It has already been mentioned that the option isn't available on the 354, so I guess you really don't have a choice if you stick with a Jinma. I have a Farmpro 2425 (Jinma 254) with standard trans and creeper. I've put about 70 hours on the tractor in the past 2 months. About 60 hours of that has been loader work. I should be done with the majority of the dirt moving project in another 2 or 3 weeks, so the lack of shuttle shift won't be too much of an inconvenience. If I did this much loader work on a continual basis, I would either trade for a shuttle shift or pay the extra $ for a tractor with a hydrostatic transmission. My biggest gripe with the standard transmission is the reverse speed. Sometimes I shift into high range when backing up, but my property has a lot of slope so this isn't always a smart thing to do. I also run into those situations where space becomes limited and high range is too fast and low range is too slow. I have a tiller that I use very infrequently. The creeper gearbox is nice for that application, but I could make multiple passes and live without it.
As others stated, whether or not you are happy with the standard trans all depends on the intended use of the tractor. For lots of loader work I think you should look at other transmission options (and possibly other makes of tractor), but for occasional loader use the standard trans is fine.
