I dont mind the clutching on my shuttle shift. It creates a little leg circulation and Keeps my butt from going to sleep. I admit I have limited experience with HST. My brother in law has a NH 2030 and he got me to drive it for about 30 minutes one time doing FEL work, but that was about as long as I cared to. He had to shift to low to load up the bucket (we were digging out a dried up pond in heavy clay) and then he had to shift to high range to transport it to the stock pile which was quiet a ways away. I was using my Yanmar with powershift and was going faster than him. Both tractors are about the same HP. I love the powershift on the Yannie but my new LS works just fine with the shuttle shift. With the Yanmar, I ran it in 3rd range and downshifted to 1st for loading, powershift to R to back out, then to 1st and then on up to 4th all without clutching. I would clutch it at the dump pile and then powershift to R and start all over. Much better than the HST and no foot on anything unless I was dumping. Now with the LS, I just pick a gear for the speed I want, it has plenty of power so no need to downshift on it. I have never found the clutch to be that much of an issue when using the FEL. I guess some folks are less coordinated with foot/hand multi-tasking than others. When I was building my pond, I would load up the FEL take it to the dike, climb to the top, hit the brake with the right foot, clutch with the left, dump the load with my right hand, shift the shuttle with my left and be backing down the ramp as the bucket was cycling back up. Nothing to it. Just sitting in AC comfort listening to the stereo and having fun.