The Classic Machinery Network

Its always interesting to hear other peoples views on machines so wondered which machines people think are the best any why. also which is the worst. thinking of the 13 ton class machines.
heres a few of my own observations
Alot of Zaxis machines round here and rightly so but i wouldn`t buy one as i find them slow and think the cabs are really uncomfortable, that said excellent machines for grading and such like, very reliable and good resale values.
Cats are fast and powerfull but again cab aint perfect, use alot of fuel, noisy and i find them abit top heavy if not specked with a long carrige.
Myself if i were to put my money on the line i think i`d have a komatsu simply because if feel they offer the best compromise of performance, economy, reliablity and most importantly a really comfy cab.

tell me what you think

ste.

I agree with you about the hitachi, they are a good machine but i feel when operating the machine it feels like you are sitting on the machine rather than being a part of it, i have to say i have been out of operating machines last 2 years, but i was impressed with the js130, but i have heard that its not reliable as it should be, but i was impressed with the komatsu 130, but have you tried the takeuchi 140 ?

A Few Mite disagree but my favourite is still the Volvo ec135b which i am driving i've driven a very wide range of machines and have found no 13 tonne classed machine to beat it on all round performance and comfort.... went out to a corporate day out with my boss which was arranged and payed for by our local Case Dealers on saturday. and they are gonna let us have the Case CX130b on demo. i already told the dealer that he's gotta lot to live up to. made him sweat a bit......

Jason_Hannaford wrote:A Few Mite disagree but my favourite is still the Volvo ec135b which i am driving i've driven a very wide range of machines and have found no 13 tonne classed machine to beat it on all round performance and comfort.... went out to a corporate day out with my boss which was arranged and payed for by our local Case Dealers on saturday. and they are gonna let us have the Case CX130b on demo. i already told the dealer that he's gotta lot to live up to. made him sweat a bit......

Oh Dear Jason

I am not even going to waste my time replying to that one

All I will say is that I had a lucky escape when I cancelled my 135 order!!

Nick

as i said some mite disagree. but this is my opinion. i have had no problem with this machine. it has never let me down in any job i have had to do with it. the customer support is top class. i had to ring up cause the airconditioning stopped workin turned out it was just a lead connector popped off. i rung the Volvo Fitter and he was out in 2 hours job sorted. this machine has impressed a lot of people on the jobs it has been on. we have been on hire to the same company since november last year on 3 different sites now so i think that says a lot aswell.

Jason_Hannaford wrote:as i said some mite disagree. but this is my opinion. i have had no problem with this machine. it has never let me down in any job i have had to do with it. the customer support is top class. i had to ring up cause the airconditioning stopped workin turned out it was just a lead connector popped off. i rung the Volvo Fitter and he was out in 2 hours job sorted. this machine has impressed a lot of people on the jobs it has been on. we have been on hire to the same company since november last year on 3 different sites now so i think that says a lot aswell.

Nick Drew wrote:

Jason_Hannaford wrote:as i said some mite disagree. but this is my opinion. i have had no problem with this machine. it has never let me down in any job i have had to do with it. the customer support is top class. i had to ring up cause the airconditioning stopped workin turned out it was just a lead connector popped off. i rung the Volvo Fitter and he was out in 2 hours job sorted. this machine has impressed a lot of people on the jobs it has been on. we have been on hire to the same company since november last year on 3 different sites now so i think that says a lot aswell.

so wats your favourite then nick, you don't like volvo that much we know...

Jason_Hannaford wrote:

Nick Drew wrote:

Jason_Hannaford wrote:as i said some mite disagree. but this is my opinion. i have had no problem with this machine. it has never let me down in any job i have had to do with it. the customer support is top class. i had to ring up cause the airconditioning stopped workin turned out it was just a lead connector popped off. i rung the Volvo Fitter and he was out in 2 hours job sorted. this machine has impressed a lot of people on the jobs it has been on. we have been on hire to the same company since november last year on 3 different sites now so i think that says a lot aswell.

so wats your favourite then nick, you don't like volvo that much we know...

OK

Well I like most genuine Japanese based machine's IMO you simply cannot beat them!!
Hitachi, Case(Sumitomo) & Komatsu are my favourites and I can't really pick anyone in particular, I was also very impressed with the new Cat 312C that I tried out when Stuart (SRB) showed me around Finnings earlier this year and of course most of these Cat excavators use Japanese Mitsubishi technology.

I do not like Korean machines Daewoo especially and of course the Volvo range is a Korean product, Samsung with a different paint job at the moment, this may change as time goes by and I hope it does because the Volvo is nearly a good product but once again IMO just needs a bit of fine tuning to make better.

Nick