Evan 629- Here's my story.
I bought a used MTD Yard machine from a neighbor. It was in excellent shape and the operating manual had a receipt showing an original price of $400.
Here is a link to a picture of it with some other users' comments.
http://www1.epinions.com/content_165830758020
Here are some things I found out using it:
1. All twigs and branches must be almost straight and clean of side twigs in order to easily feed them into the hopper. A branch with a 90 degree fork won't feed through the hopper. The dryer the wood the better. Don't mess with any vines or other fiberous stuff that won't chop up cleanly.
2. You'll need a 2x4 to jam the remains of twigs completely through the hopper. I'm not much for reaching into the chute and the instructions have big warnings about never doing this.
3. Even though it has a 6.5 cu engine, you have to feed twigs, etc. in slowly or the engine will bog down or the cutter mechanism will clog. When properly fed in they will chip quickly and you can get rid of a large pile of brush fairly quickly (if it is straight).
4. It runs a long time on a gallon of gas but is noisy. I'm thinking about 2-3 hours per gallon.
5. It will slow down when you start getting into the bigger branches in the
2-3" size (3" is the biggest it will mulch up). With the larger branches you establish a feeding pattern. You sort of have to push the branch in, it grinds, you release, push, grind, release, etc. to feed the bigger branches through the cutting mechanism.
6. It is easy to haul around and store. The mechanisms are very basic with minimal maintenance. Change oil, sharpen blades, clean/replace filters.
7. You have to steady the machine when using a pull starter as it will tip.
I'm happy with it for the $100 I paid. For $500 I'd have second thoughts. I looked at the website and didn't see the product for sale so it may have been discontinued.
I like the way we used to do it, pile the stuff up, let it dry out, light a match. The city fathers now frown on this so we get to drive our neighbors crazy with loud gasoline engine operated equipment.