Everybody is talking about "Class" of combines. I have yet to have someone tell me where the list of criteria is that designates class. Neither the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) have a designation basis.(threshing, separating, cleaning areas, horsepower and grain tank capacities, other measurablesIJ) I also have looked into the Prarie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI) and found no classification system. I did some research on this issue a couple of years ago and found-out the original source of these classifications came from the folks that printed the annual farm equipment "RED BOOK". I called them and learned that they no longer do combine classifications. Years ago before rotary combines came on the market, the classification system was pretty simple for conventional combines. Things got muddy when rotary separation became available and was being compared to walker separation. No one was able to devise a consistant comparison criteria. So the end result is the classification system was dropped in the annual "Red Book". This Forum would be a great place for reporting any additional information and its source. Especially if people "inside" the companies that manufacture combines(techs and engineers, not sales and marketing) would contribute. This, afterall is not proprietary information. If there are any University studies available on these issues, could they be reported hereIJ I for one am still interested in a reasonably accurate way to compare combines of all types (on paper),knowing full well that the only true way to compare combines is side-by-side in the same field on the same day,preferably with feed-rate controls on them. Please folks, tell the Forum where the quality information is.