It's possible to spend as much as $750,000 or more for a large, high-horsepower grinder. Given that kind of cash outlay for a single piece of equipment, you don't want to have any regrets about the one you ultimately choose.

Models cover the spectrum from small, niche market units rated at less than 100 hp to those upwards of 1,000 hp. Some of the largest machines top 1,200 hp with openings as large as 15 ft. Coupled with more features across all size ranges, the opportunity to enhance your productivity is increased - and so is the opportunity to make a costly mistake.

"We go through quite a lot of questions with customers," says Chris Edmonds, Morbark. "We try to learn as much as we can about their goals - what they're trying to accomplish, what type of end product they want to make and what sort of volumes they expect. There's quite a learning curve before we start recommending individual machines to anyone. Contractors may have an idea of what they think they need. But that might not be the best option. They may not be aware of other options that might be available to them."

Tub or horizontal?
The first step typically boils down to choosing between a tub grinder and a horizontal grinder. Since their entrance into the marketplace just a decade ago, some manufacturers indicate sales of horizontal grinders have grown to the point where they now outnumber tub grinders at a rate of 2:1. But that doesn't mean there isn't still a place for both.

Because they are gravity fed and have large-diameter openings, tub grinders are very efficient at chewing away at large, unwieldy debris such as stumps and root balls. A tub grinder's shortcomings are typically related to material length, which is limited to the depth of the tub.