Rip it & Chip it!

Then rip it & chip it baby!

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I stepped up to Bandit 1890 last year, we had used a Bandit 200+. We load most bigger wood 18"+ on to our Boom Trucks stake body in 21' lengths. We do Rip and chip wood were we can't access the crane, we don't use ripping chains. We usually get the wood out of the yard in 6' lenghts and anything over 19" we rip and chip, especially White Pine, Spruce, etc, under 19" gets chipped as is. Good wood we'll chip some and also cut some for firewood and load it into a pick-up. Before we had the crane we would rip and chip almost all our Pine, Spruce because we couldn't give it away. Now the Pine, Spruce go to the Mill when we can take it out in lenghts on the crane. The 1890 has been a great addition, especially the winch which the 200+ didn't have. We did a light land clearing job this year which probably took 2 days less with the 1890 than it would have with the 200+.The 1890 also saves time because there is a lot less processing done before the brush goes through the chipper. I'm guessing that chipper your looking at is around $53-$55K.
 
a vermeer chipper last much longer when properly serviced, and the customer service is levels above what any morbark dealer can provide in my personal experience..Not to mention the availability of parts, service, and general info.
 
I don't want this to turn into a Maker debate, but I have to disagree with your little Vermeer plug there.

You must have some tie with Vermeer or Sherrill or something. or maybe not... i should check your other posts.

Our bandits have been great for dependability. Using them for 15 years now and extremely dependable, but we do service all our stuff well.

I will have to say, Vermeer does an excellent job advertising and being present at arborist events. I have just always witnessed other tree companies having their vermeer stuff brake down and horror stories. I've always thought that Vermeer just makes too much different equipment and therefor non of it is really designed well. I think the tree equipment is getting a little better though. Some of the stuff that is so stupid to me in design is the one roller chippers, the side roller chippers, the one bearing stump grinders, etc.

I have luckily never needed bandit service, but from what I hear, if you need bandit service or a problem taken care of, they are aweful at it. Maybe they are addressing this currently though...

and why are you mentioning Morbark? Who was talking about Morbark in their post? Although, morbark better than vermeer.
 
A comment on some vermeer chippers, I like the safety bar on the bottom of the infeed table, however, i think the advanced electronics of the smartfeed feature and these pressure sensitive safety bars need some work. we have had 2 sensors go bad thus making the chipper basically useless and a nuisance. A bad sensor in the lower safety bar caused the infeed rollers to stop at seemingly random intervals.

therefore I find myself thinking about pushing the green override button on the side and pushing brush at the same time instead of having all of my attention focused on not getting hit with swinging branches or getting pulled in.

They are powerful and safety minded but I prefer using the bandits I used in Chicago.
 
Also I do not like how there is not lever to open the infeed roller's "mouth" so you can easily get a log in without having to push it into the roller while it grabs the log and the rollers "open up" to accept the log.
 
X, I thought the same thing when I read the post. Knowing a few brands of chippers, to just come out and say Vermeer is superior sounds like a plug. That's not to say it is, it just sounded that way based on what I know.

I have used a number of chippers, including Morbark, Bandit, Vermeer, and Woodsman. I would rate Bandit and Morbark at the top as far as quality, agressiveness, and general beefiness. The Vermeers I have used have not impressed me.

I own a Woodsman (which btw has a single feed wheel that works really well), but if I was doing more production I would own a Morbark or a Bandit. Cost and weight influenced my decision to buy the Woodsman, since I tow with a Chevy 2500. And it really is the perfect chipper for my needs all around.

-Tom

(PS - Thanks for the scratch. I owe you beers if we ever meet.)
 
The two major problems Vermeer has is the electronics they use and the fact that they are built cheap. we have less than 200 hrs on our BC1000XL and its gone through 3 sensors on the tailgate an RPM sensor and 2 hydraulic silonoids that run the feed roller. more than a few times we've been forced to throw the brush in the truck to finish the job and twice drive back to the shop and get one of the old chuck'n duck asplundhs
 
My first job we'd rip large softwood. My part time job we chip up to 12", everything else goes in the roll off. My own business I chip about 8", or less if I can. Wood can be put out at the side walk, and be gone before you leave. I rarely haul wood. Or I'll cut log length and load into dump trailer, I hate cutting firewood.

I've got the woodsman like Tom. Great small build chipper. I'd stick with Woodsman and Bandit in the future. My local vermeer, about 5 miles away, kinda giggle about the quality of their own equipment.
 
I wasn't sure were the Vermeer post was coming from either. I like Bandits, at least 80% of the chippers you see on the road in my area are Bandits. There has to be a reason for that.
 
We rip and chip stuff only when its one log, or a pain for the log truck to get to. If it is faster to leave a couple logs and have log truck come and get it, thats what we do. Case by case basis, whcih ever makes the most sense and moolah!

Chipper is only as good as the service you can get for them in your area
 
Are outdoor wood furnaces/ boilers popular in your area? The people that own them will burn next to anything that is free. Depending on the job, I will call certain people and they will come and pick up the wood. For big trees, I load it onto the dumptruck/ dump trailer and we haul it to one that cuts and splits it. Otherwise dump fees are around $45 per ton.
 
We chip as much up to about 18" and use the rest for firewood unless it's soft wood. That we will get rid of other ways. Instead of a bigger chipper and truck the money went into a cord king to produce fire wood. It's a good market and provides a good income. Of course the money you don't spend on the bigger chipper and truck could go into a portable saw mill....

Don't give away what the market will pay for.
 
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at least 80% of the chippers you see on the road in my area are Bandits. There has to be a reason for that

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Maybe the fact the dealer is very close by. Come across the river and you'll see 80% Vermeers rolling down the road. Even thought the bandit dealer is only 15 mins away from the Vermeer one.

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Chipper is only as good as the service you can get for them in your area

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Pretty much the main answer to any chipper choose, why buy something you'll have to make 1 hour trips for parts if you want them next day.
 
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I would get a wood splitter and split and chip

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Ditto. A good splitter will be cheaper than upgrading both truck AND chipper, plus no matter how big of a chipper you buy, there will always be a log that's too big for it. I mean unless you're doing a lot of big removals... but for pruning a monster truck and chipper is gonna be overkill. Also, with a good splitter, you can process the good wood you have into a marketable product.
 
I agree on the service issue for buying a chipper. That was the biggest factor in my purchase. 90%+ are vermeer around here and vermeer is 20 minutes from my house. I don't even know where the nearest morbark or bandit shop is. To be honest I've never even had a chance to run anything else.
I've got a 1250 vermeer and although it has a smaller feed opening is far better built than the 1000's i've run with all their electronics and plastic. Pros and con's to both.
 
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