Pb 600 E

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Pb 600 E

Postby curtisheinz57 on 19 May 2014, 18:20

I'm not the biggest fan of the 600 but Crystal Mountain just bought the first 600 E and I am curious on what other operators think about this new direction of snowcat engineering?
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby admin on 20 May 2014, 08:41

I've never been huge on the technological smells-and-bells, which in my experience have only led to more downtime, though the manufacturers are quite convinced that the reverse is true.

That said, if implemented properly, the PB 600E should be a great step forward. Diesel-Electric technology is brilliant, and more efficient in many ways. Great for low speed, high torque settings like snowcats. Time will tell, I guess.
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby curtisheinz57 on 20 May 2014, 13:28

I will be more excited to see a 400E than a 600. I think the 600 is a little overweight :(
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby Canadianbombar on 09 Jul 2014, 19:52

Ecogroomer....cough cough...lol lol. Wasn't that supposed to have saved 20 million gallons of fuel by now...yet still doesn't even exist? I just looked at their website....the Ecogroomer is backpaged and the latest and greatest is a side by side with matt tracks posted like it's some sort of revolution they developed..lol. Ummmm...I'm pretty sure I can cover far more ground using less fuel in a PB400 than I can in a matt track ATV.....so aren't we going backwards now? lol I'm still putting my money on seeing the Ecogroomer investors on American Greed before I see an actual Ecogroomer..lol.
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby ward-o on 13 Jul 2014, 19:17

Hey Curtis ;)
Right now I know most manufacturers have basically been going in two directions. Natural Gas or electric hybrids with the diesel.
Compared to the "natural gas/Diesel" hybrids (which work very well at improving the fuel consumption, using natural gas downhill, adding diesel uphill and when pushing hard as needed) I'd have to say the electric hybrid is going to be the more likely vehicle you see purchased in the short term.
Only a handful Resorts nation wide have easy access to natural gas (LP isn't as cost effective and increases water/fuel issues) and since there's a astronomical cost of putting pipelines through our major mountainous regions, I doubt we'll see a huge rush by resort owners to go in that direction (I could be wrong, tho).
That leaves us with the electric hybrids as our more likely candidate. They are VERY good at reducing fuel use, and give a huge boost for low end torque, which is what we look for in the snow-groomer world.
I'd love to hear if any other "Viable" options are out there.Although we get plenty of both, Solar power=not so good at night, and wind would need some more R&D.
I still think the Eco-groomer concept is clever, and may work ok in perfect conditions;but it's designers seem to have a lot of confidence that a computer will be able to react as well in a "Tobaggon" or Slide condition, as an operator/groomer/artist does. Also, we all know it's the "weight of the machine and its track design" that do most of the compaction & chewing of the snow, NOT only the implements. That said,I Always love to hear of anyone doing something "out of the box". (can you say "Tube shaper"?)
Cheers Bro
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby ward-o on 10 May 2015, 23:54

so everyone at crystal mt. wash. seemed pretty impressed with both their 600E's running all night long on only 35-40 gallons of fuel/shift each .wow about half of the regular 600 polar with even better climbing ability and power was noted too. no real loss in performance even tho they are all tier IV compliant. they did a great job in the snow conditions they had this year, but then it wasn't really a normal season was it. sure sounds promising though that cost per acre hour may go down by over 1/3 in the long term, as more and more electric cats are purchased; far out weighing the extra purchase costs required.Kudos to PB
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby snowizard1 on 26 Feb 2016, 20:32

Have had the chance to operate the PB 600 E. Very impressed with it. It was different not running tractor by sound but other by movement or track speed. Out performed the Beast so far in different conditions we've had in the East the past week. The tiller out performed the Prinoth tiller in all conditions. I have no preference on what machine I operate, but the 600 E was impressive. Have seen many changes over the years in Snow cats over the years and this is nice tractor to operate.
Started grooming 1978
1st Snowcats to operate Thiokol 2100 Packmaster/Tucker
Fav Snowcat PB 320
Still doing it.
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Re: Pb 600 E

Postby PB400Fan on 29 Feb 2016, 15:25

I had the chance to run it a few weeks ago, it was quite impressive. Tons of pushing ability and smooth and quiet. Tons of potential with the diesel/electric hybrid, going to be exciting to see where it goes, i'm sure it's only going to get better as the years go on
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