Home being the PNW and after working for years with PSM, Highline, Young, Pierce and Jewell compound thumbs that roll out flat with the bucket and finding myself
in the thumb wasteland that is New England... It makes me smile to think of a properly set up thumb with Cat pistol grips for demolition, clearing, stacking and loading.
I am fortunate that the company I work for here, keeps a 300 with a hydraulic thumb. The tradition here, as mitch pointed out leans toward manual thumbs. They work
and they are cheap but are limited in their reach and ability by comparison. Most of the hydraulic thumbs here lack the compound linkage and the cylinder is pinned directly
to the thumb pad. This is dramatically better than manual however it still is unable to roll out with the bucket through its arc. Also the cylinder is exposed to any side load
the pad may endure through either operator error/abuse, thumb pad distortion when closing due to improper design or fabricated out of material not up to the task and
pin and or bushing wear allowing movement of the pad as it closes. In my experience with this set up if you are careful and keep an eye on the thumb for twisting load it
will work for you. skyking1 has a point that if your slugging utilities in, the thumb is probably in the way. Good Luck which ever way you go. There seems to be a plethora
of machines available in the neighborhood that are already tooled up with a PNW thumb and matched bucket. Leave the breaker on the 490... in Redmond you will probably need it!