Buying Advice Prices seem up for both new and used...

[Industrial Toys]

I know there have been issues on new machines. But it's the ten to fifteen year time span I would be worried about. Like has been said, they maybe ready for the scrap yard then as the cost to repair and troubleshoot them may be too expensive. And parts probably unavailable.

 

[prof fate]

Screwy govt...

Here in pa SOME counties need annual emmissions inspection (on a machine) and others do not (just a visual check).

If you drive less than 5k miles a year you are exempt - for emissions TEST, completely exempt. In a visual county, nope, all the 'crap' has to be on your vehicle.

SO - when I had a 90 wrangler with a small block chevy in it I was completely exempt as I drove it little in a county with emmissions. If I lived 5 miles north...another county w/o emmissions..the jeep would have been illegal to drive.

My F350 is registered at 10,500 lbs, $300/year for the lic plate, exempt dut to GVWR/registration.
I can register it at 9500lb for $240 and get emissions test which is about $60.

So in MY county you can remove your diesel, driver under 5k and be legal. Go north and no, you're not legal.

Logical? Nope.
But that's the gov't for ya

Prof, you may be on to something. I was around doing mechanical work on used cars in the 60s & 70s. and yes - we did remove a lot of emissions equipment. BTW, the gov't countered by requiring annual emissions inspections.... and so the wheel goes around.

But what I noticed at the time was that the original owners of emissions-equipped vehicles couldn't care less about emissions or the price of fuel. They simply did not notice. It was only when the cars hit the secondary market and became available to lower income second-hand car buyers that the things got innovative mechanically, electrically, and emission-wise.
Some of the innovation required a pretty high degree of sophistication from the second hand car owners & mechanics.

With any luck, perhaps that will happen again as the ultra-high tech cars and tractors may become quite attractive & affordable if only the electronics and emissions can be dealt with innovatively.

Like so much else, the answer is knowledge.
rScotty

 

[prof fate]

ATT in 1985 was on of the biggest companies in teh world, all kinds of expertise and experts. THeir predictions were cell phones weren't gonna be abig deal.
SO how could the smartest/richest company get is SOOOO wrong (over 100 fold wrong?). And that was BEFORE the iPhone exploded on the scene.

****, 25 years ago if ANYONE told you that half of everyone would spend $800 plus on a TELEPHONE, you'd have been dumbfounded. Yet we do...

Guy showed ia pic of NYC in 1902 - one car in the picture of a VERY crowded street. 1915, same street - ONE horse and lots of cars. We used horses for hundreds if not thousands of years - yet a complete transformation in about a decade.

30 years ago we went from records or tapes to CDs..now nobody under 20 even buys music, they subscribe.

Many things are now a subscription.

A car costs what, $400 a month payment? Gas another $200, insurance 100 more, plus maybe parking and maintenance. $700/month? Paid off it's still $300/month.

What if I could offer you a FAMILY subscription to uber rides for $499 a month? Oh, and your groceries will be delivered (a store is doing that now, $5.95), to go meals delivered (uber eats now)...

It's not a matter of IF or perhaps even PRICE - go to an urban area and look at zipcar and others - lots of scooters and bikes. Use your app / ATM card to unlock and use it.

Self driving cars...who cares? Think DAY TO DAY - you go to the store - dropped at the door and the car parks itself. picks you up at the door too. Nice idea, huh? No more hunting for a parking space- car can just circle the block if need be.

As soon as your friend has it you'll want it.

Maps? GONE. GPS units? GONE - my phone does it all. If I told in 20 years ago your phone would replace maps you'd have asked if I was drunk. Yet EVERYONE adopted this without a second thought, huh?

Alexa and such...just wait. They're Gen 1..like a flip phone was...

Of course nobody knows the future, but I kind of doubt that line of reasoning will prevail. The problem with that argument is that it assumes that people decide things for financial reasons alone. What I've noticed is that people tend to talk about doing things for economic reasons, but when it comes to actually deciding what to do they tend to decide things emotionally, not financially.

We sure do like our toys....
rScotty

 

[ultrarunner]

Many things are possible in urban cores and elsewhere money can be made...

Maybe the cities will once again be the draw and the Techno Peasants subjected to the hinterlands?

 

[Industrial Toys]

EVERYONE adopted it? I still use paper maps. I prefer them.

I only gave up a flip phone a little while ago, because it broke and only got a cell phone over my pager, maybe two years ago.

Generally speaking, I couldn't care less what the sheep are doing.

Maybe when you don't owe money and never have, you see things differently. You aren't on that hamster wheel.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... I have paper maps in all the cars and carried a pager for 22 years and it worked everywhere...

Then I was given a little Nokia for work... caused lots of grief as it often went to Voice Mail... where I live is a no coverage zone... after 6 years the sim went out and provider was unable to remedy...

New phone is a smart phone... I do like be able to take pictures for work... but there is no data plan so need wifi to send... it is OK but still coverage issues...

I like what works... see no need to change if what I have meets my needs.

 

[rScotty]

Yep... I have paper maps in all the cars and carried a pager for 22 years and it worked everywhere...

Then I was given a little Nokia for work... caused lots of grief as it often went to Voice Mail... where I live is a no coverage zone... after 6 years the sim went out and provider was unable to remedy...

New phone is a smart phone... I do like be able to take pictures for work... but there is no data plan so need wifi to send... it is OK but still coverage issues...

I like what works... see no need to change if what I have meets my needs.

You sure identified one of the big problems with cell phones: limited coverage. It has given the urban dwellers a much louder voice than before. Most of the rural West still has little or no cell phone coverage.

 

[Industrial Toys]

There are people that I simply don't stay in touch with anymore. Like a friend and neighbor from the city. He used to have a hard wired phone. If I saw they were up, I would call them, and most times they would answer, even if outside with a cordless. Now he cancelled his hard wired phone in favor of his cell phone. Nine out of ten times I get voice mail and when establishing a conversation, it is noisy, and often has echo.

I simply can't be bothered! OR have yet another thing frustrate me. If he is content with garbage communication, that's his business, but count me out. Same with a few others.

In fact, I still have two hard wired lines and excellent cell coverage. My cell long distance is flat rate, my landline long distance isn't. but if I deem a call important, I use the more expensive hard wired line.

 

[ultrarunner]

They have contacted a Dealer with Harvest Return 2018 L2501HST DT with 525 Loader

This is not a good week to tractor shop as a lot of people in Tractor Sales are simply away for the Holiday.

I think this would work for them as no plans to use a 6' Rotary Cutter and the lift capacity of the L I think is the same and the L2501 does not have Regen...

 

[prof fate]

B&W tv, hand crank start cars, phones attched to walls - all worked just fine.
Yet all are obsolete.

I suppose there are folks without central heating too, or electricity or indoor plumbing or still use a horse for transportation - I mean, besides the Amish (who often have cell phones these days BTW)

Yep... I have paper maps in all the cars and carried a pager for 22 years and it worked everywhere...

Then I was given a little Nokia for work... caused lots of grief as it often went to Voice Mail... where I live is a no coverage zone... after 6 years the sim went out and provider was unable to remedy...

New phone is a smart phone... I do like be able to take pictures for work... but there is no data plan so need wifi to send... it is OK but still coverage issues...

I like what works... see no need to change if what I have meets my needs.