Backhoe Vs Excavator Control Pattern - which do you prefer?

It’s the age-old question, do you prefer X pattern backhoe style levers, or + ISO style controls?

For many operators today the thought of using the traditional backhoe cross style control layout is a daunting prospect, but for those of us of a certain age, we grew up with them and as such its not a big deal to jump from one to another. In my opinion it’s definitely a state of mind thing, I once went for a job to operate a JCB 805B that had been changed to backhoe pattern and I just could not get my head around it, and yet I could jump on a 3CX and run it without any problems, the mind can certainly play tricks on you in such scenarios!

In this video well known American heavy equipment internet sensation Chris Guins aka LetsDig18 talks about how he runs both controls systems on his machines.

The question is, how do you guys deal with the situation or are you happy to run both?