Loader work and most small jobs involve a lot of back and forth movement which the HST is well suited for...if you like clutching and shifting, go for the gear trans. I groom my half-mile gravel drive which has two stretches of 17% grade and the HST handles it just fine. I use low range 90% of the time, and medium range the other 10%, high is for road use only around here. When I was comparing specs between Kubota and Kioti, the Kioti "won" for the way I was going to be using the tractor, your requirements may be completely different. :confused3: