The Coolest Equipment at CONEXPO... and the truth Influencers Won't Tell You

All right, guys. In a minute, we're going to start looking at the coolest tools of Well, actually, coolest equipment today of ConExpo. But, you're not going to make you're probably going to wonder why some of the equipment you would think would be in the video isn't in there. And I'm going to cover that with another influencer before we dive into the equipment right out of the gate, just so you guys have a full understanding of what's going on behind the scenes with a lot of these heavy equipment influencers on YouTube. So, without wasting more time, let's just dive right into this one and get into it. All right, guys. I'm with Mark with Homestead Garage. We're going to go grab a bite to eat. But, the thing I want to talk to you about is not what you see in our videos, but what you don't see and why. Because you experienced today some of the same things that I've experienced in the past. I call it gatekeeping or message manipulation and message control. Yes. So, some of the companies that you won't see in our video when we go into the booth to try to get information, want to control the narrative. They want to control what we say, how we say, and when we say it. >> And what we show on a video, down to what, you know, if there's somebody that has like their hat on wrong or their glasses on they don't want to show, they want to change your video or just the message itself, man. So, some of the big companies like Caterpillar has worse They have their their whole slew of influencers that are bought and paid for, or they're getting free free trips, uh free perks, free things like that. And these guys are not disclosing the the freebies that they're getting. Volvo is the same thing. >> Yeah. Just look in the background of their video. If you see somebody running all one brand, that's a very good indicator and that's all they do is they brag about that, that's a very good indicator that maybe something's up and they're not actually disclosing what's happening. And there's like and they're going to push a preferential product directly on you, which is pretty much selling their own soul when it comes to these products, man. They're going to push it, push it, push it and then you see them getting a delivery with three different machines on their property. It's like, "How did they get that?" You know? >> Right. So, it's something that constantly you're going to come across when you see watch some of these videos. It's going to be like, "Why are they only pushing these big corporate conglomerates? Why aren't they focusing on the little guy?" You know? But you experienced it today where I experienced it with them where I go in, I wait, and before I can even film something, they'll come out and say, "No, no, no, we don't want to film anything." And it's just like, "What? And you're just like, >> happened It's countless times. Equip Expo with Cat, Caterpillar at CES did it to me as well. I've had it happen with a bunch of other brands, too, but by far I've had the worst experience with Cat, man. It's like, you know, it's like, you know, I just want to you to talk about your own product with your people and they don't even want to give me that time, you know? Agreed. I absolutely agree with Mark on this one. A lot of these big corporations have their sphere of influencers where they can control the messaging that you guys get to hear through the influencer. But let's dive back into this. Oh, before I do that, the one thing I do want to also say is there's a reason why you don't see me running any one brand and that reason is simply because if I have brand loyalty, then I'm not giving you guys enough information to make the right decision for yourself. So, I run all these different brands and if I was just doing this for myself and I wasn't on social media, I would stick with one brand, one service branch, and I would just run one brand. But, because I need to be able to be unbiased and bring you guys enough information to make the right decision for yourself, and that may be outside of any one specific colored piece of equipment, I've got to run everything so to be able to show you guys all of the options that are out there. But, let's dive back into this with Mark and see what else he has to say. Oh, and Cat has never been bad to me. They've always been They've always been very courteous. And in fact, I love the Cat service department at my local Zieglers. Those guys were phenomenal when I had any problem, they'd get me back up and running slickety-split. They were awesome. But, let's hear what Mark's got to say. Absolutely agreed. And you may see that in a video where you'd see me going, "All right, we we're going to talk to somebody, but I guess we're not." And I'll still try to walk around. And the reason I always try to to talk to somebody is I've seen other content creators put the message out there, and it's so inaccurate. It is so far off from being what the the actual reality of that product is that it's just like, "No." I've always preferred to talk to someone where I can question the narrative and I can ask them, but I've learned that if the corporation does not have control of that narrative, a lot of times they'll shut you down and not even want you to film. >> Yeah. Yeah, they ask to review your your content before you release it, and they'll start asking you all that stuff, and it's like, you know, we're freelancers. We go to these things paid by ourselves, you know? We try to find I try to find sponsors for some videos to but it's a product that I like and it's something that I found interesting on to it, you know? And that's something that my my the people who view my channel would want to see if they were going to this event, and I think that's important. >> I always like trying to find the small family-run businesses that that they don't have a marketing budget, but you know they got something cool and they they poured their heart and soul into this thing. That's the ones that I love working with and you do, too. >> Yeah, yeah. For me, it's it's the best, you know, finding those guys that don't have the budget like the big corporation. And the second you take their product and you put it on like number one and they get like 500,000 views on it and their sales go berserk is kind of the part that I get a blessing out of. Yeah. That's why I'm in it, you know, to cover those guys. And if I have to, you know, find a cool product from somebody new that has like an EV from a big corporation, that's cool because I thought it was cool, you