Some things I forgot to mention. I used an 8# maul exclusively until about 2002. That's when I bought the 3ph splitter and it was sooooo nice, especially since I had back surgery in 1998 and I have always split 10 - 15 cords per year. Granted, it's not THAT big of a deal splitting for an outside wood boiler.
Most of the 3ph splitters I have seen, set sideways on the back of the tractor. This is good because it makes it compact and is less likely to drag when crossing creeks, little swales, and low places in general. The bad side to this is, when you split, a lot of your chunks fall inside between the splitter and tractor tire. What I generally do, is let the chunks build up there then keep splitting and tossing the ones I can reach over to the side. When the build up gets to be too much, I raise the splitter and pull off of the pile and back in to another place. A friend of mine remedied this on his splitter. He modified it to stick straight back. I have considered this but just haven't gotten a rounduit yet.
Another nice thing about the 3ph splitter is, I can hook up to it, throw my saws, maul, fuel, bar oil, and a log chain in my bucket, put my saw wrench and a file in the tractor tool box, and I have everything I need right there with me. This is nice if you have a large tree somewhere, some logs already staged, or if, like you, have a lot of trees down in one general area. The down side to it is the fact that your tractor is tied up for skidding.
The reason I am going to a commercial unit is one, I am losing my firewood hand to college this fall and the big rounds are too heavy to lift and it kills me to squat with the unit in the vertical position (back surgery), so I want a log lift. Two, since I am a one man show, I would like to make the process as efficient as possible in order to get the job done before the snow flies, so I definitely want a 4 way and maybe a six way wedge. Three, an 11hp gasoline engine uses less fuel than a 75hp, and you do rack up hours on your tractor for little work. If I had a smaller tractor that didn't get used as much as my farm tractor, it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. And four, having an outside wood boiler, I would like to split my chunks a little smaller, but cut my rounds 30 inches. The only splitters I have seen that can do that are the commercial ones.
Overall, I have been very pleased with my Tractor Supply/Speeco 3ph splitter, it's just time for me to upgrade now.
