# Making the plunge into the mini world



## mattg2448 (Jan 26, 2015)

After doing some work here and there, testing the water with the new business and looking at my business footprint financially, now and in the future. I am making the plunge into the mini world. I took some time off work to look at a few machines that I am looking at buying and a few that I will possibly lease in the future. 

Cat 305E2, coming into this I really didn't think I would be impressed as a few years ago we rented a mini for a project and it was gutless. After hopping in this machine I was blown away. The breakout force the little machine had was very impressive, and to top it with full cabbed comfort along with smooth controls that felt close to pulling grade with a 200 sized excavator. Had a nice compact footprint, especially with the 0-tail swing, but had the ability to load a 7 yard truck that we have access to.

Cat 289D CTL - While I was at the cat dealer I wanted to try out a track loader for possibly future addition if the mini would work out okay. Upon testing I wasn't really blown away, it had good power, the controls are attached to the air seat so you do get a little more precision, travel speed was awesome, fast. Cab was again top notch but the controls felt very laggy, it seemed that it was hard to control the precision of movement with the joysticks compared to competitors controls. Good machine, just not blown away. 

John Deere 50G - good little machine, cab was set up very nicely, comfortable, roomy. Only complaint is it was under powered compared to the 305, and I didn't like the placement of the offset boom switch. The cat had a rocker on the joystick for the offset boom where the deere had a foot pedal, not a big issue but definitely something that I noticed. Seemed like the same sleek design, great access to valves and engine compartment, seemed a little lighter duty built than the 305, but honestly wasn't a bad choice. If it's 10k less than a 305 it would make it very compareable. 


I'm still looking at more machines, specifically zero swing machines, kubota, takeuchi, and maybe volvo, but dealer support isn't strong in my region. Another benefit for me is that I can work my 5 day a week job and still make the monthly payment if I couldn't round up work, but hopefully that won't be the case but I am trying to set up for the best protection on my investment and business.


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## mattg2448 (Jan 26, 2015)

Here's the 305e2


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## mattg2448 (Jan 26, 2015)

And the deere


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## peteo (Jan 8, 2011)

If you have a kubota dealer near you try them out. Top notch machine and imo I think they build the best mini on the market


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## jhark123 (Aug 26, 2008)

I love my Kubota u45, it has a higher dump height than the 305e, which is important to me when working out of the back of a truck.


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## Mort (Jul 18, 2012)

We have a 305E CR and in our 3 man crew it is used almost every day for anything you ask of it. Only thing we wanted but couldn't have was a 6-way blade. 

Now that we got a big trackhoe with a blade and clean out bucket it'll probably be used less, but it's still indispensable.


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## mattg2448 (Jan 26, 2015)

I am definitely looking into the new kubotas, we got a good dealer in town. My only thing is that the new cats come with theft protection and GPS tracking and online maintenence


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## jaydee (Mar 20, 2014)

I **** the Kubota u45 or u17 both are decent machines, 
I've rented both.
would like to get the u17


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