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SOIL | Sure.
First thing is when you try to do an install, you have to make sure all the firmware on the NAV, Display and Receiver all align. This does need done on other equipment as well, including Deere, but the way the 700 requires it done doesn't make a whole lot of common sense, particularly where it has to be done by a dealer or you have to get the special software and load it yourself from a laptop.
Updates can't easily be done on your own either. I tried to run an update from a USB drive once, then ended up making a service call when the NAV disagreed with the version number.
I plugged a John Deere Gen 5 display into a 2008 combine recently and it told me the Auto Steer controller software was about 15 years out of date, but it didn't prevent me from using the machine anyway.
2nd, Maps. Yes, it has maps, but they look like they're from the 90s. This was still being sold in new equipment last year. The Demo combine I ran last year, I could not run a map and have other combine details on the same page. Deere has done this successfully since 2007.
3rd, the software in general is several years behind Deere. Deere has Implement Guidance, AutoPath (pass recording) and guidance line generation all within the unit. The 700 has very poor guidance line management. It can, but it's clunky and difficult to use.
In the end, the 700 does one thing very well: Drive straight lines. That's about it. For tillage, this works, but when I'm thinking of precision ag as a whole and trying to modernize my fleet, gain better guidance options and consider ease of use for my drivers, the 700 is not what I would consider to fill all those options.
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Pro 700 on combine, what to add steering?
