Bobcat S70

Judge this one on a single question: does the job have a doorway, a gate or a four-foot side yard in it? Everything the S70 gives up — capacity, lift height, hydraulic flow, travel speed — was traded away to get under 36 inches wide and about six feet tall, and that trade only makes sense if the access constraint is real. Interior demolition, sidewalk and courtyard work, fenced backyards, barn aisles and plant floors are where it earns its keep; owners have put it to work inside steel plants for exactly this reason.

In use it behaves like a small machine that happens to have a proper cab, which is the quiet advantage over the stand-on and walk-behind minis in the same width class. On interior demolition and in cold weather, having the operator enclosed and out of the dust changes what the job feels like. The warnings from people who own them are consistent and worth taking seriously: the narrow stance and rear-biased weight make it side-tippy, and slope work demands real care. Capacity is the other constant reality check — 760 lb is quoted at 50% of tipping load, so anything heavy and anything wet is off the table, and the 94.5 inch lift height means truck loading is not part of its repertoire.

This should be a specialist second machine, not a first one. If you are buying one loader to do everything, the S450 above it costs roughly double and is better at every single task that does not involve fitting through a door. If narrow access is a recurring part of your work, price the alternatives honestly first: a stand-on mini is narrower, cheaper and easier to get on and off, and the S70's counterargument is the seated enclosed cab and the shared Bobcat dealer, parts and attachment network. Before you buy, measure your tightest real-world opening including hardware and thresholds, and take it up and down a slope on the demo.