I don't know about your neighbors, but I have never heard a JD combine owner say anything bad about those green grinders, even when they cost an arm and a leg to rebuild_repair year after year and feed the pheasants. The full finger auger is a band-aid fix on the JD flex head, to compensate for their shallow flighting. The deep flighting on the 800 head is great, especially in good yielding crops. In sparse crops, it can suffer but requires other adjustments to improve feeding. Easiest is to adjust reel fingers tipped back all the way so crop is carried back closer to the auger. Use the reel effectively; that's why it's there. The JD head suffers severely from their short flighting in good crop. You'll also want to install a set of the raised feathering sheets from AGCO which improve feeding of the 800 in short crops. You can still use the Johnson Rock Guard, but the raised feathering sheets will do a far better job of improving feeding into the conveyor auger. I wouldn't want AGCO to put a full fingered auger in the 800. Not necessary and too great a chance to break off and get in combine. I suspect your JD friends are overstating the role of the full fingered auger.