What Is an Excavator? Hitachi 850 vs 350 FAQ (With a Note on 'Nail Drill' and 'Fire Drill')

If you've ever typed 'hitachi excavator' into a search bar and ended up bouncing between an 85-ton monster, a 35-ton workhorse, and a page about nail drills, you're in good company. Below are the questions I get most often when someone needs a Hitachi excavator in a hurry, or just wants to know what they're actually looking at.

In my role coordinating parts and emergency equipment for a Hitachi dealer, I've handled more than 200 rush orders in the last nine years. Same-day final drive deliveries. After-hours hydraulic cylinder calls. A contractor on the phone with a $50,000 penalty clause in the background. So this is not a textbook spec dump.

• What is an excavator?
• What is the Hitachi 850 excavator?
• What is the Hitachi 350 excavator?
• Hitachi 850 vs 350: which should you choose?
• Wait—what do 'nail drill' and 'fire drill' have to do with excavators?
• How do you handle an emergency excavator request without overpaying?
• What should you inspect before renting or buying a used Hitachi 350 or 850?

What is an excavator?

An excavator is a heavy machine with a boom, stick, and bucket on a rotating upper platform. It digs, demolishes, grades, and moves material. You'll see them everywhere from highway cut projects to mining pits to residential basements. Most people are looking at tracked excavators, but wheeled versions exist too.

If you're trying to explain it to someone who isn't in construction: it's basically a giant mechanical arm on a rotating base. The value is in the arm. One operator can move tons of earth per hour without a crew of people with shovels.

Honest limitation? An excavator is not a crane. It can lift some loads, but lifting capacity is not its primary purpose. If you need precision lifting, use a crane. And if anyone is working in a trench, keep in mind that federal OSHA excavation standards (29 CFR 1926.651) require cave-in protection and a way in and out within 25 feet. I've seen a good crew shut down because this was missing.

What is the Hitachi 850 excavator?

The Hitachi 850 excavator is the 85-ton class machine, often called the EX850-5 or similar depending on the year and market. It's built for heavy earthmoving, quarry work, large road construction, and mining support. It weighs around 85 metric tonnes, give or take, and it's noticeably bigger than an ordinary job-site excavator.

What makes an 850 different? The boom and arm are heavier. The final drives are bigger. The hydraulic system is designed for sustained high-volume digging, not just occasional trenching. If you need to move thousands of cubic yards of material per day, an 850 makes sense.

Honestly, I'm not 100% sure of every bucket capacity for every configuration, because Hitachi offers different arms and buckets. What I do know is that buying or renting an 850 means you're committing to high production and high fuel burn. It's not a machine that makes sense for tiny foundation work.

What is the Hitachi 350 excavator?

The Hitachi 350 excavator is the roughly 35-ton class machine, like the ZX350LC or EX350. It's the workhorse of large construction sites that aren't huge mining sites. You'll see it digging storm water lines, doing demolition, and moving material on a subdivision job.

In most utility and commercial projects, this is the machine that does the heavy lifting without being impossible to move. It can typically use a 1.5 to 2.5 cubic yard bucket, though the exact number depends on the stick and counterweight. Don't hold me to exact numbers for a specific year.

The 350 is often the right answer for a contractor who thinks they need a bigger machine. It costs less to transport, burns less fuel, and still has enough breakout force to break through compacted soil and asphalt. There's a reason it's one of the most common rental sizes in North America.

Hitachi 850 vs 350: Which one should you choose?

There's no universal 'better' machine. Only a better fit. I went back and forth with a client last year who was convinced he needed an 850 for a road project. The 850 had more power. Site access? Tight. Material piles? Small. He finally rented a 350 for two weeks and finished the job with fewer days than budgeted.

Choose the 850 when you're doing mass excavation, rock work, mining, or feeding large haul trucks. Choose the 350 when you're digging trenches, doing foundations, clearing land, or moving material in layers.

I'd also say this: if you're not moving at least 1,000 cubic yards of material per day, an 850 is probably overkill. The cost per yard drops when utilization is high, but the cost per yard goes through the roof when it's sitting half-loaded waiting for dump trucks.

And if you're on the fence, rent first. Rental gives you a week to learn what the cycle times actually do to your schedule. Trust me on this one.

What do 'nail drill' and 'fire drill' have to do with excavators?

Probably nothing. I'll be straight with you: if you searched for 'nail drill' because you need a beauty tool, you don't need an excavator. If you searched for 'fire drill' because you're writing a workplace emergency plan, an excavator won't help you practice the alarm route.

What I think happens is search engines see the word 'drill' and match it to pages about heavy equipment attachments. That creates the connection. If you're in construction and you really mean a drill that can make holes in nails or steel, you're more likely looking for a magnetic drill or an impact driver. If you're trying to bore fence post holes or sign posts, what you actually want is an excavator with a hydraulic auger attachment.

So, quick clarification: 'nail drill', in the beauty industry, is not our world. 'Fire drill', in the safety world, is a plan and an alarm test. Neither is a type of Hitachi excavator. But now you know what to search for instead.

How do you handle an emergency excavator request without overpaying?

Based on our internal data from 200+ rush jobs, most emergency requests come from broken undercarriages or hydraulic cylinders, not complete machine failures. Two years ago, a contractor called at 7 AM on a Friday. Maybe 7:30—I'd have to check the call log. His excavator had thrown a track on Monday, and he'd already lost two days of asphalt work. Ordinary parts delivery would have pushed him into next week.

We found a final drive in stock at another Hitachi dealer about 500 miles away. I want to say $850 in emergency freight, but don't quote me on that. The part itself was around $4,200. Delivered Friday night. The machine was running Saturday morning. The client's alternative was renting a replacement for $3,000 plus a week of downtime. That $850 freight charge was a no-brainer.

What I learned from that, and dozens of similar calls, is that the value of guaranteed turnaround isn't just the speed, it's the certainty. Have a vendor list before the breakdown. Know which dealers stock parts for your machine. It's easier to make one urgent phone call when you already know where to point it.

What should you inspect before renting or buying a used Hitachi 350 or 850?

When I first started coordinating equipment, I assumed the machine with the lowest hours was always the right purchase. It took years to unlearn that. A used 850 with 12,000 hours and documented engine work can beat an 8,000-hour machine with no records and a hydraulic system full of surprises.

For a used Hitachi excavator, check the following before signing anything:

• Maintenance records. Look for regular filter changes, oil samples, and final drive service.
• Undercarriage condition. Pins, bushings, track links, and sprockets are expensive to replace.
• Hydraulic oil and cylinders. A burnt smell means heat damage. Weepy cylinder seals are not the end of the world, but know what you're taking on.
• Bucket teeth and cutting edges. That's your operating cost forecast.
• Leaks. Check the swing gear and final drives.
• EPA compliance. Depending on your state and the machine's engine tier, an older unit may be restricted in certain air quality districts.

If the machine is going to be used near a trench, also remember the OSHA ladder rule I mentioned above. An excavator is not an attendance record. Personnel access and cave-in protection are on you.

Rentals are a little different. Get the rental company's response time in writing. On a site with penalty clauses, a promise to fix 'soon' is worthless. You want a phone number of the person who will actually get the repair moving.