JCB 3TS-8W Teleskid

Wheels and a telescoping boom is an unusual combination, and it is the cheapest way into the only boom design in the skid steer market. Thirteen feet three of lift, eight feet of forward reach and three feet of below-grade dig put this into work that normally needs a telehandler or a mini excavator alongside the loader, and the owners who get value from it are the ones who reorganised how they stack, feed and load around the reach rather than treating it as an occasional bonus.

An operator running one at length found the things that go right are mostly ergonomic: stepping into the cab past a single arm instead of over a dirty bucket, a much better view down to the headstock once the tilt cylinder moved inside the mast, easy service access through a wide bonnet and a cab on gas struts. The things that go wrong are mostly about load and setup - 611 kg at full extension against a machine that shifts a full IBC retracted, a 42-degree dump angle that fights you over trailer sides, and a transmission sharp enough to feel jumpy until the response is softened. High-flow couplers stay bolted to the chassis rather than running to the boom end, a deliberate stability decision that also closes off the heaviest attachments at reach.

Daily height and reach on firm ground, at a farm or a yard, is the case for it - and where about $79,590 is the budget rather than the $113,000 the tracked 109 hp version costs. It is the wrong machine for soft sites or for anyone whose work is mostly pushing and carrying at ground level, where a conventional wheeled loader of the same capacity costs substantially less. Before signing, get the load chart at extension, ask the dealer to soften the drive response during setup, and check how far the nearest technician who has worked on a telescoping boom actually is.