. Those sort of jobs it's just made for. Like any loader, it doesn't move as much as a dumper but it's way more efficient overall. You can take muck out, bring stone back and squeeze past the digger to tip it in the far end of the dig. You can lift heavy logs and load them. It loads the centre of a truck rather than the sides like a high tip dumper.

 

It does drink some petrol but that's the trade off for light weight and narrow. A hard, full days work you might use 10l.

 

It’s been way more useful than I though for non narrow access jobs. Just because you can throw it in the back of a tipper, maybe even a pickup. I’ve not even put the narrow wheels on yet. 

 

Ignore the pikey tree crew brashing up in the back of an LDV! I went back and got the chipper- it was only supposed to be a trimming job initially.

 

 

Having spent a couple of hours reading through this thread and some other places, I reckon one of these is going to be my next big purchase...

It ticks a lot of boxes, especially working on my own most of the time.  It'd save a lot effort over lifting bags of cement/blocks/sleepers into the tracked dumper and that's not even thinking about the jobs where it can shovel/dump loose material.👌👌👌

 

I'm thinking pallet forks, bucket and muck grab to start with, followed by a log grab and the 'pin bucket' (looks like a muck fork) later🤔

 

I really need to make a note of everywhere I could use it on all the jobs I look at in the next couple of months, including working out if it will actually save time/effort when the time spent transporting it etc is taken into account. 

 

[Hayskid96]

19 minutes ago, william127 said:

 

Having spent a couple of hours reading through this thread and some other places, I reckon one of these is going to be my next big purchase...

It ticks a lot of boxes, especially working on my own most of the time.  It'd save a lot effort over lifting bags of cement/blocks/sleepers into the tracked dumper and that's not even thinking about the jobs where it can shovel/dump loose material.👌👌👌

 

I'm thinking pallet forks, bucket and muck grab to start with, followed by a log grab and the 'pin bucket' (looks like a muck fork) later🤔

 

I really need to make a note of everywhere I could use it on all the jobs I look at in the next couple of months, including working out if it will actually save time/effort when the time spent transporting it etc is taken into account. 

 

I just had a demo of the Workyquad from gem plant sales who are the dealer for the south and SE and have to say I was overwhelmed with how well it performed and the range of attachments. Got to be cute on the controls to not make a mess of the turf (I should have been prepared and put boards down) but I’m going with a log grab/grapple bucket, pallet forks potentially, definitely interested in the stump grinder and the auger attachment as I do a range of arb/landscaping work. Brilliant bit of kit and if you’re based this way i would recommend the worky quad and gem. Nice, knowledgable rep as well called Graham.

[AHPP]

58 minutes ago, Hayskid96 said:

I just had a demo of the Workyquad from gem plant sales who are the dealer for the south and SE and have to say I was overwhelmed with how well it performed and the range of attachments. Got to be cute on the controls to not make a mess of the turf (I should have been prepared and put boards down) but I’m going with a log grab/grapple bucket, pallet forks potentially, definitely interested in the stump grinder and the auger attachment as I do a range of arb/landscaping work. Brilliant bit of kit and if you’re based this way i would recommend the worky quad and gem. Nice, knowledgable rep as well called Graham.

Can you post a picture of the log grab please.

[doobin]

7 hours ago, william127 said:

 

Having spent a couple of hours reading through this thread and some other places, I reckon one of these is going to be my next big purchase...

It ticks a lot of boxes, especially working on my own most of the time.  It'd save a lot effort over lifting bags of cement/blocks/sleepers into the tracked dumper and that's not even thinking about the jobs where it can shovel/dump loose material.👌👌👌

 

I'm thinking pallet forks, bucket and muck grab to start with, followed by a log grab and the 'pin bucket' (looks like a muck fork) later🤔

 

I really need to make a note of everywhere I could use it on all the jobs I look at in the next couple of months, including working out if it will actually save time/effort when the time spent transporting it etc is taken into account. 

 

I can answer all that for you. Just buy it.

