Has anyone noticed the flood in market of Chinese mini excavators?

[WhitePineJunky]

They are popping up everywhere seems every odd joe has one, they run for about 8-10k CDN. I avoid made in China when I can but I can't help but wonder if it would be good to have for picking up logs firewood etc, basically a toy but something that could be a back saver for around the property. They come with 12-15hp engines  

What does the FF think of these things? Any experience 

[TreefarmerNN]

No experience but I'd rather spend the money to rent/lease a good machine than have something I'll have a hard time repairing when it breaks.  Notice I said when it breaks, not if.

[WhitePineJunky]

No experience but I'd rather spend the money to rent/lease a good machine than have something I'll have a hard time repairing when it breaks.  Notice I said when it breaks, not if.

Yeah I was looking for old backhoes (only ones I can afford) when I notice these excavators everywhere

I do plan to rent a 20T excavator soon

[Resonator]

Literally boat loads (thousands) of these have come in from overseas, and then are sold be at big auction lots. They've trickled down the market, and come up for resale. No dealer support, "run it till it blows" disposable thinking.
Never run one, but from what I've seen on you tube looks pretty dangerous. The hydraulics are way stronger than the weight of the machine, so if you hook on to something too solid you risk going flying like a bull rider.

[WhitePineJunky]

Literally boat loads (thousands) of these have come in from overseas, and then are sold be at big auction lots. They've trickled down the market, and come up for resale. No dealer support, "run it till it blows" disposable thinking.
Never run one, but from what I've seen on you tube looks pretty dangerous. The hydraulics are way stronger than the weight of the machine, so if you hook on to something too solid you risk going flying like a bull rider.

I did hear they were very jerky and hard to learn on

You're right on boatloads of them they are everywhere, I see them all around the neighbourhood people doing small landscaping jobs with them. 

[GRANITEstateMP]

I saw one on Craigslist that someone had painted Kubota orange.  I was just looking at pis, and it didn't have any decals.  I clicked on the tab, and looked a bit harder, had very "kluncky" body/cab lines, it was pretty ugly.  The guy had hung an aftermarket heater/ac unit off the back of the cab.  He was asking $40k machine and a not great dump trailer!  Hard Pass.  Equipment breaks, repair/dealer/parts support are all important parts of any major equipment purchase

[WhitePineJunky]

I saw one on Craigslist that someone had painted Kubota orange.  I was just looking at pis, and it didn't have any decals.  I clicked on the tab, and looked a bit harder, had very "kluncky" body/cab lines, it was pretty ugly.  The guy had hung an aftermarket heater/ac unit off the back of the cab.  He was asking $40k machine and a not great dump trailer!  Hard Pass.  Equipment breaks, repair/dealer/parts support are all important parts of any major equipment purchase

With it being made in China I don't think cheap parts would be hard to find. Only a 13.5 Hp engine as well one of those lifan engines probably but point taken. There's no mistaking a China excavator for a kubota the China hoes really are cheap finicky looking

[SawyerTed]

Against my advice my son bought one.  After seeing one, I don't even want to get on it. 

It's a 23 hp B&S powered hydraulic shovel.  Not very powerful, not very smooth and very touchy controls make it unpleasant to operate.  It's light at 2,000 pounds so log handling and lifting is limited.  I'm not particularly impressed. 

It will dig trenches for water or electrical lines, dig footings maybe and certainly will dig holes for shrubs and small trees. 

I tried to get him to buy a compact TBL (Kubota or Mahindra)  or used standard backhoe. 

There are some that are Yanmar or Kubota powered that appear to be better heavier machines. 

[rusticretreater]

Apparently they started ramping up on building these when covid hit and prices for everything went through the roof.  Most folks don't know that there was a huge backlog at the Panama Canal on equipment getting through(not enough rainfall to keep water levels up) and then the disaster in Baltimore backing things up even more.  So instead of a steady supply, there is now a glut on the market.

Auction companies are buying containers full of these things and trying to dump them for a profit.  I saw one up close and told my friend it was "a harbor freight special".

[Resonator]

The guy had hung an aftermarket heater/ac unit off the back of the cab. 

They have ones they sell at auction already set up with an ac unit, that's half again as big as the cab.

[GRANITEstateMP]

rustic,

Maybe it was a "factory" option on the one I saw.  When I looked at it, I the term HACK came to mind.  Actually, my thought was "man, I hope they didn't buy that heat/ac unit from the same manufacturer that made that clunky looking mini". 

I have seen that most " farm" type auctions have a bunch of lots of Chinese crap listed.  I haven't made it to an auction in a while, be interesting to see if they sell, or end up just about giving it away?

SawyerTed,  I have made a few purchases that my parents tried talking me out of...I am batting about .350 on should'a listened!

[Big_eddy]

Every big online auction house around here has a few in each auction. They seem to go from $3500-$6k, depending on the auction. They also offer a similar qty of walk behind mini skid loaders. This week, our closest auction house has a bunch of electric side by side UTVs listed. In stuck one in my watch list just to see what they go for. Same or even bigger support concerns on those. Batteries, chargers and electric motors, oh my!

[Ed_K]

 Your right, jumpy, over on hydraulic power, better wear the seat belt it will throw you into the stick. I bought one for $3200. it has a 15 hp briggs and stratton motor, weights 2200 lbs, come with a grapple but no piston to run it tho it has the line to hook it up. It will dig 7' deep and as someone said good for elec/water lines, holes for footings and bushes. Only problem I've had, I left the key on and drained the battery, but take of the back plate off, grab the pull cord and start it up anyway. From what I've seen so far, anything that fails will be easy to fix, the tracks will be the only thing that will be hard to replace.

[beenthere]

Andrew Camarata picked one up, but think he actually may have tried several. Looks like it beats a shovel by hand. Depends on the job and expectations, and how well the back is holding up. 

 

[hardtailjohn]

I was looking at a government surplus auction the other day and they had probably 50 of them, all still wrapped and new. I figured they'd beat the heck out of a shovel, but after that video above, I sure appreciate the Volvo ECR88 we bought!!!
John

[Resonator]

I saw in a recent video Andrew sold the cheap mini ex. He said the guy that bought it was getting it for his kid, as his first excavator to run.