Let’s face it, nobody likes heaving lumps of timber around a site. It’s hard work, the health and safety people don’t like it, and it’s not actually making you any money. The buy something to do the heavy lifting for you, but which machine should you use?

Let’s have a look at their respective pros and cons…

Mini Skid Steers

Pros:

• Highly transportable – mini skid steers have small physical dimensions and are relatively light in weight (generally 0.75-1.5t). They can be towed by almost any vehicle and the smaller units will even fit in the back of a panel van!
• High power-to-weight ratio – mini skid steers generally have 60-100% more horsepower than excavators of a similar weight, which is ideal for power-hungry attachments like stump grinders and flail mowers.
• High lift capacity – mini skid steers can lift up to twice as much as excavators of a similar weight – brilliant for shifting those big lumps of timber around site!
• Easy to use – with basic controls and a hop-on, hop-off operator station, these units are easily mastered even by less experienced operators.

Cons:

• Limited lift height – mini skid-steers tend to have the lowest lift heights of the three options, which limits their utility when stacking or loading timber onto a truck.
• Heavy footprint – by definition, these machines skid when they steer, which can cause damage to sensitive surfaces such as lawns – occasionally requiring time-consuming solutions such as track mats.

Mini Articulated Loads (MALs)

Pros:

• High travel speed – up to 20mph in some cases! Perfect for physically larger projects such as pre-development site clearances where timber needs to be carried a long distance.
• High lift capacity – many mini articulated loaders can lift up to 80% of their own weight (2t+) which makes them the strongest in the compact equipment category!
• Good lift height – most brands provide the option of a telescopic boom, which is ideal for loading trucks and stacking timber.
• Light footprint – being articulated rather than skid-steer, these units cause only minimal damage to surfaces such as lawns.

Cons:

• Limited all-terrain ability – as they have wheels rather than tracks and a relatively high ground pressure, these loaders have a tendency to get stuck on softer sites. (This can, however be mitigated by track solutions such as those made by Moorend Ltd.)
• Limited manoeuvrability – while they do have a tight turning circle, articulated loaders are not able to turn on the spot, limiting their utility in tight spaces.
• Limited access – these loaders tend to be wider than mini skid-steer of a similar lift capacity, which prevents them accessing smaller suburban gardens.

Forestry-spec Mini Excavators (a.k.a ‘Arb diggers’)

Pros:

• Rotating cab and arm – deliver tremendous manoeuvrability, especially in tight spaces. Perfect for pick-and-place operations such as loading a chipper, stacking timber, tree shearing or cone splitting.
• Long reach – ideal where you need to reach over and around obstacles such as ditches and hedges (e.g. when tree shearing).
• Lower upfront cost – mini excavators are commonly available both new and second-hand, reducing upfront cost. Several companies even offer ‘arb digger conversion’ packages at a very reasonable price including forestry guarding, upgraded hydraulics etc.

Cons:

• High weight – arb diggers are heavy (particularly when equipped with additional guarding, hydraulics and attachments), meaning they can only be transported on specialist plant trailers.
• Limited lift capacity at full reach – diggers are designed as much to push down as lift up, meaning their lift capacity (particularly at full reach) is not nearly as good as a loader of similar weight.

Summary table

Scenarios

This is all very well, but what does it all mean in the real world?

A few scenarios are listed below, with our feelings on the suitability of the various machines in these roles…

So, which one should you go for?

At the end of the day, only you can make this decision, based on your knowledge of your needs.

If you need something compact, flexible and transportable, with a decent attachment powering ability – i.e. a good all-rounder – you can’t really go wrong with a mini skid-steer. These machines are understandably popular as the first unit that most tree surgeons buy.

If you’re regularly working on larger sites and a bit more travel speed and lift capacity, height and reach could be useful, mini articulated loaders are brilliant. While also popular as a ‘first unit’ option, they are also popular with larger companies, both as a sole materials handler or as a complement to larger machinery.

For good all-terrain ability, maximum manoeuvrability and repetitive handling tasks, an ‘arb digger’ should be your go-to. They are very popular with companies carrying out larger site clearances and regular vegetation management due to their good performance on tasks such as tree shearing and loading chippers.

To help with your final decision, why not make a tally over the course of a month of the number of jobs where each different type of machine would have been best?

The right type will become clear pretty quickly!

I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as we enjoyed writing it! For any thoughts, comments or questions, be free to drop us an email at [email protected] or reach out via phone on 0044 1202 517799.

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