Richard - Ok, so now I know of one person who switched from HST to gear. I'm happy to take your word for it. As for the rest, I have to disagree.
I believe gear tractors are the way to go for straight farming applications, for a variety of reasons, which have been discussed here repeatedly and at length. Except for this application, I don't think a case can really be made for gear transmissions, other than preference, which is always anyone's right. But it's important that we understand our decision is based on preference, not objective information, when that's the case, especially if we're going to recommend our preference to others who believe that our greater experience makes us reliable guides.
It's the assertion that HST transmissions are for beginners and that "really experienced" users prefer gears that is the most misleading and damaging part of your post, from my experience. I'm not questioning your motives, but this type of argument is a subtle form of belittling that results in people making decisions for emotional reasons, never a good idea when picking out powered machinery. No one wants to appear "inexperienced" or to be called a "beginner" (at least for very long) - it would be a very sad thing for a person to pick a machine less suited to his needs because of non-rational arguments like these, wouldn't you agree? And all the more especially so when it's patently untrue.
As I've repeatedly said, I've got lots of experience on all kinds of equipment. If fact, if I use an HST tractor another couple thousand hours, I'll still probably have more experience on gear tractors than HST. If I wanted to demonstrate to anyone how safely or quickly I can do a job, I'd pick the HST every single time, even though I'm far more experienced on non-HST machines. I also believe I'm a very capable operator on either type of equipment. The reason I use the HST is because it allows safer and quicker operation in a far greater range of jobs, and I do have sufficient experience with both types of equipment to make that evaluation. I realize I'm repeating myself, but I'm not a beginner, nor am I an inexperienced operator - so clearly your assertion can not be true. I'm not questioning your motives, or experience, either, for that matter, but to say that anybody can be faster on a gear machine than an HST is misleading, at best. It simply ignores the mechanics of what the operator has to do to operate the machine. Maybe the experienced operator doesn't "think about it", but not thinking about it doesn't change what he has to do. To say that an experienced operator is just as safe on a gear tractor as he would be on an HST machine is also to ignore the physics of the situations. The only way either of those statements will ever be true is if the operator biases the comparisons deliberately because he wants the gear tractor to be superior. I don't have a problem with anybody liking a gear machine better. I love shifting gears myself. Everything I own, as I've repeatedly said, has a manual transmission, except my tractor.
For that matter, I've never said everyone should own an HST. I've never even said that someone who owns a gear tractor should buy an HST - only that, if you're looking at buying, you should consider it. If you like gears, then by all means, drive a gear tractor. But, please don't let your lack of objectivity on the subject cause you to make assertions without basis. Again, gear tractors can not be as fast to operate as HST ones. Gear tractors can not be as safe. It makes no difference how much experience you have, nor does it matter how fast your reflexes are - the best you can do is minimze the differences, but you can never eliminate them.
Now, as I said, there are applications where gear transmissions excel over HST models. But if you're using a CUT for one of those applications, you're probably using the wrong machine for the job to start with.
Please don't take this personally - I'm not criticizing your choice of machines. But it's important that we correctly identify why we think a choice is the best one before we recommend it to others. Contrary to your post, beginners do not buy HST tractors, then "graduate" to gear models once they gain some experience. The greater likelihood, though not always, as you have proven, is that it's the other way around, and for very practical, logical, reasonable, identifiable, and demonstrable reasons.
