Brands besides Case and CAT?
Well, there's green of course. It's what I used growing up working on grampa's 5000 acre farm back in the day. Back in the day being the operative phrase. One look at today's offerings and I was done with Deere.
There's orange. I drive past a seemingly thriving dealer every day to and from work. But I have not been keen on their products because of wimpy hydraulics and light weight. I'm sure the quality is second to none, and I may end up with one, but for now I drive by.
There's blue, but they're Case in a different color and they don't offer what I want. There's kinda, sorta Yanmar, but I've no interest in them. There's a joke of a Branson. His 1 acre lot is filled with rusting junk, literally rusting junk, and 3, sometimes 4, low end tractors.
There's Mahindra. The dealer is a small engine biz that took up tractors on the side. It shows. They don't know jack .... about their tractors, even though they have many of them on the lot and seem to sell. They want MSRP for everything. Cash will get you MUSA rebates (which you mail in yourself) and nothing else. Ahem. They can't even install a rear remote for you. God help you if you needed them to do drive train warranty work! They're fine if you need a lawn mower or weed whacker.
Of the larger Korean brands, LS and TYM dealers start at 150 miles away and are really small. Their long term prospects are poor. Kioti has three almost exactly equidistant from me 130-150 miles. I am quite interested in an NX4510 hst cab, but I have so far shelved them for the simple fact that they don't offer a fel third function of any kind, and seem incapable of keeping simple parts like rear remote valves available. They will probably be back on the list soon.
As for what I want: a solid CUT with hst and a cab. HST because of the amount of fel work I will be doing. Cab because of my allergies to grasses. Rotary cutting in an open station in June is a recipe for flirting with anaphylactic shock. I need a filtered space between me and grass pollen clouds.
On paper the Massey 1749 is exactly what I want. But apparently I'll not be able to see one without driving 1000 miles round trip at least, probably somewhere in CA. Dunno, maybe I'll just spring for the giant Farmall 75C and live with shuttle and spotty turkish quality.
This got long. But, hey, you asked.
