The rake attachments do a good job of picking up limbs or piles of brush without picking up dirt and leaves with them. The thumb is almost a necessity if it's a machine used for land management. I'd love to have it to hold big limbs and smaller diameter trees (12" - 18") while cutting them and save our backs. I've seen an attachment that actually will split the bigger rounds (can be used to quarter them before putting them on the splitter so not wrestling as much weight). I'm not sure I could justify that expense. Excavators aren't the best choice for maintaining driveways or lanes, tractors still win out on that.An excavator is what the gardener wants. I like the idea of the thumb for picking up logs and such.
I do think The Gardener is spot on, it helps close the gap on what we'd like to accomplish and what we are physically able to move with our bare hands. LOL, I've discovered some large rocks in the woods that I'd love to bring up by the cabin...so far I haven't figured out a way to make that happen with the tools currently at my disposal.