Customer Reviews

Kettler Cat Front Loader and Backhoe

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

watching your child lose their mind playing with it will be worth it.

The directions are marginal at best and would benefit greatly from some written directions and labeling the bags and parts. I am very experienced at building RC cars and helicopters and I had to keep referring to the drawings to make sure I wasn't doing it wrong.

The rear stabilizer (under the excavator seat) could be sturdier and easier to deploy, but neither seem to be a problem for our son who is going on three. It would be nice if the locks for the front end loader portion could be engaged with one hand, but it doesn't seem to take away from his enjoyment.

I do recommend this product, just make sure you have enough room to store it and patience to assemble it. (hint: some of the stickers are large and very thin in order to make the curves, spray a little mild detergent diluted with water to make positioning them easier)

I think the concept of this toy of awsome. However, we got it for my son's 3rd birthday and we realize this toy is a little too much for him at this age. The toy makes really wide turns making it difficult for him to ride it even in the driveway. The front loader is too heavy for him to use while sitting on the seat. The back hoe has too many steps to be ale to set up and use (unlock this while pulling up on that, then turn this and unlock another part, etc...). He really does enjoy using the back hoe in the dirt afer you get it set up. Maybe he will enjoy it more when as he gets older.

My Husband and I ordered this for our 5 year old son, who is obsessed with heavy equipment. After reading the review I was nervous of a couple of things,,,
-Would it be big enough
-Would it be sturdy
-Would we be able to assemble it
The answer to all these are yes. My son is not a huge kid but there is still room to grow for him, (40lbs)I can even sit on it at 120lbs and it doesn't feel well too weird, except that I'm sitting on a toy.
For a toy this is very sturdy, the shiny plasticky look scared me into thinking it would be flimsy, but it is not. He does 180's with it and flips it into the air. He runs into things like mad and none of the parts bend including the attachments.
Now construction, this was a shock for me to believe all the problems people were having. Now I'm open to the possibility that maybe the directions have changed since it came out. This took us less than an hour to assemble including the stickers. Now, we also were talking with German voices, and having a blast. So I think if this needed to be assembled quickly it could be done within a half hour. It was not frustrating at all for us, sure colored directions would be nice, but unnecessary.
So overall I am very pleased with this purchase, oh and the shipping time was not bad at all. If anybody is concerned about ordering through here I actually ordered mine through Northerntools.com

the package arrived damaged,and evidently pieces were lost during shipping, when they went to put it together they discovered the missing parts, my daughter called kettler,(not the internet company i bought it from) and they sent the parts out so she had them 3 days later, well somehow the instructions in the box that they ordered the replacement part from, was not the same model that was actually in the box, so the parts were not correct, well here we are 4 days before christmas, and the "show stopper" is not able to be put together, again my daughter called kettler and they shipped the parts out overnight, and the backhoe/digger was put together in time for santa to deliver it too a very construction orientated 4 year old,and i don't think he has been off it since he got it

We got this for my 3 1/2 year old son who is in the 100% for height, weight and age. He loves this toy a lot! Santa Claus brought it just in time to scoop and move the snow in our driveway and help Dad clear the driveway. We also got the trailer which dumps 3 ways and he loves to take it off and put it on the hitch. It give him plenty to do and use his imagination. It's plenty sturdy, but had a lot more plastic than I imagined for the price. However, the tires have a nice rubbery inset for good gripping, and to be honest, the plastic is probably safer injury and cut wise. Overall, it seemed to be a great choice for the money and he'll play with this all year.

Length:: 0:10 Mins

This is my son's reaction to seeing this toy for the first time. He loves it.

My 4 year old son got this as a birthday gift and loves it! It is very durable and the size is great, my son is 60 pounds and I was concerned that he would quickly out grow this tractor. He will be able to enjoy this for a long time! It was much easier to put together than some of the other reviews that I read. My son has quickly learned how to operate everything including the back hoe and is able to easily steer the tractor where he wants it go.

My son, who is almost 3, loves construction stuff. He sleeps with books about it, plays with toys that do it, spends hours in the sandpile "constructing", and watches construction trucks like a kid who is mezmerized!
This toy is great! We were fortunate enough to pick one up off Craigslist for a bit under $100. The family prior never used the excavator attachment as it is rather flimsy and they had no where to use it without breaking it.
WE DO! That other reviewer who mentioned most people not having a big pile of sand in their yard wasn't taking about us. No puny sandbox here. 6.5 ton of pure white sand in an 18' sandring will certainly provide the perfect venue for such a large & fun toy. And he happily pedals it down the hill to the bike trail and digs in the loose dirt along the sides like he knows what he's doing. So many uses here for fun.
Ours was already assembled and I watched a few YouTube videos on how to use the attachments and scoop. I showed my son and he was off "constructing" in no time.
He loves that it isn't motorized and noisy, he makes those noises himself and it's all imagination. The tractor looks just like the real thing and he likes that part. Kids and adults comment on it all the time, how neat it is.
I like that it's large, so he won't outgrow it for a while. It's metal where it needs to be and plastic for weight savings where it's not. The excavator is definately less well made & seems flimsy, so anything heavier or "packed" will certainly break it. You can use it, but only for sand, water, or dry fine dirt. Not really excavating. And the weight limit will certainly be reached on the excavator well before he outgrows the tractor portion.
The steering works really well and is easily turned.

I'm not sure why there are so many positive reviews of this toy, but I guess that other kids play differently with it. It is one of those toys that looks really cool to adults and the kids are excited about, but never actually gets used much. My kids wanted to take it outside and actually use it to dig in the dirt. And it doesn't do that very well. Mostly because in order to use it, you have to move it, and even my 6 year old can't pedal it over the grass or sand. The wheels only work on a hard surface, so they only time they were really able to use it is in the driveway to move some snow. I should also mention that 2 kids can't use it at once (like the real thing, you can't be on either end at the same time). Otherwise, this is an ENORMOUS toy and you have to have a place for it, which is difficult. No way is it a sandbox toy, as it doesn't even work in our 8 foot sandbox. It is my advice that for the same amount of money, you buy several construction vehicles from Little Tikes or Bruder that actually work in a sandbox or dirt and that kids can actually manipulate.

We got this for our boys' birthday and thought they would be really excited. They were, but they would like it a whole lot more if it was built a bit sturdier. The whole thing is plastic, so we aren't suspecting it will last too long with 3 boys using it. They do like and want to take it everywhere, but the tires have little to no traction, so unless the dirt is extremely hard packed with no bumps or you are on pavement, good luck using the pedals. They do like to park it and use the digger, but to actually scoop up gravel or dirt with the front scoop is not easy for a little one, so they get a bit frustrated. It's a great idea, but too costly for how it's made.