Combines Autosteer hater

[Rod]

Autosteer - great idea for spreading, spraying, bed work, planting vineyards etc. Even great idea on harvesters with a 40' plus front. No good for contractors though - are you going to get paid for the extra $K's on capital invested - NO. Who really got paid for the extra $K's spent on yield mapping_GPS gear and the time spent in front of a computer generating pretty coloured mapsIJ Certainly not any contract harvesters that I've talked to. Therefore, I would be extremely suprised to see renumeraion for Autosteer on harvesters. Sure it will come, just as AC and a comfortable seat were options years ago on tractors, autosteer will be standard in years to come. Ham, as for the type of Autosteer - yes, very good question. I'm looking at a Zync for my top dressing business. The reason is I have a AG132 and PSO - my spreader is a Bogballe on a JD. I need to hook the Autosteer guidance system_variable rate (Zync) to the AG132 then to the Bogballe controller. I thought I would be able to hook it all through the G* but G* won't talk to the Bogballe controller and the AG132 won't talk to the G* guidance system. Do I think autosteer is of benefit - definately yes - but pick your application carefully. Ask yourself, are you going to get paid for itIJ

 

[Ham]

Hi Rod.. How's things in CQ.IJ When i bought my STS with mapping, Deere blahhed on about how they realised they now had to be compatible with other companies PA stuff.. Sounds like from your experience it was more a marketing concept than anything resembling a fact.. My immediate interest in Autosteer is that since going No Till 2 years ago i just have no idea of where the mark is 32 feet away, especially at night. Since I use the same tractor on 130 ft. sprayer i figure that the investment would be well used. It would cost Aus$ 13,000 to add Accutrak to my existing Starfire receiver. That only gives me up and back, with accuracy around 10 cm. For the next few years I think thats all i require. I doubt Id bother fitting it to the STS, but Id have to add another 4 feet to get to 40 ... : ) I really dont have any VRT aspirations, although the 3450 Flexicoil aircart is reasonably easily upgraded to that capability. So Ive been sniffing around for some time, and will do so a while longer, but figure i have to have something in place by about next March. But thats a long time in the Precision Ag. field. The Zynz is made down here in SA by Eldredge. A lot of the development work was done in conjunction with a guy who farms not so far from here. He did some contract harvest work for me a few years back and is a good guy and very switched on. He's the "thumbs up" guy in their advert. But i had unresolved problems with Eldredge stuff some years back and swore id never buy it again. Seems like its now pretty good stuff, but i have a long memory, and i just won't buy it no matter how good it now is. Darned principles...... : ) Ham

 

[todd08]

What is your opinion on Farmscan-computronics systemIJ I would think it would be a very good option for you as well. Definitely agree JD is not very compatible.

 

[Ham]

I know a guy with the Farmscan guidance system that he gets along well with, and has plans to upgrade to full Autosteer. I've had a couple of other Farmscan units in the past, and found them to be very good equipment. Its just their system likely is more than i need at the moment

 

[Rod]

G'day Ham, I'm not quite in CQ, more like southern NSW - and if it doesn't rain here "yesterday" we won't have to worry about harvest at all. Crops are absolutely desperate for rain. It's hard to beleive that they have still hung on after only 4-5" of rain this year. Getting back to the autosteer topic - I still don't know which way to go. It would make it a bloody lot side easier if JD (G*) would talk to other systems. I feel the only way to resolve this issue is to get "Cut-lunch" to do an in depth factual and practicle analysis of the autosteer requirements for a modern well managed farming business. Even if Cut lunch felt this was possibly outside his vast experience - the story would at least be entertainig! I pressume he has given up calf roping as a careerIJ

 

[Bundy]

Have just done a lot of looking into the big compatability problem or Yeild, Autosteer, VRT and others and the only two options I have come up with are Greenstar or a combo of Ag leader and Trimble. Obviously everyone has their own tastes and wants, but the best system I see here in Aust at the moment that doesn't requite RTK (base station) is the AG leader insight console working off a HP 252 Trimble reciever and running the Trimble Autopilot system and with the ez guide plus for manual guidence. Very good, very accurate, very user friendly. Only problem at the moment is that the Insight is very unproven here is Aus at this stage but no doubt over the up coming harvest they will soon be sorted out. Cheers Bundy

 

[curlboy]

We have been running a G* with Accutrak autosteer on a 9400 and quite like it with the SF2 signal.

 

[Ham]

oops! I do apologise Rod!! My error.. only one of many Ive made in my time, and hopefully the chance for many more yet.. Just where in Sthn NSW..IJ My sister and B-I-l used to grow rice at Jerilderie, but moved further north to run cattle and a few sheep a few years back now. I'll pass on your suggestion regarding an in-depth article to the man himself and see what his reaction is. I'd doubt it is his area of expertise, but i know he has had a small play with a unit similar to what Curlboy describes, and since I expect to head in just about exactly the same direction, he likely will experiment some with mine when its set up. I believe that pesky cow made partly made the BBQ he and his young daughter and i enjoyed one day while on an all day crop inspection. The moral of the story.. dont tick him off!!! Im hoping hard for rain..for you, and me... We arent quite as desperate as you yet I think but it wont be long if it keeps up like today.

 

[todd08]

I run the Farmlap with Starfire SF2, and get along quite well. We used to run SF2 on the low end Autofarm auto-steer. The last tech switched us over to WAAS, but I did put the SF2 on at the end of drilling season and there was a noticeable improvement in the SF2 over WAAS. But in the spring I could not notice any sizeable difference.

 

[Rod]

Small world - I'm only about 120k's north Jerilderie near a little place called Yenda. We used to grow a lot of rice around this area but politicians playing with our livelihood under the seemingly influence of the vocal minority and successive dry years have totally changed outlook of this industry and area. Vineyards are more and more dominating the landscape. It seems that we are going to drink wine 3 meals a day rather than eat rice and other such staple foods. Arn't we such a fortunate small part of the community that politicians and their advicers have it all mapped out for usIJ