I had a C185 NH and it was a good machine and now I have a Deere 333e and it's absolutely a beast, I have got 700 hrs on it and have done nothing but regular maintenance.
Things I really like about Deere,
Cab is easy to get in and out of
Can lift the forks about 18" off of the ground and still get the door open
The ride control is awesome
Access to everything is very easy
The belly is really clean

Since you considering upgrading I strongly recommend tracks

 

.

The only thing I don't like about ours that is the same is I wish the door would go up like a excavator if it's a nice day or people are trying to help you do something with it

 

Bobcats are still pretty great in my books, but have definitely heard good things about the deeres too.

We run 3 bobcats, an s300 with 15000 hours, an s330 with 10000 and a new 850 with 1000. The 850 is the biggest they make right now, the extra lift height makes a big difference in loading the feed truck every day. They only offer it with electric joystick controls, not hydraulic valve hand controls/ conventional hand and foot style. Apparently the valve block would be so stiff for the large size that everyone's arms would be rubber bands after a while ......

The new series also has a bit better rad designs and the very newest (came out after we bought ours ) offer a reversible fan (finally!)

 

The new series also has a bit better rad designs and the very newest (came out after we bought ours ) offer a reversible fan (finally!)

My Deere has the reversing fan, I love it, wouldn't believe how much dirt gets in there until you see it reverse!

You were talking about controls, I don't know if others have this feature or not but I have mine optioned so I can do hand/foot, ISO or the style Case has. For the foot throttle when your not using hand/foot the right pedal can be used as the throttle and what's kinda neat about it is you can set the throttle and tip it backwards to slow the engine, that's really slick if your driving a ways.
It's also got a setup for the hand/foot guys that if you throttle up while using a function the engine with return to idle about 2 seconds after all valves center and as soon as you touch a control it speeds back up to your setting.

I'm glad your getting life like that out of your Bobcats, the service work I have done the them is a chore IMO, especially the ones with the alternate steering system, oh do I cringe when I see them

 

A foot throttle is a must. I used my neighbors Cat last fall while my bobcat was on the fritz, it still astonishes me how much more productive that feature made the machine over my old school BC.

 

Yeah, we've owned them all from new, put a minimum of 4-6 hrs a day on at least one of them, we will occasionally have all three working on something or other. The really high houred one we try to leave as semi retired, only use it a couple times a week....

The new joystick only one has "ISO" (my preference) or "H pattern" and a foot throttle, but we normally just leave everything wound right up all the time. What are the scenarios where the foot throttle comes in as more handy? Typical use at our place is hop in to the unit you left idling while you delivered a truck load of feed to a pen, rev it right up, mix up a batch of feed (5-10 minutes of running around scooping and loading), idle it down while you deliver the load, repeat, etc......

I guess we always figured in those situations, highway miles are "easier" on an engine than start and stop city driving? Not a perfect analogy, but we've been going with it. This is the first unit with a foot throttle for us though. Is it more common to wind it up to half and then pedal it up to full when necessary?

 

The new joystick only one has "ISO" (my preference) or "H pattern" and a foot throttle, but we normally just leave everything wound right up all the time. What are the scenarios where the foot throttle comes in as more handy? Typical use at our place is hop in to the unit you left idling while you delivered a truck load of feed to a pen, rev it right up, mix up a batch of feed (5-10 minutes of running around scooping and loading), idle it down while you deliver the load, repeat, etc......

I guess we always figured in those situations, highway miles are "easier" on an engine than start and stop city driving? Not a perfect analogy, but we've been going with it. This is the first unit with a foot throttle for us though. Is it more common to wind it up to half and then pedal it up to full when necessary?

I do mostly dirt work with mine, I rarely ever touch the throttle and just use the foot pedal. Basically just rev the engine as I need power and just run the joy sticks mostly wide open so when I need more speed I just give it some throttle.
My C185 was hand/foot so it is what I was accustomed to but when I got the hang of ISO and the foot throttle I have gotten alot more out of my fuel, with my 333e I am only burning about 2 gal per hour where as running it wide open all of the time I was burning almost double. My C185 I had running hard would soak out a tank of fuel in 4-5 hours running hard, the Deere holds about 2 gallon more and running hard I can make a 10 hour day. Mostly because of the foot throttle IMO

 

We run 6 skid's now. 4 bobcats and 2 mustang. We love the bobcats have a t320 s590 s175 and 753. Hoping to add another big track loader. We had a 250 Deere and weren't impressed although the newer ones are supposed to be better. I don't care what brand it is they all suck to work on

 

Take a look at Kubota if you have dealer close. I'd say they are easiest to service, nice wide cab with a handy door. That's probably the way I'll go after looking at them all. 2nd Bobcat, 3rd Deere

 

Well I watched some youtube videos that said Cat was the easiest to work on, can't imagine that guy that worked for a Cat dealer would lead me astray...

