Several years ago (10-12?) Bobcat started selling small tractors and bailed out after a few years. It appears as though they are just re-entering the market
I'd be a bit concerned on long term support unless they are an exact copy of an established unit rebranded

When I was shopping for tractors before my purchase, Bobcat compact tractors were Yanmar's with white paint and Bobcat stickers. Cub Cadet tractors were the same thing. The thing that made me shy away from a small John Deere was the fact that the lower mounts for the 3 point hitch were cast aluminum and would break like toothpicks when using a scrape blade. I have a quarter mile long road to scrape when it snows, so that was a no go for me.

Everyone should shy away from John Deere. They are THE MOST unfriendly company in agriculture when it comes to repairing their machinery and are facing mounting lawsuits over it. The agricultural "Right To Repair" movement is due in no small part to John Deere's attitude and actions on repairing their stuff. They are about as bad as Tesla.

'Nov 27 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday said Deere & Co must face claims from crop farms and farmers that the agricultural machinery maker has unlawfully conspired to restrict services for maintenance and repair. U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, Illinois, rejected Deere's effort to dismiss consolidated lawsuits accusing the Moline, Illinois-based company of violating U.S. antitrust law.

The judge said the plaintiffs had met legal thresholds to pursue their claims.

"According to the complaint's allegations, Deere has the ultimate control of the repair services market," Johnston wrote in his 89-page order. "These allegations are not mere legal conclusions. The complaint is chock-full of factual allegations to support this conclusion."

Deere has denied the allegations and will have a chance at a later stage in the case to dispute the merits of the farmers' claims.

A Deere spokesperson and attorneys for the company at Jones Day on Monday did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A lead plaintiffs' attorney in the case, Daniel Hedlund of law firm Gustafson Gluek in Minneapolis, said they "look forward to continuing to pursue the claims of their farmer clients in this right to repair antitrust case."

The case is part of a growing push from consumers and others challenging restrictions on maintenance and repair. A U.S. judge in California this month dismissed a right-to-repair case against Tesla but said drivers could refile an amended complaint.'

www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/de...-repair-lawsuits-judge-rules-2023-11-27/

More expensive than John Deere? My experience has been that "Down at the bank, nothing costs like a Deere".

BS. there is NOTHING that stops a mechanic or farmer from working on their own equipment John Deere or any brand. Just don't expect to get warranty reimbursement or the loan or access to proprietary diagnostic equipment that those companies spent millions and time to produce for THEIR dealers. Those local dealers have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in THEIR hometown dealerships and need to somehow after the sale to pay their manufacturer trained mechanics and staff employees. You have a bakery and customers start asking you for the recipes and you say sorry "proprietary". They go get a judge to tell you have to give your customers the recipes so they can make their own. Now how do you pay your workers with the reduced business? Yeah, not the same but that's why the local small business selling EVERY brand farm equipment is worried that they will lose income that they invested tens of thousands of dollars into providing a product and service. I buy a JD or any other brand and I want to work on it I will but I'm not going to get p!$$ed if my local JD dealer doesn't loan or rent their diagnostic equipment. I'll just take it to "Billy-Bob's Tractor and Diesel shop in the old Texico station by the old Icehouse.

Why do you think they are GREEN 🤣🤣

What you're not comprehending is that with todays technology Deere is locking BIlly Bob's access to the needed software/ programs required to diagnose their equipment. We're not talking about hydraulics and Diesel injectors but rather GPS, engine management, and a host of other additions that cannot be diagnosed without the technology used to create them.

It doesn't seem that you understand the true magnitude of the situation. You really need to bone up on this 'right- to-repair' situation with Deere. There is a reason that there is a class action nationwide lawsuit where the presiding judge says "According to the complaint's allegations, Deere has the ultimate control of the repair services market," Johnston wrote in his 89-page order. "These allegations are not mere legal conclusions. The complaint is chock-full of factual allegations to support this conclusion."

Do a little research, listen to the real life situations that the farmers and construction guys have been put in and then get back to us.

