IÂve had my BCS 718 for a few years (5 maybe?) now and ready for its 4th set of tines, it gets a lot of use in NC hard clay with granite. I have a 1,200 sq ft vegetable garden with at least twenty, 4 by 10 to 20 plots of flowers and other vegetables around the yard. Has been a while since I actually kept count and I add one or two every year. I never noticed any Âbone jarring issues, it has always been really smooth. A little heavier when doing first till of virgin ground would be nice. Not a huge problem though, it just takes me a few extra passes. When working my regular garden not a problem. I think if it were any heavier it might be more of an issue in regular use. For my uses it has been great. Balances nicely for transport around the yard with the 18" tiller. High gear is a bit fast and will give you a workout jogging to keeping up with it! I did install the wheel spacers, for running dual wheels, and run single tires. For my terrain the wheel base was too narrow. The tires were originally just inside the tilled track and I get better traction when they are just to the outside of it. I will be getting an extra set of wheels, to run duals, when I get a few extra bucks. On side hills it tends to get top heavy when one wheel dips into the tilled track, which is always the down hill one. I found this last year while preparing to open up a new section of garden, on a slope. Never heard of Goldoni so have nothing to compare them to.

I'll post a calculator I found below, but based on the figures you posted, it would cost $31 per million btus for electric resistance heating ( your electric furnace option), $15.50 for the same amount of heat using a heat pump, or $10.50 for natural gas. The wrinkle with using natural gas is that to fully take advantage of the available savings, you would want a gas water heater, clothes dryer, and probably a gas stove - The water heater would require a chimney, and buying a houseful of appliances doesn't sound like an option for you - keep in mind, all of those appliances would require gas pipe inside the house as well, which wouldn't be included in your $850 cost to get the gas to the house. Plus, you would likely incur permit and inspection fees for a changeover. Based on what you've posted, In your situation, I'd probably get a top-shelf heat pump for heating and cooling the house, and possibly a heat-pump water heater as well. I've posted a link below so you can run your own numbers Here is a link that might be useful: energy cost comparator - requires microsoft excel

i am debating between the SpeedQueen 412 and the Bravo and the Cabrio. The SQ is American made and the best made of the 3 (no electronics, metal parts, etc. But I am worried that it might not be as gentle on the clothes. A store told me the newest Cabrios are better than the older ones but the Bravo has a much better warranty. (He is not anywhere near where I live- so cna't sell to me, so was being totally honest = he does not even sell the Bravo. Told me people in his town are not willing to pay the price for better washers, so he stocks few of them. I am a retired school teacher so don't have a lot of money, but want something that is gentle on my clothes and made to last. It might be that the two are not made in one machine. I love the made in the USA of SQ but worried about gentleness on my clothes. Can anyone help? I have not seen a Bravo in a store so don't know about price. either.

My husband gave me my Xyron 850 for Christmas. I love it! At the time they were having a special... when purchasing the 850, you got the 500 sticker maker, free. (We gave the 500 to our daughter who is also into scrapbooking.) Otherwise I would have gone with the 1200, I think. I am a teacher and have used it for making books and materials for class. I don't know if it's the teacher in me and years of experience with using every inch of laminating, but I don't have much waste at all. Since it has a hand crank, you have great control over the speed in which materials go through the machine. You can place items close together to prevent the waste you were referring to. If you want tiny punches as stickers or laminated, put a whole sheet of paper through the machine and then punch your punches. My husband was also hesitant when I showed him the machine for the first time but now he sees how many uses I have for it and is glad he made the purchase.