Super Boom Shootout Tests JLG, Genie 180-Foot-Plus Boomlifts

A panel of judges from Sunbelt Rentals, Hertz Equipment Rental, civil contractor Traylor Bros. and forensic engineering consultant Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, along with Engineering News-Record deputy editor Tudor Van Hampton, and Lift & Access president and publisher Guy Ramsey spent an entire day in Las Vegas last month reviewing and comparing the various features of Genie’s SXD-180, a 180-foot boomlift, and JLG’s 1850SJ, a 185-foot unit. The two machines are the largest self-propelled aerial work platforms in the world.

The purpose of the “Super Boom Shootout” was not to definitively rate one machine as better than the other, but rather to compare and contrast the various features of the machines.