If you'd be happy with one that only does 3 to 3 1/2", the McKissic TPH-122 is a good one. I've had mine since about 2005. Have rotated the hammers twice, a piece of cake, and have had the chipper blade sharpened a number of times (take it to the local hardware store that sends it to a machine shop). Had to replace the one (out of 4) bearings, the only one not zerk lubed. Again, an easy job. It seems very light weight, and it is, but the hammer assembly is very heavy duty. Had a similar design Troy Bilt that did not have a good hammer design. The spacers would get all beat to ****. Hammer rotation was a 3 or 4 hour job vs. about 15 minutes on the Mac.
Pretty sure that MacKissic makes the equipment for DR.
I have the wallenstein 42. Have had no problems or had to rebuild or replace any part of it. To me that speaks volumes about its durability. I have had jams trying to put wood over 4" into it but that is my fault. It is easy to clear jams with two bolts at bottom of feed chute. After shutting down of course. Everything oosik said is true for me too. Hydraulic feed ? not needed.
One thing, if I put to many leafy branches in it will clog, easily remedied by going light with leaves and more with branches.
The Woodmaxx looks nice and it's good to see that it's made in New York. Let us know what the quality is like. I bought a Wallenstein and it's worked great for me. I'll take Canadian made over China made any day. I needed a relatively compact unit to fit well with my 2720 and my 24x24 garage and the BX42 was a great fit on both counts. It's nice being able to fold up the chute while it's in storage. I've used mechanical feed commercial units and they're great because you don't necessarily have to prune limbs before feeding them into the chute. That being said, the design of the Wallenstein chute and knives draws branches in anyway. Buy good quality and you'll always be happy with it, even if it costs you a few bucks.
