Maybe I'll get thrashed for this but I helped a friend buy a 2000 250 deere and he is quite happy with it. There are some good and bad points to each brand imo. The deere is hard to see out of when the boom is up a couple feet and the 3 cylinder engine has a vibration at certain rpms.
But other then a hyd valve spool centering spring breaking Doug has had no real complaints. Its a larger machine then the s175 or s185, more in line with a 863 but with the vertical lift boom. They are quite stable do to a long wheel base and extra weight. As this was Deere first attemped at their own skidsteer (not a rebadged New Holland or a Owatonno) they did have some minor bugs that caused problems in the first series, but these were addressed with updates.
If you going to use the thing 30 to 50 hours a week then get just what you want or need, but if you going to use it 2 to 5 hours a week I'd take a clean Deere over a thrashed Bob, and any skidsteer beats the h#ll out of a wheel barrow
A s175 is just the new number for a 773 g series. and a 773 Turbo (10 more hp engine) became a s185. Otherwise they are identicle
Ken