Compact Excavators; Kubota KX series recomended?

[Dargo]

I bought a mini JCB and have not looked back once, do 3 times the work a BH can plus I'm not tying up my tractor. A neighbor bought a BH for his tractor{NH} paid allmost as much as I did for the used mini{400hrs still close enough to new}. Funny thing is he's allways borrowing a friends mini to do stump pulling etc. These mini's are becomming more and more popular and the amount of work one can do compared to a BH is well worth the investment.

As I was lamenting selling my Case 580 several years ago and looking to buy a similar sized backhoe and I had person after person tell me just what you said; for most tasks, the mini (or compact) excavator is much better than a backhoe. I found it hard to believe since they are physically so much smaller until I ran one. Dang, what great little machines they are! All of the local dealers around me who sell backhoes now stock one or two backhoes and a dozen or two compact excavators. Since I already have a utility sized tractor with an 84" skid steer bucket on it, I really didn't need to duplicate the FEL part. And, as you pointed out, a backhoe attachment for my utility tractor was going to cost me as much as a nice used mini excavator and I'll have the added bonus of not tying up my tractor!

I'll admit that I really, really liked the Kubota 121 machine but it was actually what I actually wanted and not really what I needed. As 'kthompson' pointed out, the Bobcat I bought is Kubota powered. Also, my local Bobcat dealer is also my local Kubota dealer. He has no real preference for either machine over the other. It ought to do what I want it to do anyway. Being that I keep all of my equipment inside and nice, I can't stand that it's got a case of the 'outside ugly' look to it. I've about got it apart enough to start getting it ready to paint. I figure another couple of weeks of working on it in the evenings and I'll have it the way I want it and will still only have about what a backhoe attachment for my tractor costs tied up in it.