A Guide To Mini Excavators

Mini excavators are a great option for smaller commercial sites and even home use, especially when the space to be dug out is awkward and restricted.

So how mini is mini? Well, at one end, our 1.5 tonne Bobcat model is really compact, can turn on a sixpence, but offers fantastic stability and visibility, outstanding lifting power and excellent capacity. You can load it onto a trailer and take it to wherever you need it, or move it after use into a secure storage location.

Complete Range of Mini Excavator Sizes
The interior cab is full of useful features such as a cup holder and storage box. Many of these mini excavators are available with or without a cab, so you can hire one to suit the season, with a cab in winter to keep the operator snug and dry. The Bobcat E19 is an example of the range which features the redesigned cab, with big windows and narrow pillars for great all round vision.

At the other end of the scale, there’s the 6 tonne Bobcat E62. Although it’s one of the biggest we offer, it’s still extremely manoeuvrable. The cab has everything you’d expect from professional plant, including an LCD display to keep you informed of fault diagnostics and information about the extra hydraulic settings.

And in case you’re worried that the 6 tonner will eat fuel, it has market leading fuel efficiency technology.

Bridging these two ends of the spectrum are the other twelve Bobcats we stock, which all have powerful but smooth hydraulics. Some, such as the Bobcat E45, feature an X-frame undercarriage. This allows the excavator to clear ground obstacles and operate securely. The majority of the Bobcat models feature zero tail swing – the housing doesn’t stick out beyond the tracks when the housing is being rotated. That’s super stable.

Hiring before buying may be an ideal route if you’re new to diggers, and MSL can help with both.