I don't need to "do a little research", I have and I've personally delt with it working for 34+ years for a motorcycle manufacturer and distributor. About a decade ago they came after the motorcycle industry and mainly Harley-Davidson. It was pretty one sided and driven by "Class Action" lawyers like you see every night and day on the tube. All it took was a few of these independent motorcycle repair shops to whine to LAWYERS about not having access to proprietary HD diagnostic equipment and the ball and whine was rolling. It's easy to paint the manufacturers as the bad guys but what about their local multi staffed and factory trained service, parts and sale's personnel at the local dealership? Those dealerships have to feed their families and pay their bills too. THERE IS NO LAW THAT WOULD KEEP YOU FROM WORKING ON YOUR BRAND NEW JOHN DEERE TRACTOR. The only thing affected is the warranty. If you want to haul a brand new JD piece of equipment back to the farm and pull the motor or take apart your GPS don't worry, you're not going to have the sheriff knocking on the barn door any time. The lawyers are NOT doing this for the farmers, they know and have known for decades how service work policies and warranties on their John Deere equipment works and if it was so restrictive they would move on to another brand.....that other brands most likely have the same policy restrictions. I live surrounded by farmland and I see them working on whatever they need to and can handle from ruptured hydraulic hoses to headers with a problem but not anything like fixing a non-working GPS or two-way radio or a broken piston but they could if they had the time or skill. JD can't stop them. It's the high tech and expensive electronic diagnostics and programing equipment that these independent shops want access to at no cost to them so they can make money without expense to them. Not so much the farmers unless they have their own repair shop. To me it's not the issue the greedy "class action" lawyer(s) make it out to be for the farmers but for benefit of independent service shops. I'll walk across the yard as they start plowing and planting here soon as to how big of an issue this "right-to-repair" really is for them then I can loan them a tool or two when they have an issue?

There is no doubt that John Deere is trying to control maintenance information for their products. Why? They can say all they want about safety but it's all about the benjamins. Look at cars, how easy would it be to work on anything current without at least a code reader? Same thing. What fascinates me is that the best way to correct this is for users to quite buying JD equipment. But when you have a company that not only sells equipment but gloves, hats, shovels, and flashlights, AND PEOPLE BUY THEM, you no longer have company loyalty, you belong to a cult.

So, does that mean that you are not a part of the lawsuit?

And do I detect just a little JDES (John Deere Exoneration Syndrome)?

This issue is going to trial. Unless there is a settlement which seems unlikely. We will hear much more about this and we shall see how a jury feels about it. That is all that matters in the end.

A12, it's not that shops want JD information for free, it’s that JD won't provide it at any cost.

We have a transmission at work from a JD tractor and getting any information on it is a challenge. It took a month to get a copy of the breakdowns so ee could order gaskets and seals. But even that breakdown shows things only as complete assemblies .

Clutch discs, piston seals, bearings are considered non serviceable by JD. If the clutches are worn you can't just get new ones to install for a few hundred dollars. No JD will sell you a complete clutch pack for 8k. Not to mention the delay in ordering that assembly because nobody stocks it.

speaking of shovels, my wife bought one of those at the local ACE hardware store a year or so ago. not cheap by any means, but she figured it would be a good one.
being all of 110lbs, she steps on the shovel in one of her flower beds and promptly breaks the handle ! [ ]
this flower bed has ZERO rocks, and she tills the soil all the time, so hard soil is non existent.
i took the shovel back, and they told me i had to take it to a john deere dealer for replacement ! good grief !
anyone want a "two piece" john deere shovel ?

i ran into that before buying shovels at various stores. IF i could remember where I bought them i usually got "we don't carry that brand anymore". So I started buying all my garden type stuff at Sears. haven't broken one yet Not sure if Lowes would honor the craftsman lifetime warranty (doubtful). But the crafstman at Lowes has a 15yr warranty Not sure on the Kobalt warranty.
One the ACE one I'd take it back and b-tch up a storm. talk to the strore manager, if that doesn't work try calling corporate. Bet you'll get a new shovel
And BTW if so exchange and buy another brand

Access to that will not be at no expense to the small repair shop I can assure you as they will have to buy it from somebody. might also want to look at Ruderunners post as that is as much if not a bigger part of the problem.
the reason I never bought a deere is I could get more for less elsewhere. In addition many I know that did buy NEW deere equipment had more problems than all the others combined

I farm for a living, have mostly John Deere equipment. I have JD because my dad had it and the local dealer is 11 miles away, nearest Case IH dealers is 30, Agco 25, I wouldn’t run Agco for free.
Most of my equipment is preemission but a lot is computer controlled. I can a lot to my machines but there are something’s computer related that I can not. A lot of these problems are dealer related, your service manager can be a good guy or a dick, and it’s not just JD, Case IH is the same deal. Semi tractors and all kinds of other stuff are having these same issues.
I had 2 semi tractors that gave me fits so I sold them and now have all mechanical trucks. The problem with farm equipment is the newer, larger equipment gets more done, but that does come with dollar signs and being more attached to your dealer, warranty is your new master, the machine goes out of warranty and you have to go to the dealer on some of it.
Roughly 1995 Deere started using more computer controlled equipment, most of this was good but yes it does have its quirks. So much for the larger stuff. I had a neighbor that farmed and had a small feedlot, 25 years ago he bought a Belarus tractor for his feed wagon, it was half the price of a comparable JD, 4 or 5 years later he had a JD, the foreign one had no support and was always laid up. Lots of Kubota small tractors around now but I don’t have any personal experience with them. Older clean equipment is really bringing good money now because of the older guys like me still like to fix their own equipment, good luck on your purchase!