Let me start by saying this: The people at FAE were great hosts. Their distribution center in GA is truly a beautiful place to see. Aslo, FAE's fit and finish throughout their product line is some of the finest I have seen. The machines seem to be well thought out, and I have never seen a nicer Cab on any peice of mulching equipment. The 400 would lend itself well to 24 hour operations. So here I go-
The demo was plauged with heavy rain, so that did not help at all.
That being said- There were peolpe there from NC, SC, TN, Kentucky and GA.
We never got a chance to run the machines. They had one operator run the machines, and I am not sure that was a great idea. I am not going to buy a $500,000 machine with no seat time, and I don't know that he knew what he was doing.
Bad luck seemed to be the statement of the day, but I have to say that some of this was due to lack of preperation. The Wood devil 125, a 125hp PTO driven mulcher built by CMI ($190,000ish) drove off into a stand of what looked like
3" Gum trees, in a cluster of 5. Stalled out, shut the machine off. Then there was a problem with the PTO shaft sensor, and they shut that machine down for the rest of the demo.
Then, the PT200 jumped on an 8" pine, and honestly, my SK150 and quickaxe would have done it much quicker. $280,000 machine, they stopped it's demo and said that the pressures may have been off. I know, in their defense, that it is a brand new machine, but if I had that many people coming to look at a machine, SOMEONE would have been out there the day before, making sure it was right. It did not run again.
Then they brought out the big guns. The PT400. At first, they cut one 10-12" pine, and I expected more. Then they stopped the machine. After a pause, they went and mowed a little grass, and a stand of small underbrush, mostly 2 or 3" stuff. At this point, I was tired of being wet, and I got in the van and sat there, watching it rain. I understand that they put the PT400 into a little stand of woods, but I didn't get to see it. The ones in our van that did see it were not impressed. That was the end of the demo......
They only way to give it a fair shake would be to get behind the stick, and since I didn't get to do that, I can't give you a fair opinion. I am really interested in their soil stabilizer, and I hope I can market that in our area.
Again, I need to say that they were wonderful hosts, and the equipment and heads seem to be very well put together, and seem to be built to last a very long time in a very harsh enviroment. If you get a chance, check one out. I hope you have better luck than me.
Scott
