To Buy or to Rent?

[hornett22]

I used to think the same way. A year later I added the backhoe. Now , without reservation, I WILL admit, I was wrong. It's a lifesaver.

 

[shooterdon]

So much depends on what a person's needs are. If you need to do a lot of 3PH work, it can be a PITA to deal with a backhoe. On smaller tractors, the BH can limit what you can do.

I have done less than $700 of BH work in the last 9 years so a BH is not a sensible investment for my needs.

I can see it as essential for others.

 

[Overtaxed]

As others have said, it depends on your needs/use. I was talked out of a BH by this forum buying my NX6010. It was the right decision. But an also "right" decision for me was buying a smaller, used JD a few years ago with a hoe on it. I use it all the time, it's a smaller tractor so useful for moving things around using the FEL, but most of the use is the hoe. If I had to put the hoe on/off every time, I'd use it 1/2 as much. It's so convenient though, just walk up to the barn, fire up the tractor, drive it where I need a hole, dig, put it back.

I've rented a mini-ex as well for bigger tasks, and it's a wonderful machine, but about 4X the price about 1/2 as flexible as my little 2720. Also digs about 8X as fast.

I live where we have red clay as our "dirt". Digging a hole for a 3 gallon tree without a hoe is back breaking. Doing 10 in a day would be a trip to the hospital. I use the hoe all the time to pull out and put in trees, it's incredibly useful.

And, laughably, the tractor with the hoe is worth more today than when I bought it. I did have to put around 2K into it over the past 5 years in maintenance, but I'm still money ahead. And I have a hoe at the ready. Which means I can nearly throw my shovel away! It's saved me a lot of money on rentals, and probably even more on doctor's bills.

 

[Joel/ak]

As others have said, it depends on your needs/use. I was talked out of a BH by this forum buying my NX6010. It was the right decision. But an also "right" decision for me was buying a smaller, used JD a few years ago with a hoe on it. I use it all the time, it's a smaller tractor so useful for moving things around using the FEL, but most of the use is the hoe. If I had to put the hoe on/off every time, I'd use it 1/2 as much. It's so convenient though, just walk up to the barn, fire up the tractor, drive it where I need a hole, dig, put it back.

I've rented a mini-ex as well for bigger tasks, and it's a wonderful machine, but about 4X the price about 1/2 as flexible as my little 2720. Also digs about 8X as fast.

I live where we have red clay as our "dirt". Digging a hole for a 3 gallon tree without a hoe is back breaking. Doing 10 in a day would be a trip to the hospital. I use the hoe all the time to pull out and put in trees, it's incredibly useful.

And, laughably, the tractor with the hoe is worth more today than when I bought it. I did have to put around 2K into it over the past 5 years in maintenance, but I'm still money ahead. And I have a hoe at the ready. Which means I can nearly throw my shovel away! It's saved me a lot of money on rentals, and probably even more on doctor's bills.

What's a shovel? ... My manual labor digging is very little now. Smarter not harder as I get older. That mini has saved me alot.