BR500

Re: BR500

Postby Tom400CFI on 13 May 2009, 20:15

We bought last fall, two 500's for this past season. They are truly awesome machines. The drive and handle much "smaller" than their size would lead you to believe. The cab is exceptionally quiet, and the ride quality is excellent, due to the long "wheel base", I think. The drive system allows you to run the engine at 1350 to 1450 RPM and still get a lot of work done, adding to the quiet operation and (relatively) good fuel economy. The thing can move MAD amounts of snow, and cover acreage like crazy. It has (or seems to) WAY more power, for it's weight than a BR350, and it simply doesn't slow down going up hill. The engine is a monster, and it isn't going to "give up" for anything.

Between our two 500's, we recorded an over all average for the season of 7.5 GPH, which was far better than expected (we where hoping to get 10GPH or better). The cats easily covered 1.5 to 2 times more acreage per hour than the BR350's, depending on the operator. The better the operator, the greater the gap between the cats.

The only downfalls to the machine, as we see it are:
*You can ONLY put senior/veteran operators in the cat, or a huge and expensive resource is squandered.
*If it breaks down (both of ours were extremely reliable) you basically lose 1.5 to 2 cats, productivity wise. A side note about reliability, at the end of the season, it appears as though the tracks are in MUCH better shape than a 350's tracks are, at our resort, after 1 season. That was another pleasant surprise.
*The tiller didn't perform for us well in HARD conditions. All other conditions, slop, powder, packed powder, etc, it did awesome. The tiller needs improvement.

No doubt about it, though, they kicked ass. Some quotes from operators this year:
"We have three winch cats here; the Sherpa, and the two 500's"
"I can get done in the 500, TWICE what I can get done in a 350"
"The 500's are KILLING IT!".

And to answer someones question, the cab is identical to the BR350 cab. Two seats, one on each side.
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Re: BR500

Postby PrinothPro on 18 May 2009, 12:55

Those 500's are insane... I drove one of those for the night and it is just MASSIVE. It perform just like 350 but just better and sometime overkill for some trails. Love them but I will take 350 any day over 500, thats just my 2 cents.
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Re: BR500

Postby Tom400CFI on 10 Jun 2009, 12:38

I finished compliling all of the grooming data from the season. Comparing the BR 500 to the BR 350,

The 500 covered 40% to 50% more terrian per hour, than our 350's did this season. I think the performance SHOULD be even better for the 500, b/c I had supervisors running them, which meant idle time while those supervisors looked at the plan, gave assignments, talked on cell phones, etc. That hurt productivity for the 500.

While covering the above acre/hr, the 500 consumed 19% more fuel; 7.5 GPH for the 500, which we think is excellent, vs. 6.3 for the 350's. It should be noted that the 500 CAN consume massive fuel if run at high RPM, but max efficiency was found for us, by running it down low. The motor has no shortage of power, and even at low RPM, the cat still moves quickly and produces.

The upshot of the above is that the 350 uses 15% more fuel to cover the same acreage as the 500.

This data was an average over the entire season so I do believe that it is some pretty solid data. I hope that someone finds this info helpful.
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Re: BR500

Postby admin on 10 Jun 2009, 16:24

Thanks for the update, Tom400CFI. Good info.
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Re: BR500

Postby Canadianbombar on 10 Jun 2009, 23:52

Agreed! Very interesting!
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Re: BR500

Postby Tom400CFI on 16 Jun 2009, 18:18

Glad that was informative. It was for me too, as it was input, and calculated.

One thing not covered in that data is the fact that by having that machine, and operating it efficiently, you can reduce staff size. So there is the fuel/acre savings, the production benefit, and staffing saving potential there as well.
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Re: BR500

Postby Canadianbombar on 16 Jun 2009, 21:08

Tom400CFI wrote:Glad that was informative. It was for me too, as it was input, and calculated.

One thing not covered in that data is the fact that by having that machine, and operating it efficiently, you can reduce staff size. So there is the fuel/acre savings, the production benefit, and staffing saving potential there as well.


The staffing cost is easily forgotten since it is by far the smallest cost and represents only 10 to 20% of the entire cost per hour for a cat. HOWEVER, it's the one cost in which for just a few dollars an hour you can double and even triple your production per hour. I always chuckle at the resorts which insist on hiring newbs here in Canada for $10ish CAD an hour and think they're saving big $$$$ over hiring an experienced guy for $20ish CAD an hour. An experienced guy earns more than his elevated wage just in the reduction on the parts invoice for the cat he's running. Then there's the fact that you can actually reduce your fleet by an entire cat by hiring someone with years of experience over a newb. That's over $100 an hour saved by shelling out $10. Like I said...it makes me laugh.
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Re: BR500

Postby Tom400CFI on 18 Jun 2009, 16:22

Canadianbombar wrote:The staffing cost is...one cost in which for just a few dollars an hour you can double and even triple your production per hour. I always chuckle at the resorts which insist on hiring newbs here in Canada for $10ish CAD an hour and think they're saving big $$$$ over hiring an experienced guy for $20ish CAD an hour. An experienced guy earns more than his elevated wage just in the reduction on the parts invoice for the cat he's running. Then there's the fact that you can actually reduce your fleet by an entire cat by hiring someone with years of experience over a newb. That's over $100 an hour saved by shelling out $10. Like I said...it makes me laugh.
I agree, and well said!
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Re: BR500

Postby BigA on 20 Aug 2009, 10:19

I was involved in testing the BR 500. We had it for two summers and it was pretty cool. Cat climbs like no tomorow but coming back down can be interesting.
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Re: BR500

Postby troutriver on 30 Aug 2009, 22:12

The 500 or "Beast" is an awesome machine. It is a tool like all other cats. It will be a good addition in the hands of the right people in the right grooming programs. Its all coming down to cost per acre groomed/gallon or fuel burned and that is a variable every night.
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