I actually am looking for a skidsteer too, won't get a pile of hours and needs to be able to safely lift 1000 liter totes. I got loaded the other day with a tote of DEF by a New Holland L225 and was fairly impressed. I had it in my head that tracks would be important but maybe they are just more maintenance??? The price on a brand new NH is pretty decent, although I don't see it justifying itself on a grain farm. Any opinions on the NH?

 

If I was just using it around the yard tires would be the way to go. That bieng said I don't think I'd go without tracks they are nice for what I do.
I know a couple guys that have a new holland and like them. But I think any machine would be good on a grain farm ease of getting in an out would be the big selling feature.

 

Tracks are great for traction and flotation. But expensive to maintain. Close to 6000 us dollars for tracks and rollers for our t320.

 

WHAT!! you got railed my friend!

I have done 3 sets of tracks and sprockets, got 13-1500 hours out of every set, the most expensive set was a set of Camoplast's (like on JCB and Volvo) that I hated for 3200$ with sprockets!

For ice I don't know why some guys hoot and hollar tires are better, I have not in a single situation found that to be true. But I have found there is some insane differences in tracks as far as ice especially goes, and also much easier on grass to. The best style that I have used is the Terex or ASV style, them are hands down the best style. They are incredible on ice, easy on grass and clean out by far the best in the mud, the other thing is since there is a bar at every chain link they don't vibrate 20% of the block style tracks.

As far as the undercarriage goes I ran a C185 to the high end of 4000 hours, replaced the tracks just before I sold it and the wheels were as good then as the day I bought it, never had a single failure.

 

Takeuchi!

 

Tracks are great when you need to level dirt or anything like that because they don't follow all the ruts so bad and level better, but are poor on ice for pliwing snow etc. I have had and ran a couple different brands, like the cat I have currently. The single arm JCB would be really handy with the side entry, often wish I could exit mine with arms up. Although the only jcb I have ran was a 190t which is early 2000's (same as our cat) it seemed very archaic compared to the cat. It was loud and the controls were slow, door was flimsy, looked hard to work on, single arm would be great but quality of machine was not there then. Can't say if they have improved or not. Our cat 246 is ample for farm needs, not too heavy to haul around, and been very reliable. We would have trouble being without one now, that's for sure.

 

The single arm JCB would be really handy with the side entry, often wish I could exit mine with arms up.

Great idea except the lift arm on a JCB starts to seep down as soon a you get out. Friend purchased a new JCB skidsteer with the the idea that he could leave the arm up and get out and the arm would stay up. They would not and JCB ended up saying that was just the way the machine was designed and built. The dealer took the machine back and he ended up getting a telehandler.

 

I have a 332E Deere. I'll try something else next time. The lift arm assembly was welded crooked at the factory, its off about 3/8" one corner of the bucket to the other. Deere said thats within our specs, so no warranty claim. It won't dig a straight hole.

Ride control is nice, you need that.

I have the switchable joysticks. I keep it on iso. That way the loader functions mimic my loader tractor, plus I can itch my nose while driving.

I drive with the foot throttle unless I have the Bobcat hydraulic mower on, then I set the throttle for max speed. For normal usage, I hold the joystick full forward all the time and regulate the speed with the foot throttle.

 

Have ASV tracks on our cat and pushing snow it powers out before it spins out most times. This is with a 8' snow pusher in front of it and you can move a lot of snow in a hurry with it especially in tight odd shaped yards.

I imagine tires would be better on ice if you had ice tires or put chains on.

 

This will be the first time on this machine. They aren't bad yet but the tracks will need to be done soon and it was about this time the last machines rollers started going. Dealer had a sale so figured might as well get the 10% off

 

JCB 330 here and after skfarmboy's comment, put 450 litre tote on forks and it dropped about a foot in an hour. Have no issue with this when operating, but feel it is more than what should be acceptable.