know, so I'm not I'm not going to I don't want to sell myself out, you know, but if I do, if I ever have to get a sponsorship, I'm going to make sure it's clear as day that if I don't like it, Ding. if there's a problem with it, forget it. I will not push a product that doesn't work. Now, he's got his own video out there at Homestead Garage on ConExpo, so you can go check out Mark's channel and uh remember, not just look at what we film, but also who we don't film and start to wonder why and then question the narrative when you see other people exclusively showing their content. They may not be saying why they're doing that. So, I want you guys just to put this on your radar screen and if any of this rings true, if anybody pops up in your head, I'd love to hear what you guys think in the comments >> down below, but Time to eat some all-you-can-eat barbecue and sushi. It's an amazing place, man. I got to tell you what, this is good stuff. All right. I'd love to interview someone from Komatsu, but I was just told they don't want to shoot any content. So, we're looking at the Komatsu 175AX and let's just walk around it. We can obviously read the signs. They have a A improvement in fuel efficiency for lower TCL. 28% decrease in maintenance costs with cost with extended intervals. Easy service access maintenance points. 25% increase in productivity with an all new powertrain. So, we're just going to walk around and look at some of the signs. Three times I've tried filming for Komatsu on three different occasions and every time I've gotten a bad taste in my mouth and today was no different. I had a product rep ready to go for this dozer and he was pumped, so excited. He's like, "I could talk about the new changes on this machine for 3 hours." But we had to wait for the the higher-ups to give the okay, the blessing to be able to do this. And after waiting and waiting and waiting, they came back and said, "No, we don't want to film anything." He looked absolutely as confused as I did, but then after realizing that this was not the first time I've tried to film something for them and walked away without showing you guys anything, yeah, there may be some sense to it after all. >> Um guys, I'm with Mike Fitz. Mike Fitz Gerald, better known as Fitz. Fitz. Okay. And now Bobcat has two different loaders, but categories, explain it to me, will you, Fitz? Two different lineups of loaders. So, we've got our the over here we have the pro, which has uh more features and more things for the operator. On the other pedestal around the riser there, we have our classic machine. Can we Can we go look at the pro so we can see the two the differences between them? Sure. How about How about if we start with the classic first? That machine's been around longer. Okay. >> So. Okay. So, this is something that most guys are absolutely familiar with if they run a Bobcat, right? Correct. The S770 has been around for a long time as have the other classic machines. And what we have there is a classic Bobcat controls. You can have hand and foot pedals for hydraulic controls or joysticks, but we're upgrading the machine to have a better operator experience. So, you've got a high back seat that is more comfortable, and then we're enhancing the electronics so that we can have an integrated rear-view camera that that doesn't take a second screen. Again, that the electronics need to be updated to make that work. So, we're giving improvements where it needs to be, but we're keeping the design and the the overall aspect of the machine the same and giving it that's a a machine. If you want a more basic machine, you know, it's cost-effective and the right price, then you're going to be on the classic side. Okay. And then now we've got the pro model. So, let's look at it. Now, this has the forestry package on it, looks like to me. Yeah, this has what we call a land management package on it. So, it's got the the forestry cutter on the front. You've got the fops uh canopy at the top, forestry going in the front along with other features that go in that land management package. So, >> Okay. But now, the pro series won't all come with a land management. I just want to be very clear. I just want to define that when the audience looks at this, this is not standard equipment equipped onto the pro series. This is the pro series with the land manage management package. Correct? So, let's look at what would be the standard equipment on the pro series. So, standard on the pro, you're we we're looking at that where it adapts to the contractor there the operator that's in the machine. We have four different modes of operating it now. We've got We used to have three levels, went to four so we could start with a very soft and balanced type operating mode where you're in you you're in a tight area, want to make sure you're everything's smooth when you're operating it. We can step that up a couple different steps to go to the top. We call it a charge mode where if you own an open area, you want to get material moved, you can get in and just make that happen and make the machine run much faster, quicker, and more reactive. So, that's one of the big things that's on the Pro Series adapting on the machine. We also have on this one you can see there's cameras on the side. This has 360° camera capabilities on this particular loader. That's an option as you go up. It also has in that a people detection feature. So, the cameras are set where if you see a person There's a person in the screen, it'll actually highlight them and give you a warning in the in the inside the machine to let you know that that's there. So, Have they done Have they done anything with the engine bay to to make maintenance easier on these, or tell me about that? Maintenance is the same as our regular machines. We do protect it better with this guard on the back. Again, that's part of the land management package. But, otherwise, basic maintenance is simple. You got filter here for fuel filter, air filter, your DEF fluid fill. Very easy to get at. Fuel fill in the back of the the machine. Okay. What else should we know about the upgrades to the Pro Series? And we know all Pro Series will now have a dash two behind it to let the world know that this is a Pro Level machine. Correct. The other thing that we've got is Job Site Companion in this loader as an option here again when you get to the top level of machine, we can put Job Site Companion in. And that system is where you've got capability of pressing a button on the joystick handle and telling the machine what you want. You can turn on the lights. You can turn on