Nova BCRM175 Ditch Bank Mower - 60 day review

[workinonit]

Buy Italian, cry once. Or get a good deal on one so you don't have to cry.

 

[DieselBound]

Buy Italian, cry once. Or get a good deal on one so you don't have to cry.

I'm almost done crying: I have a degree of confidence that in the longer-run the value of my Nova flail will prove itself; so far I feel I DID get a good deal. One can even get an Italian one/product that has issues: NO factory is capable of 100% QA. Money I "saved" has been used to repair older, quality, equipment (Bush Hog, LandPride): we'll see how well the Nova stuff ages.

 

[workinonit]

I looked at quite a few of the Chinese brands and was ready to pull the trigger when I found the one I ended up buying sitting on my JD dealer's lot. I got it for less than half price because they had it for almost 5 years but it had never been sold. After using it I'm so glad I didn't buy anything else. It's quite a machine.

 

[DieselBound]

I bought something that sat for several years and regretted it. It was a Polaris Brutus [UTV]. Has a leaking rear main seal (I believe): not worth the hassle of fixing: saving grace is that it's a hydrostatic trans and there's no concern over drive drain components being compromised by a leaking rear main, such as what one would see with any sort of clutch coupled transmission. OK, I've just accepted it: other than this issue it's done everything that's asked of it- it's been worked hard like everything I have. My point is that things can be compromised from sitting.

One can get less-than-steller equipment from any country. I've got "Proudly Made in the USA" stuff that isn't much better than anything made anywhere else. Japanese cars were once a laughingstock: I remember joining in with a couple of brothers to pick up an early "Honda Car," one with s gear shift on the dash. Some name-brands turn to crap.

 

[Jack Yuan]

Jack, as I've noted to you (privately), the factory needs to step up its game vis a vis QA. I've found loose bolts ([either properly tighten then at the factory OR advise all purchasers to go over and tighten/check EVERYTHING BEFORE initial use] which could have resulted in major failure of the rotor) and a stripped drain plug* (also a minor issue with a keeper pin, an issue that I see isn't unique to my flail): the later isn't catastrophic, but it's caused me an annoyance (and I have been too busy to track down a replacement plug- I also worry that the female threads in the tube might be compromised, in which case I will be looking to try and chase the threads first).

* Upon delivery I failed to go with my instincts that the sealer around the plug was a factory hack job (you said all of them have sealer; the pictures on your website show otherwise- also, no mention of this need in the manual).

I decided to post this publicly because I wish for your company to succeed, I believe that fundamentally you have decent products (but without improvement your sales are going to struggle). I also want this to be a heads-up to others who have just purchased your flails (and other products?): again, I cannot stress this enough: had I not been paying close attention and catching when the rotor bolts broke I would likely have had to have obtained an entire new rotor [and all the work in replacing it]).

I've been in manufacturing (a company that produced world-leading products [read: "the best"]). Getting feedback AND acting on it is what makes a good company a great one. Roller coasters are for amusement.

Thank you, welcome to contact with us if your mower get problem in future, we always supply support.

 

[DieselBound]

Thank you, welcome to contact with us if your mower get problem in future, we always supply support.

Yes, you do, and I have. But, my point is, is that there needs to be a focus on QA: it's far more costly to deal with things once they're out of the engineering phase. Again, I'm trying to HELP: I've provide a lot of feedback (privately), with the hopes of it being useful; I wouldn't bother if I believed that you folks didn't care about improving.