I have no reason to switch from Bandit 250xp's Been running since 1999 and have had very little problems throughout the years. I trade them in when they reach about 4,000hrs. Very satisfied with Bandit's quality.
Best 12" chipper on the market
- Thread starter a_lopa
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CoreyTMorine
User Formerly known as BlueSpruce
I bought a Twister 12 from Morbark last year and I’m very happy with it. The feed system is voracious, oversized top wheel just walks up onto 7 or 8 inch material no problem, and if something wont go through the wheels keep grinding away removing material, about 50% of the time it will go through. The auto feed works great, the guys just keep throwing stuff in and the chipper eats it. You do have to be careful with 8”+ rounds, if the feed rollers snap shut at the end they will push too much material into the drum, sometimes it will stall, but the live hydraulics make the occasional stall An easy fix.
The Twister comes standard with all the goodies that bandit wanted to charge me for; auto feed, centrifugal pre-filter, up down pressure on the feed wheels etc. Total price difference is about $5000 or $6000 USD less than the bandit 200. Very robust machine, well engineered from what I’ve seen. Also I think one of the lightest 12” chippers on the market, which is important to me.
Chip discharge out to about 40’, nice quality chips, very uniform unlike the DC50. I will say that the DC 50 handled larger material more easily. Also I think that Bandits bearings will last longer, the twister has a pretty light drum, making it work harder.
Trailers beautifully, Well placed lights and controls. I don’t like the fact that the knives bolt directly into the drum, a cross thread during knife swap would be a pretty big PITA. Other than that knife changes are easy. I wish the fuel tank was 10 gal bigger.
I have seen a good selection of chippers from sub-contracting, and all things considered I think the twister 12 is the best all around machine out there right now.
Why do you ask A Lopa?
The Twister comes standard with all the goodies that bandit wanted to charge me for; auto feed, centrifugal pre-filter, up down pressure on the feed wheels etc. Total price difference is about $5000 or $6000 USD less than the bandit 200. Very robust machine, well engineered from what I’ve seen. Also I think one of the lightest 12” chippers on the market, which is important to me.
Chip discharge out to about 40’, nice quality chips, very uniform unlike the DC50. I will say that the DC 50 handled larger material more easily. Also I think that Bandits bearings will last longer, the twister has a pretty light drum, making it work harder.
Trailers beautifully, Well placed lights and controls. I don’t like the fact that the knives bolt directly into the drum, a cross thread during knife swap would be a pretty big PITA. Other than that knife changes are easy. I wish the fuel tank was 10 gal bigger.
I have seen a good selection of chippers from sub-contracting, and all things considered I think the twister 12 is the best all around machine out there right now.
Why do you ask A Lopa?
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Why do you ask A Lopa?[/QUOTE]
Just curios to see what the readers here think is the best! i real;ly think the 250xp bandit hard to beat,theres alot of rayco rc12's getting around now down under and they seem to be holing up (but its early days ) i have no experience with morbarks.
Thanks for the replys guys.
Just curios to see what the readers here think is the best! i real;ly think the 250xp bandit hard to beat,theres alot of rayco rc12's getting around now down under and they seem to be holing up (but its early days ) i have no experience with morbarks.
Thanks for the replys guys.
CoreyTMorine
User Formerly known as BlueSpruce
A sales guy told me that Rayco stole the engineering from Vermeer, he seemed to think that this would make me more likely to consider his product; but to my way of thinking Vermeer can't seem to figure out how to make a chipper. I think in both cases they make great stump grinders, but its hard to compete with the engineering experience of Bandit or Morbark for chippers. And IMHO Morbark has the advantage of a better feed system, lower weight, and better pricing.
The local Morbark dealer is about 2 hours from me, but they will tow my machine in for maintenance and provide a loaner while its gone! I never felt as though i was getting that kind of service from the local Bandit dealer even though they are just 30 minutes away.
That being said i thoroughly agree with you that the 250XP is a great machine. Its a tough call. The Morbark 12 and 13 drums are better at taking in a wide variety of material; while the efficiency and lower impact of Bandits Disk mean that they will last longer and use less fuel on heavy material.
For me the Morbark requires less preping of the material with a chaisaw and working it through the feedwheel. That means that the guys are dragging more brush and doing less cutting, which I like.
Do they sell Morbarks in Australia? If not then the Bandit is definately the better chipper
The local Morbark dealer is about 2 hours from me, but they will tow my machine in for maintenance and provide a loaner while its gone! I never felt as though i was getting that kind of service from the local Bandit dealer even though they are just 30 minutes away.
That being said i thoroughly agree with you that the 250XP is a great machine. Its a tough call. The Morbark 12 and 13 drums are better at taking in a wide variety of material; while the efficiency and lower impact of Bandits Disk mean that they will last longer and use less fuel on heavy material.
For me the Morbark requires less preping of the material with a chaisaw and working it through the feedwheel. That means that the guys are dragging more brush and doing less cutting, which I like.
Do they sell Morbarks in Australia? If not then the Bandit is definately the better chipper
JohnH
ArboristSite Operative
250 or 1290 bandit I think are the best IMOP. We have 12 250s and we have a lot less problems with them than our morbark woodsman and carlton.
CoreyTMorine
User Formerly known as BlueSpruce
Thats a good point John; Bandits are prolly better fleet machines. But with a machine where the owner is always or mostly on site you don't have so much gorrila damage.
kennertree
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've got an '03 1290h bandit and it is a beast. The only problems I've ever had were the autofeed went out, which happens to every chipper, and got a hole in the radiator some how. The radiator was ans easy fix, just took it off and had it patched. The new model 1290's are a 15" machine now, and the 1590 is now an 18" machine. Next chipper I buy will be a 1590.
we have had prob's with radiators if the mesh screen has a hole somewhere and mulch gets sucked into the fins. Apparently the mulch rots out the copper. Best solution is to get new screen or blow out with air gun every day
a-lopa- what's the meaning of your signature?
RosscOZ
ArboristSite Lurker
I've had a Vermeer 1250 since day one, would love to replace it with a new machine when it dies, but it just wont!! Other than a few bearings it just wont die. I know other blokes who have been through a few bandites in that time. I think it will rust out before it stops working, and I love the swivel chassis... helps to get in to so many jobs other blokles would have a mile of a drag to do. Wish they still made a swiveling chipper!
hornett224
ArboristSite Guru
try the feed wheel bearing!
what a dumb design.the only good chipper vermeer makes is the 625.only others i'd buy are bandit,morbark,and woodchuck.
what a dumb design.the only good chipper vermeer makes is the 625.only others i'd buy are bandit,morbark,and woodchuck.
treeoperations
ArboristSite Operative
mate i wouldnt say the 625 is a good chipper, i put 25 hours on mine and got rid of the useless piece of $hit, bought my bandit second hand and to be honest i dont think id ever look at anything but a bandit now
DangerTree
ArboristSite Operative
Hey you hijacked my thread! For shame!!!!
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