the windshield wipers. You can have it state change speed management settings, and you can put in I'm running a certain attachment. >> But that Job Site that that also has a job clock, a job costing clock. Yep. It has that job costing in there. So, >> the most important thing for owner operators to get dialed in because job costing is the difference between profit or loss on a project. And one of the things that most owner-operators fail to do adequately and when they get that dialed in, everything else tends to fall in line because it allows them to take the information from one job and move it to another job and improve their bidding process which is where money is either made or lost. Correct. You can adapt and change that depending on what you're up to with and you can change it depending on what your your where your costs are changing. If fuel prices change, you can change that in the system and and update it. So, we have a display stand over here that gives you an example of what you'll see in the inside the cab. So, we can sneak in here. So, this is your this is your AI system. Well, this is the display that you'll have in the machine. The AI system or what we look at for the home screen here, if we press the microphone button and say turn on lights, the system looks at that. And it's not reading right now. So, it must be too much side noise. >> But you can turn on lights, you can check when the last time the filters were changed. There's a lot of different functions with that. So, that's those are all of the new things and the differences between the Pro Series and the and the other series. The Classic. Correct. So, there's a lot of features on the Pro Series again for the operator, for the information that's available here. Again, because this machine has the capabilities to have that in there. On the Classic machines, there's not as many electronic features in there because that machine was designed previously to what this uh Do you have birds in here, Fitz? Uh we do not have birds in here, but we have a nice background on the screen and there would be birds in the woods. So, we have that feeding in the background. Birds or not, but that's good. Thank you, Fitz. Appreciate it. >> All right. >> you guys. That's new by Bobcat. Let's keep this show rolling. All right, guys. Bobcat, I've owned I think 27 different Bobcat models. They I call them the McDonald's of skid loaders because there's just it's so plug-and-play parts availability. Your uptime, you just keep going and going and going. So, remember all machines break. So, make sure that whatever machine you buy, I don't care what color it is, what brand it is, that you have the best service possible. Now, next up we're going into the Kubota booth, and Kubota does have a sphere of influencers they work with. None of them make any sense to me because as I look at the influencers that they've chosen to work with, none of them have very much practical experience in any of the equipment that they're supposedly representing. I am not one of those influencers. I do not represent Kubota, but I own a ton of Kubota equipment, and I freaking love my Kubota equipment. I've got a Kubota loader. I've got a Kubota skid steer. I've got a another Kubota loader. I've got a Kubota excavator. And I would normally not buy that much Kubota if it wasn't that freaking good. And now they've got a brand new skid loader, and I I'm looking at this thing, and I'm like wiping the drool off my chin. But let's just check this one out. So, I'm going on record, you guys. I'm in the I'm in the Kubota booth. And um my two favorite skid loaders of all time is the ASV RT75, and my Kubota 97 97-2. And now you have a 110-3. >> We do. >> The numbers keep getting bigger. Does that mean the machine keeps getting better? It means the machine's getting bigger. Better performance, better horsepower on this one. Guys, this is Anna. Anna, walk me through this, will you? Yeah, so we use the same size frame from our 97-3. We leveraged the frame, but gave you more power, more performance. So, it's a 112.7 gross horsepower engine, 45 gallon per minute auxiliary flow, and a 3,700 rated operating capacity. So this is the same size is this the same size frame as a 97-2 which I was what I'm familiar with. >> So is the dash three bigger than the dash two? They're comparable size-wise. There might be a little bit difference in your overall lift height but this one's going to be compared to that 97-3. Okay. Which the 97-3 the horsepower to weight ratio on that machine is a monster. It is an insane and so now you've pumped more horsepower >> into the same size frame. >> into the same size frame which means every time a guy runs it their testosterone level jumps a point or two. Is that right? I can't answer that question for you. Trust me it does cuz that's that's the machine the machine I have a love affair with my 97-2. Let's walk around this thing point out what I need to know about it Anna. So the other big things on this machine first off is going to be overall maintenance. So on this unit we have a tool-less swing out radiator meaning that all you have to do is lift this latch pull the handle and that whole radiator is going to swing out and give you access to those everyday maintenance points on that machine. >> Look at the access on that. What do you boys think? Good access. >> Yeah. Additionally this machine if we keep walking around it here it's going to have a creep mode so meaning that you can set your speed from one to 50 and kind of forget it so it's going to be great for trenching. >> One to 50 is your range. Oh but not so it's not based on a >> That's not miles per hour so Right right right right. One is going to be a literal crawl and 50 is going to be the top end of your first travel speed. >> Which is what? 4. No 5.4. What's your second travel speed? Uh that one I don't have off the top of my head for you. Okay. But so the creep mode is going to be the first time on a foot and a half loader so you can set that speed you can forget it. We also have what we call an auxiliary performance system on this machine so when you're running an attachment as soon as you hit that 2300 RPM it's going to keep you there and then it's going to transition power between your attachment and your tracks. So say you're mulching with something like this and you're going into that tree, you'll have more power to the attachment than the track. But the minute you pull back to start moving, it's going to give you more power to those tracks. Ugh, that is awesome. That's an ugh in the best possible way you can ugh [clears…