 

I've got a ballache of a job coming up- rebar some footings with mesh and starter bars round the back of a yard. The Sherpa will fit in the back of the truck, then drag the rebar sheets and lengths 100 yards up a hill to the footings, then carry the bandsaw and all the tools the same. Then I'll use it to run split concrete blocks to use as spacers from the pallets twenty yards away uhpill, over a set of alloy ramps (which we will have brought to unload anyway) to right where they are needed at the end of the 20m footings, the only access to which is over the trench.

That's what it's about, saving labour. You wouldn't have bought the loader just for this, but now I have it... It's just like an extra employee that sits at the yard all day and only costs £250 per month for five years (so probably £50 a month over it's lifespane once finance is paid) plus a couple of beers (petrol) every day he works  A third bloke on this job would be occupied all day just moving materials.

Also loking forward to trying my new Makita rebar tying gun out- had it a few months and hired it out twice but not had call to use it personally

[doobin]

7 hours ago, Hayskid96 said:

I just had a demo of the Workyquad from gem plant sales who are the dealer for the south and SE and have to say I was overwhelmed with how well it performed and the range of attachments. Got to be cute on the controls to not make a mess of the turf (I should have been prepared and put boards down) but I’m going with a log grab/grapple bucket, pallet forks potentially, definitely interested in the stump grinder and the auger attachment as I do a range of arb/landscaping work. Brilliant bit of kit and if you’re based this way i would recommend the worky quad and gem. Nice, knowledgable rep as well called Graham.

Demo the Sherpa first, I wasn't buying on price at all but it's slightly cheaper and I found it to handle better for me. It's also got a good pedigree (internal demolition on the continent) and you wouldn't believe how well built the attachments are too.

 

Mine is the yellow 'smal' rather than the red 'Agri'. Electric start and better drive motors, pushed better than the Cast I found.

 

Assuming you are looking at the petrol model, don't waste your time with a stumpgrinder. 13hp is tedious on a pedestrian grinder, never mind after hydraulic losses.

[william127]

2 hours ago, doobin said:

I can answer all that for you. Just buy it.

 

I've got a ballache of a job coming up- rebar some footings with mesh and starter bars round the back of a yard. The Sherpa will fit in the back of the truck, then drag the rebar sheets and lengths 100 yards up a hill to the footings, then carry the bandsaw and all the tools the same. Then I'll use it to run split concrete blocks to use as spacers from the pallets twenty yards away uhpill, over a set of alloy ramps (which we will have brought to unload anyway) to right where they are needed at the end of the 20m footings, the only access to which is over the trench.

That's what it's about, saving labour. You wouldn't have bought the loader just for this, but now I have it... It's just like an extra employee that sits at the yard all day and only costs £250 per month for five years (so probably £50 a month over it's lifespane once finance is paid) plus a couple of beers (petrol) every day he works  A third bloke on this job would be occupied all day just moving materials.

Also loking forward to trying my new Makita rebar tying gun out- had it a few months and hired it out twice but not had call to use it personally

Just buy it... 

That's advice I can get on with👌👌 

 

Have you tried an auger on yours or any other hydraulic attachments?

 

I'd be buying the same one as you have. 

 

I'm thinking of a job I did before Christmas, me and a lad borrowed 8 ton of soil into a job, then 30 rolls of turf. We took the digger to load the soil into barrows, so I had a trailer, boards etc. 

If I'd had a loader, I could have done it by myself in about the same amount of time. Do that twice a month and it's paid for.... 

I also think I could legally fit the micro, slanetrac and one of these on the trailer in one legal load. With boards etc on the tipper. 

 

I best send arblease an email 😅😅🤦‍♂️

[Hayskid96]

2 hours ago, doobin said:

Demo the Sherpa first, I wasn't buying on price at all but it's slightly cheaper and I found it to handle better for me. It's also got a good pedigree (internal demolition on the continent) and you wouldn't believe how well built the attachments are too.

 

Mine is the yellow 'smal' rather than the red 'Agri'. Electric start and better drive motors, pushed better than the Cast I found.

 

Assuming you are looking at the petrol model, don't waste your time with a stumpgrinder. 13hp is tedious on a pedestrian grinder, never mind after hydraulic losses.

