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Last week we the chance to speak with Ross Tucker, the head Green Climber operator for the City of Bellevue, Ohio Water Treatment Facility. The City bought their Green Climber slope mower just over two years ago and since then Tucker has clocked in 255 hours on the machine. Like most customers, Tucker and his team were looking for new ways to manage the hard to reach vegetation within their facility.
"We have five reservoir banks with extremely steep slopes. To manage them we had a tractor with an extended boom and cutting head. You'd have to drive around the top and reach over the edge to cut. Then, drive around to the bottom, reach up and try to cut; Our safety issue was being able to mow these hillsides safely."
Tired of the tedious work, he started to search for new methods of keeping the berms maintained. Tucker found the Green Climber while performing research online. What interested him most was the stand-out features, such as the extendable tracks. He conferred with his team and scheduled a demo at his local dealership.
"We liked the idea about the tracks and the idea of the different attachments, you know, the versatility of the machine versus it just being for mowing," said Tucker. "Between the snowblower, finish mower, and the standard flail, so far the flail is the one I use most often. It's the most forgiving on uneven ground."
Being an avid video game enthusiast, Tucker caught on quickly to the Green Climber's remote control operating system. He admitted that even to an inexperienced user, the Green Climber is an easier machine to operate, compared to other heavy equipment in the field.
"It was easy for me to learn, I played video games a lot. It's the same concept [video game controllers] once you learn where all the buttons are you don't have to look at them. It is easy to learn, but you need to work your way up to the banking, starting on flat terrain first," said Tucker. "It was mostly learning the terrain. It's not a big deal. It's just what you're driving around, any fine control stuff so you don't run into a light pole."
Compared to their previous method of maintaining the reservoirs at the Water Treatment Plant, Tucker saw massive improvements once they employed the Green Climber. His team and himself felt safer and they were able to complete higher-quality work in a shorter amount of time.
"The Green Climber was more efficient than the extendaboom thing, we can get work done much quicker. The operator is away from it and you can see the whole picture a little bit better. When you're mowing, and you're finishing, and what you missed, didn't miss," said Tucker.
Now thankful for the purchase and an avid enthusiast for the machine, Tucker enjoys being able to use the Green Climber throughout the year.
"When we get around to use it, we pretty much run it all day. If I get a chance to get away with it I'll leave in the morning and then just come back in the afternoon. A tank of gas will do four hours, so I just fill it up twice and I'm good to go."
We are thankful for Ross Tucker's willingness to sit for an interview with our marketing team and his honesty when giving us a positive review. We are always excited to hear from happy customers and share their content with you.
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