CATERPILLAR small Excavator

Ginchy but pinchy
My preschooler loves this excavator. In the morning he will play with it for hours in his playroom, and still drag it out with him to the sandbox or garden for the afternoon. He never tires of it. Being a typically sturdy Bruder toy, it will probably never tire of him, either.

That said, it is a nasty piece of work on his tiny, tender hands! Each time he's played with it since we gave it to him for his birthday last week, it has pinched him somewhere. His palms and fingers have little purple bruises from the pinches. I haven't yet identified why this particular model does this. He has two other, larger Bruder diggers/trucks which have never "bitten" him.

If this were a lesser-loved toy, I'd just take it away from him. But fat chance -- he LOVES this toy. Instead I'll just have to keep telling him to play more gently with it.
Great toy, but can be pinchy.
My 2.5 year old boy loves this toy and wants to play in the sandbox with it all day if I let him. He can be rough with his toys, but this particular toy seems to be holding up pretty well w/o any damage from my little monster. As one of the reviewers mentioned, it can potentially pinch little fingers. It's because the handle attached to the boom requires some coordination to operate... and most toddlers don't have that coordination. It even took me some practice to maneuver it in order to scoop sand w/ it. So the little boy rather likes to hold the arm of the excavator and scoop sand with the bucket directly w/o using the handle. Doing so, his fingers sometimes get pinched between the hydraulics and arm of the excavator. My boy learned it quickly and he avoids getting his fingers pinched... and it doesn't seem to be a big problem. I guess that's part of learning toddlers get with this toy. Overall, this is a great toy except for the price. But it's made in Germany not in...
great little digger
My son is pretty tough on toys but this one held up great. It has dug and dug and dug some more. It is very detailed. The feet came off once or twice but they snap right back. Hoses off just great.
Click to see full Features and advantages

Bruder Toys Mack Granite Garbage Truck (Ruby, Red, Green)

It's not a garbage truck....
It's not a garbage truck... It's an awesome truck! My 4 yr old already has 3 other Bruder trucks, and this one is the best one yet. I got it in the mail and showed my husband before I wrapped it for my kiddos birthday and my husband didn't want to put it back in the box.
The working parts and easy of playing is child's play. I tore & crumpled sheets of paper, that is literally enough fun for hours. For a toy to be that cool and keep a 4 year old's attention for that long is awesome. So it will be hard deciding which Bruder truck we buy for Christmas.
We have noticed the more money you spend the cooler the toy. It's a good/bad thing, but so far it has also been worth the money.
One of my sons favorites!
Like many kids, my son is obsessed with garbage trucks. He just turned 2 and we purchased this for him when he was about 1 and a half so much earlier than the recommendation. Even though that's the case, he just absolutely loves it. It's big and just absolutely beautiful and detailed. Most importantly, it's functional and durable. Even though we have had it for 6 months, it looks brand new. Nothing is broken even though he runs it in to walls and is not gentle with any of the moving parts.

Probably the best feature is that it actually comes with two trash bins that can fit on the back and have flip covers that can dump "Trash" into the trash truck and then be flipped in to a different compartment. It also has two doors that open so an action figure that is purchased separately could be placed inside. Make no mistake, this truck is expensive-but if you think your child will like it and play with it for a long time, it will last. A note on Bruder trucks is that I...
My son's favorite toy!
I bought this for my son's 2nd birthday. It is now his absolute favorite toy. He plays with it everyday for the past 4 months. The details are great and it seems very durable. The mechanism for dumping the cans, compressing the garbage and emptying the garbage are fun and easy to use. It is quite big and sturdy. An investment, yes, but for us it was well worth it. If your child is into garbage trucks this is the primo one out there.
Click to see full Features and advantages