Practical test: Claas Targo K60-122 telehandler Quite why the Claas Targo telehandler hasn’t sold in large numbers in the UK remains a real mystery. Machine availability? Lack of marketing push from the manufacturer? Dealer apathy? Whatever. The fact is though that this distinctive looking handler has performance capabilities worthy of greater sales exposure as our profi test team finds out
Sporting the futuristic profile of a lunar landing craft, the Targo was always going to score highly in any ‘stop and stare’ contest at Smithfield 2000, the date chosen by Claas for the global launch of its most radical handler to-date.
Four years on, the machine may continue to carry that bubble-like look. Yet much else has changed. Mid-2002 saw an upgrade to spec and various aspects of the design while production also transferred, from the former Caterpillar factory at Saxham, alongside the Claas UK headquarters, to Caterpillar BCP, at Leicester.
Not surprisingly, all of these past changes have had a serious effect on supply and availability, which explains, in part, why we were not able to get hold of a test Targo until mid-2003. What model did we get?
Well, as can clearly be seen from the pictures below and on the following pages, our eventual test candidate turned out to be a 4t/6m+ K60, the contractor ‘shovel’ type mid-range ‘K’ model that slots between the 3t/6m K50 and 3.5t/7m+ K70. In short, the K60 is for beet/grain farms looking to load bulky materials with quick cycle times, whereas the K70 unit is targeted more at the general farm user – or a buyer who is prepared to sacrifice a little load power to gain an extra metre in max lift height forwhen, say, lifting big bales up into tall barns.
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