Garry,
Of course you're not going to annoy anyone by picking the tractor that is best for you. Best for you isn't neccessarily the biggest, cheapest, friendliest dealer, or anything else that people want to find in purchasing a tractor. Honestly, I settled on the JD4300 after one year of shopping. I spent the next year trying to convince my wife that is wasn't too big. I never succeeded. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif I started talking Kubotas B series since they were smaller. She was convinced that JD was the only tractor brand for me, but I just just needed to pick a smaller one. I didn't care for the 4100, and smaller than that just wasn't a tractor to me. She really liked the JD X595 when it recently came out, but when I tractorized it, FEL & PTO, the price was over $16K. The local dealer, actually he owns the 3 closet JD dealers, said retail pricing only. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif So when I saw Kubota's rebates & financing, I went and got some prices. The B2410 was the same price as the X595, but with more capability. We test drove one and my wife found it acceptable, unfortunately I didn't. The operator station was too small for me. I started searching some more and discovered TBN. At the time I didn't know who were the members of the big three. I thought it might be MF or NH, but I wasn't really sure. I first checked out MF, even with generous discounts, the Masseys were a lot more expensive than the Kubotas. Both of the local MF dealers were so small, that they didn't have any CUTs for me to drive. After finding out that NH was the "other" member of the big three, I checked out a few dealers. The TC25D/29D looked and fit great, but it still was a big tractor. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I drove a 21D & 25D, not a big difference in the parking lot, but the 21D was a tighter fit. The seatbelt didn't even fit. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif At the next dealer, I took the wife and we looked at the 24D & 29D. The two tractors were side by side and the difference was quite noticeable. Now the difference really hit me, almost 50% more tractor by weight for less than 15% increase in price. Now I had my arguement, "honey it's a bargain." After reading a couple of TBN posts about the potential lack of power of the 29D on hills and the small price increase for the 33D. My land rises 60ft over a distance of 300ft, so plenty of power is a needed. My wife finally cracked: cost and the fact that it would fit in the shed won the day. /w3tcompact/icons/love.gif The fact that bnixon, Tractor Addict, & Fly Rodr bought TC33D's in the past week didn't have any influence on my purchase, but I think it's great that I have two fellow TBNer's to swap stories with as we and our new tractors grow old together. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif That doesn't mean I don't want to hear from TC18 or TC45 owners, or even JD & Kubota owners. So, this was pretty long winded, but basically I hope you pick the best tractor for you, red, green, blue, orange, yellow, new or used. I still think Kubota & JD make fine tractors, but NH was the best for me. If I ever get the chance to buy another tractor in my lifetime, I'll take a good look at all of the tractors out there. It's kind of hard to have brand loyalty if you only owned one tractor in your life. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif Best of luck to you, and let us know when the time is right for you.
Dave
Of course you're not going to annoy anyone by picking the tractor that is best for you. Best for you isn't neccessarily the biggest, cheapest, friendliest dealer, or anything else that people want to find in purchasing a tractor. Honestly, I settled on the JD4300 after one year of shopping. I spent the next year trying to convince my wife that is wasn't too big. I never succeeded. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif I started talking Kubotas B series since they were smaller. She was convinced that JD was the only tractor brand for me, but I just just needed to pick a smaller one. I didn't care for the 4100, and smaller than that just wasn't a tractor to me. She really liked the JD X595 when it recently came out, but when I tractorized it, FEL & PTO, the price was over $16K. The local dealer, actually he owns the 3 closet JD dealers, said retail pricing only. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif So when I saw Kubota's rebates & financing, I went and got some prices. The B2410 was the same price as the X595, but with more capability. We test drove one and my wife found it acceptable, unfortunately I didn't. The operator station was too small for me. I started searching some more and discovered TBN. At the time I didn't know who were the members of the big three. I thought it might be MF or NH, but I wasn't really sure. I first checked out MF, even with generous discounts, the Masseys were a lot more expensive than the Kubotas. Both of the local MF dealers were so small, that they didn't have any CUTs for me to drive. After finding out that NH was the "other" member of the big three, I checked out a few dealers. The TC25D/29D looked and fit great, but it still was a big tractor. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I drove a 21D & 25D, not a big difference in the parking lot, but the 21D was a tighter fit. The seatbelt didn't even fit. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif At the next dealer, I took the wife and we looked at the 24D & 29D. The two tractors were side by side and the difference was quite noticeable. Now the difference really hit me, almost 50% more tractor by weight for less than 15% increase in price. Now I had my arguement, "honey it's a bargain." After reading a couple of TBN posts about the potential lack of power of the 29D on hills and the small price increase for the 33D. My land rises 60ft over a distance of 300ft, so plenty of power is a needed. My wife finally cracked: cost and the fact that it would fit in the shed won the day. /w3tcompact/icons/love.gif The fact that bnixon, Tractor Addict, & Fly Rodr bought TC33D's in the past week didn't have any influence on my purchase, but I think it's great that I have two fellow TBNer's to swap stories with as we and our new tractors grow old together. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif That doesn't mean I don't want to hear from TC18 or TC45 owners, or even JD & Kubota owners. So, this was pretty long winded, but basically I hope you pick the best tractor for you, red, green, blue, orange, yellow, new or used. I still think Kubota & JD make fine tractors, but NH was the best for me. If I ever get the chance to buy another tractor in my lifetime, I'll take a good look at all of the tractors out there. It's kind of hard to have brand loyalty if you only owned one tractor in your life. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif Best of luck to you, and let us know when the time is right for you.
Dave
