Bob_Skurka said:
What I am convinced of, is that the Power Trac design is probably more suitable and better for the vast majority of home-owner type property owners than any brand or style of conventional tractor under 35 horsepower. PT does fall short for farmer-type cropping activities. But PT is vastly superior for loader work, faster for mowing, better suited for using a PHD, snow blower and a host of other implements. It is probably not as good for box blade work, but if BB work is only 10% of your needs, then the PT is probably going to be 500% more productive and efficient in operation than a traditional CUT.
Again, Bob, that's a great "testimony" from someone who doesn't own one.
Those of us who have them are so crazy about them that we probably come across as very biased and people discount our views because of that...
The reality is that until you've spent a half hour or more in the seat of one, you can't appreciate it. (You need to spend enough time to start getting comfortable with their different controls, the difference that articulation makes, etc.) Once you get past that, you find that they are SOOOOOO MUCH faster to maneuver with than a traditional machine. You can literally run circles around a traditional tractor when doing loader work, for example. When mowing, the only thing that's faster is a ZTR -- and we're talking about driving 5-ft, 6-ft or even larger decks.
Then there's the easy change of implements, in comparison to other tractors. Since you can change implements so easily and quickly, you use the full variety of attachments you have much, much more than with a CUT/SCUT. You "attack" a job with several implements, not just trying to use the ones that are currently hooked up to your tractor. For example, if doing dirt work, I can change from a bucket to a boxblade to a power-angle snow/dirt blade to a landscape rake, and back to the bucket, all within a 5-minute timeframe if you want/need to. If one implement isn't producing the desired result, you can try another in less than 2 minutes -- without ever lifting, shoving or manhandling the implement. The most difficult thing you have to do to change implements is to connect/disconnect the hydraulic hoses (which have quick-connects) if that implement uses hydraulics. The quick-attach system changes the whole way you approach a task...
And like you said, all of them are up front with a virtually unobstructed view (no hood in the way) so you can really see what you're doing. Imagine your "bush-hog" in front, so you can see it all the time that you're manevering down a fence line, with articulated steering that'll let you precisely mow in under the fence and back out around the fence posts, and then back in, under the fence again.
Another attribute that's hard to describe is how precisely you can place an implement when you're using it. Since the implement is mounted out front on the end of the lift arms, just a slight articulation will swing that implement side-to-side a couple of feet -- either when sitting still or the tractor is moving. I can swing a boxblade side-to-side and position it as precisely as you can position a backhoe bucket on a CUT -- and I can do the same thing with a mower deck, or a post-hole-digger or any other implement.
Then there's the attachments that operate totally uniquely on PT, such as the minihoe. No, it doesn't swing side to side as far as a backhoe does, nor does it dig as deep. But, on the other hand because I don't have to dismount, turn a seat around and place my stabilizers in order to use it. I can grab a boulder, or a tree trunk or whatever and haul it and then place it precisely where I want it faster than you can prepare a traditional backhoe to even begin working. I can be back picking up the second one before they pick up the first one... Nor, does the minihoe operate the same on a PT as they do on a skidsteer, because I can articulate the PT and swing the minihoe 45-degrees in either direction (total of 90-degree swing). I don't have to drive somewhere to dump a bucket full of dirt... yet I can manever just as fast, more precisely and with a whole lot less damage to the grass or soil I'm working on.
Bottom line is that they're so different -- and faster, and better for most homeowner/property owner tasks -- that it's hard to describe. Power Trac should really use an "owner-referral" network so that people can more easily experience them firsthand. It would really open their eyes...
Again, thanks for the credibility you bring to the situation, Bob, with your totally objective, outsider's viewpoint...
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