This set is pretty basic Technic and there's not much to write about it. It looks simple, yet realistic, perfectly recognizable form and shape. It has wheels, but no steering, like its real counterpart. It has two functions for the bucket, and they work well enough for its size. Playability is great, it rolls, digs and dumps like you expect, and you can even fit a minifig inside, but it won't be a good fit, obviously.

The B model is not a masterpiece, but it also works and has working steering, which is nice. Together A and B models teach the basics of Technic functions: steering, gearing, arms and levers. So this can be a good "starter" set to try Technic.

Parts-wise, it's a good mix of Technic: a couple of gears, some axles, some connectors, some beams, a handful of various pins, even a couple of panels. The wheels are all freely-rotating, they can't connect to an axle, and the bucket is rarely useful. I think this can be a good cheap "booster" to add more Technic parts for an owner of other, bigger Technic models.

The biggest flaw of this set, in my opinion, is the lack of the second arm of the bucket. It really looks somewhat wonky and a bit unrealistic without it. I think Lego could afford to add 8-10 more parts to make it symmetrical. The arm has some leeway or play, making it not ideal to play, maybe adding one friction pin to the arm could fix that.

In general, I think that this set is definitely good as both starter or booster, on par with 42088, but a bit worse than 42102 or 42084 which have similar functions but more gear.

Summary

I would consider this a fair entry level set. I wouldn't have bought it but for the shovel piece and the red rims.
As an introduction to technic it seems to be adequate: You will get two functions: One is driven by a gear transmission that even has a worm gear, the second "function" (tilt of the bucket) is achieved by a lever.

Set

Boxes for small technic sets have become bigger in the past years. Main reason could be that instruction book(let)s are larger than they used to be (+ 25 % on width and height).
This sets box is 1 cm higher than the one from #42117 (the second small technic set of 2021).

Box & its content. The size of the tablet is 40x60 cm.

Note that there is not a single sticker in this set. You'll get two printed tiles that represent some gauges for the operator.

Interesting or rare parts include the shovel bucket (#42053, #42043, #10255), the red wheel rims, the worm gear.

Building

Even the small sets vary in their set up and assembly procedure. There are four gears to raise/lower the boom within small volume (3x4x7) behind the drivers cabin. The chassis is very solid.
One wouldn't expect (also) steering mechanism implemented. The four wheels are only rotating freely.

Finished appears slightly bigger than last years tractor (#42102).

Functions

There are two functions in the model: Elevation of the boom and tilt of the bucket. Both are working so-so: There are a couple of friction pins used that prevent the boom from (too much) dangling. At the same time these impose some force towards the lift mechanism: If you want to tilt the bucket, it will also move up respectively down. The slack originating from the worm gear in the lift transmission is adding to this.

Thus don't expect precision control when loading or unloading any goods.

Furthermore, the geometry of the bucket does not allow to easily scoop up any (small) parts. This will work best if they cannot be pushed away while loading.

Conclusion

This is an entry level set that would certainly demonstrate what lego Technic is about. In the past, comparable sets (#42032, #8235) have been much bigger than this one.

Spare parts from set are in the shovel. I built a colour variant that got fitted with a fork lift.