I installed a #7 hoe on my 790 a year ago. This is the little brother to the one you are considering. We excavated hundreds of yards of material out of the side of the mountain so we could "recess" the foundation back into the hill. Everyone from the various construction trades that saw it work was amazed at it's power and speed. Unless you use it day in and day out for more than 2-3 hours daily, I could not imagine any homeowner being unhappy with it.
If the sun, moon, Venus and the brackets all line up right the first time, putting it on is a 5 minute affair. If you have to back it up back and forth a couple times it can drag out to 10-15 minutes. Taking it off is pretty much always 5 minutes or less. The #7 was about $6500 over a year ago including power beyond and installation. Between a larger unit and a years worth of inflation on steel prices, you would be looking at $7,000+
It makes the best ballast for the back that you could imagine and when tucked in, sticks out about the same as any other 800# weight.
Throttle speed will really affect boom speed. That boom will really swing fast at high throttle speeds. We seldom ran it more than 1800RPM. That was plenty of power for our needs. Wear ear muffs and eye protection.
Do not make the mistake of buying too small a bucket. Buckets are rated by their outside width. Look at the chart to see what they hold when heaped or level. You will be shocked. You really dont get a lot of dirt per bucket. If you go too small, you might as well use a shovel to remove loosened dirt. The backhoe is for digging and loosening. If possible, use the FEL as much as possible to actually move the loosened dirt. It is 10 times faster.
It is so easy to have a backhoe and have other people do the work for you for free. If you give a relative a 10 minute training/safety session, you can wander off and get other things done. He/she will run it all day and have a ball. You will have to pry them off at days end. It is the biggest baddest "toy" most people will ever get to play with. My 21 year old daughter ran it bout 5 hours one time when she came to visit me. She was only here 3 days and spent 1/2 a day digging. It was not work to her, it was fun.
One last thing. Do NOT buy a 3PT version. Make sure you only buy a hoe that has a full frame mount under the tractor. My dealer wanted to sell me another brand, but for a couple hundred dollars difference, I wanted a JD unit. This isn't a simple attachemnt like a box blade. This is an integral part of the machine when hooked up. I wanted the piece of mind that the same company designing the backhoe was the one who warranteed the tractor too. If an aftermarket hoe breaks something expensive on your tractor, you will start seeing finger pointing everywhere. And you will be paying the repair bill.
