👉 So let’s hear it — would YOU ever buy one?

👍 YES — makes sense for my situation
👎 NO — I’d rather spend more

Drop your thoughts below 👇 I read every comment.

And if you’ve owned one… what’s been your experience? Good or bad?

⬇ Watch how I chose MY excavator here next:
[link your H15R decision video]

Are you diggin… or are you fillin?

I bought mines 2 years ago. No upgrades. Just changed oils. I used it to excavate foundations

Love your channel and your personality. You have helped me alot in making the plunge into the Chinese mini excavator world. I recently spent $5500 and bought an auction machine with attachments. I couldn't afford the one I wanted at auction but as I'm going over the one I purchased it seems to be better than I expected. Couple of modifications to do before I will actually use it. Still have snow on the ground here so no rush I suppose.
Anyways Peace from Alberta and thankyou kindly for all you've done for the rest of us in YouTube land.

I'm really glad to hear some good words about these. I only ever see people complaining about them, but I figure the majority of people aren't ever going to bother to post "Hey I like my excavator it's holding up great", so it's just self-reporting bias.

I have enjoyed your videos Jeff,
I recently purchased a QK18R at a local auction for 3k and then purchased a pallet of attachments for $600. I am currently building a 4x8 dump trailer just to haul this little unit around. I totally understand what you mean about the "hobby" of all this. I can't wait to actually start using the mini X as the wife wants a small backyard pond built. Keep up the good work with the videos!

I have 4 lots that are 1/4 acre each. This machine works perfectly for me. The guy I bought it from has 40 acres and had to upgrade to a bigger name brand one. His loss was my gain got it for $4500. Happy with my machine.

Have had my mini for about a month and it's a back saver

Jeff, thanks for the content! I actually found your channel right after I picked up a new H15R for $3,200 a few months back, and your content has been a huge help.
I’m currently in the middle of some upgrades—waiting on the Central Digger cushion valve and gathering parts for a hydraulic oil cooler mod. I also added a dual-sensor setup (visual gauge + 140°F thermostat switch with a buzzer) because, here in South Florida, the heat is already pushing my fluid toward 170°F after just an hour of work.
I’m definitely looking forward to getting the cooler running with a 130W fan on a separate circuit, powered by the 45Ah LiFePO4 battery I added on board. I should really upload a short on the build once it’s finished!--LOL

I Ihave a ATS ME-18 and I work primarily in solid, dense clay. My last project was a driveway retaining wall. Before I had the excavator and doing similar jobs with clay, dirt, roots, rock, using a handheld EGO Rototiller, several shovels, pickax, and my contact contractor front loader and it was a real pita. The teller takes a long time to scrape up the clay when leveling. Very hard on the hands and back.
Alternatively, with the mini excavator the job was a piece of cake. Making subtle elevation changes in the clay was the greatest benefit. If you've worked with railroad ties, especially those with high-levels of moisture and creosote they can weigh as much as 300 pounds. I have used my front end loader with pallet forks and/or log tongs. I can move them in such a fashion, but ultimately the majority of time I had to use manual labor to finally align the ties. Hard work, to say the least. But with the mini excavator with the thumb, it is far easier to manipulate, move, place, remove, replace, level, and align. Saves my hands and back and has been very efficient for me.
I currently have two trenches one is a circulating disc with knives but only goes down 8 inches. Nevertheless I like the machine. The other one as a walk behind that can go down 24 inches. But it is hard to maneuver and operate. The excavator has proved to be a much easier method of this“cheap” Chinese excavator certainly has limitations but for what I need it has proven to be efficient, reliable, and even fun and when I say reliable unlike my tractors and other machinery I have not had one issue with the mini excavator. 25 hp diesel? Of course, but now we're in the $10-$15,000 range. Today, I will be digging down a pool bottom and the excavator will be perfect for this because of its small size and agility. When I bought the excavator I had realistic expectations so I was not disappointed in any way. Would I buy it again? Yes.

bought a H15R (just like he shows in the video) couple weeks ago. Been working on all the upgrades (it needs them, just running it a few minutes when I first got it proved that). I am nearly complete with my upgrades and will be putting it to work shortly. I will say that if you don't enjoy working on your machine (cause you will be working on it), don't buy one of these. So far, I have been puttering away and loving every minute. And there is TONS of information out there about these machines, just gotta do some research.

I have an H12 and I have beaten the hell out of it. It has 200 hours on it and I have done some upgrades like an actual cutting edge on the dozer blade and a cooler kit and filter kit. I love my little machine and I would buy it again tomorrow

Another thing is like you mentioned, price of entry. If you’re not certain that you need one, you can buy one of these. If it turns out you don’t want to own one, you’re not out all the money that a name brand unit costs.

This is an absolute great video and you beat me to the punch! We all know the person in question you were talking about. It is so obvious and transparent that he has strong ties to Georgia. What is absolutely hilarious is that they try to hide and keep it secret and they think the rest of us are all stupid and we’ll fall for their marketing tactics. Word of mouth travels fast and when a company recruits (pays) individuals to speak on their behalf, just to remain unbiased it always fails. Again, great video and I couldn’t have said it better. I’m sure one of the two yahoo‘s will make a comment on this. Lol. This is the game they play.

I am loving my SDLE20 so far.  I've had it about a week now, Changed the fluids right away and still learning the ins and outs, but it seems great for my DIY yard projects.

Im thinking about it... can find them locally for like 4k... at that price if it last a thru a few projects it pays for itself

I am getting to where I am ready to seriously start looking. My current thinking is that on my  sloping .86 acre lot I  need some runoff management my house is below the road and the lot continues down to the lake frontage.  My guess is that I need about 200 feet of French drains. I had  a company doing some water remediation in my basement. They estimated about $8k off the cuff. So if I can get a mini excavator for less than three grand, I can get the drain pipe and gravel for less the a grand. The excavator will pay for itself on its first project.

I purchaseda 100 bar of silver when it was $31 an once for $3,089 and then sold it for $8,000 when prices whent up. Then I purchased a HUAYEE HY14C. Then I fixed my spetic field lines.

Which equipment auctions are you all buying these from?

Bought my qk16r brand new for 3500 canadian and 9 attachments for 1800

I would definitely consider one.  There's someone in town that got one of the orange MH18R(I think? There's just so many...) units. I think I'll give it a few weeks before I be that weirdo and knock on their door to ask what they think about it.