Have you every used a 48" grapple and compared it to a larger one? I'll give it a rest when you report on your experiences with the smaller grapple and have something useful to say. I've used both and base my recommendations on 7 years of satisfaction with a 48", 300lb, $500 grapple.
There are situations with a skidsteer cleaning up construction debris for example where a wider grapple makes a lot of sense. Skidsteers are generally construction machines and do different tasks. Big skidsteers used in brush clearing have much more powerful loaders than any CUT. The vast majority of CUT owners however are not doing construction work but rather field/brush/bale work. The wider grapples are heavier, less maneuverable and really don't carry more stuff unless you have some extremely specific task like moving small pieces of firewood. There are a lot of misconceptions by folks who haven't used 48" grapples regarding what they can hold and concerns that one grapple arm would not be as good as two. These myths are easily dispelled however by using a smaller grapple or just looking at all the photos people have posted. Why doesn't the human hand have two thumbs? Simple, because one works just fine. Closing a single grapple arm on a log or debris compresses the load against the bottom which really is more like a triangular vice than a pincer. The load is very stable. Both outside edges of the bottom and the top grapple compress the load. It isn't going anywhere.
The bottom line with 48 vs larger is that there are only a very small number of tasks that a larger grapple can do better than a 48 (short firewood or sticks, construction debris) but there are at least as many tasks that a 48 does better than a larger grapple (digging, maneuvering, net lift weight capacity, etc). Any given loader can lift and transport a bigger tree, rock or load of brush with the 48 than with a heavier grapple. Do the math. And, 48's typically cost at least $400-600 less than the larger grapples. Finally, people with 48's don't complain about lack of width or dual arms.
