Farmer........Have you ever looked at one of these combines let alone read information about themIJ Seems to me that everyone is very hard on these machines. Saying thier to wide or to heavy or to expensive. Take what kind of a machine it is and compare it to the others and to be completely honest I think they are fairly competitve. Get yourself a brochure and look at what these lexions have to offer farmer. They are going to set new levels I believe in the combining market. Case and point: At the Husker Harvest days this year in nebraska it was told to me that deere had a 9610 and case had a 2388 both with 8 row cornheads. Cat's lexion had a 12 row and was pushing the heck out of them both. You need to realize that with this price your are purchasing the highest capacity machine available from what I can see along with the latest in technology for operator ease along with quick and careful harvesting of the particular crop your in. I run a 9600 myself because of the dealer network and also because of price. But to be completely honest I just think that if you watch in the coming years your going to see deere and case both copying some of cat's ideas. As far as gleaner is concerned. We just don't talk about the silver seeders much for comparison here at home.....lOl.....Just kidding fellows. Back to subject at hand. I realize I am going to get criticized for my views on this machine somewhat but opinions are the breaking ground for great ideas sometimes. Just a thought........