Littlebear,
I have the 16x16 manual tranny, but my machine is ~4 years old.
The 16 gears are nice. You are probably aware that this gives you 16 in forward and 16 in reverse. The low range is very handy for a blade when digging a ditch, or leveling dirt. I run a 9' hydro controlled rear blade with this tractor.
Rear Blade on a TN70D
It's almost too much blade for my tractor and farm baceuse the ground is very rough. But I think the blade is rated for upto 125 hp, so I knew I was at the low end when I bought it.
In 4wd the blade can drag the tractor to a halt if you take too big of a bite. The low range gears really help in these cases.
What I like best about it is the power and traction. So far I have not had this tractor stuck once, and like I said I am using it for hard farm work.
The only thing I do not like about it is that I wish I had the electric shuttle on the colum. I have to clutch this tractor to go from forward to reverse. This is a pain when stacking round bales or using the loader. It can still be done of course but it is slow.
They offered a shuttle for ~$1000 or 2 extra but I did not see the need when I bought it. That was a mistake.
I also would have gone with a 75 in hindsight. The extra 5 hp is not a big deal, but the larger hyrdo pump and associated flow rate would have been worth the extra money.
Also I would get the three remotes at the time of purchase. I added the third renote after the fact and the parts cost me what it would have cost to get them upfront installed. And the install is not a five min job.....
Third remote Install
If you run a loader and you also run something like a baler that needs a remote, you will want the third remote. Otherwise you need to disconnect all or part of the loader to run the baler.
Note that all my negatives revolve around a slight upgrade in the same NH line. Truth is I love these TNs. They are just great machines.
Fred