I have used a Sherpa a few times, as much as I was impressed, I heard good things about the Worky so I gave it a go - I found better balance with the worky and ticked more boxes, totally more refined than the Sherpa, but each to their own opinions isnt it. I know all attachments are always built by third party and badged up, similarly how my Avant is. I demo'd the smallest unit, SSQ11+, Im debating to upgrading to the larger engined worky to run a stumpy, or just keep to my current setup. I will definitely be buying one, and it will be the worky. 

[doobin]

5 hours ago, Hayskid96 said:

I have used a Sherpa a few times, as much as I was impressed, I heard good things about the Worky so I gave it a go - I found better balance with the worky and ticked more boxes, totally more refined than the Sherpa, but each to their own opinions isnt it. I know all attachments are always built by third party and badged up, similarly how my Avant is. I demo'd the smallest unit, SSQ11+, Im debating to upgrading to the larger engined worky to run a stumpy, or just keep to my current setup. I will definitely be buying one, and it will be the worky. 

I'd really disagree that they are more refined. Personal choice yes (you probably bought the model I didn't take! 🤣) but in terms of refinement they are pretty much the same. There's only much refinement on such a little emachine- both buck you around, the Worky just has some padding and worklights 🤣

 

I was led to believe that Sherpa made their own attachments.

 

Anyhow, it's like Multione vs Avant. Color doesn't matter, it's the concept that's important. Here's some pics from that rebar job I mentioned earlier. I'm back in the office already rather than dragging rebar and humping blocks through the mud- result. Pretty incredible how much time was saved today, on a job you wouldn't really think 'loader' when you plan it. 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by doobin

[doobin]

5 hours ago, william127 said:

Just buy it... 

That's advice I can get on with👌👌 

 

Have you tried an auger on yours or any other hydraulic attachments?

 

I'd be buying the same one as you have. 

 

I'm thinking of a job I did before Christmas, me and a lad borrowed 8 ton of soil into a job, then 30 rolls of turf. We took the digger to load the soil into barrows, so I had a trailer, boards etc. 

If I'd had a loader, I could have done it by myself in about the same amount of time. Do that twice a month and it's paid for.... 

I also think I could legally fit the micro, slanetrac and one of these on the trailer in one legal load. With boards etc on the tipper. 

 

I best send arblease an email 😅😅🤦‍♂️

Go for it mate, it's almost even more of a relevation for me than the Multione was. The Multione saves a lot of machine time- this thing saves actual labour!

 

It runs the grab just fine, obviously. I've tried it with a pecker (hired) but wasn't impressed. Not an ideal job- it was a attacking a wall with the breaker horizontal up a slight incline, so in order to make the pecker work you had to keep pushing it into the wall. Drive motors rob the flow, so pecker barely worked. However, this would be exactly the same if you tried to do the same with a micro digger- the difference is with a micro digger you can use the arm to push which uses a lot less flow. I'm sure the Sherpa would be fine breaking vertically. With an auger, well, it's going to be the same as the micro digger, 20 litres a minute. It'll be way better than by hand, and ideal for certain jobs. But I didn't buy it to run attachments, I bought it to lift and shift repeatedly, which it excels at.

 

Re stumpgrinder- even if you go for the diesel or twin cylinder petrol options, flow isn't much better. 25 or 28 l/min is nothing when it comes to stumpgrinders- still a waste of time. You never see people running stump grinders on 1.8t mini diggers do you? Even on 2.7t diggers with 50l/min it's widely accepted that they are a poor compromise. So I don't see the point in paying a lot extra for the different engines. If you really want to run attachments with flow, the only mini skid model to consider is the Giant 252 which is a marvel of compactness- they've squeezed a Kubota D902 with 33l/min flow into a machine just 780mm wide. However it was a fair bit more money (£18k bare machine) and at 810kg it's starting to become a bit cumbersome to shift about. And still not really enough flow to do anythign with. But if you don't have an articulated loader, and want just one machine to do it all- got to be worth a look.

 

Only way to go for loader stump grinder is an engine mounted next to the stump grinder attachment, which I will get around to one day.