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Future Precision Tech Advice
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Fingers77
Posted 5/25/2023 21:16 (#10243689 - in reply to #10243488)
Subject: RE: Future Precision Tech Advice



You had a long winded post, I've got a long winded reply... I hope this gives you a little insight.

For the best bang for your buck, it may for you (short term 3-5 years) be best to do what you want in steps.

Since you already have a core Trimble and PP setup, you could stick with them and augment what you have and save/decide switching to AgLeader later since it will be the larger investment.

The first thing I recommend is get an FMX, they're plentiful used and will be reasonably priced. They CAN do all you will need in the future, though yield mapping is tedious, and planter monitoring is MUCH better with a 20/20. It will replace the 750 inexpensively and has a MUCH better user interface.

It can run your steering and can run any application control you want later (spraying, fertilizing, etc). Most wiring and modules you can get used to further save money.

If you lose dealer support, then make the decision to go to AgLeader or just continue to consult the thinkquanauts here on NAT. If you are already setup and getting along ok, there isn't a whole lot to go bad. There are several of us here still running them and know a good bit about them.

We get along OK with air clutches still. Yes, they're old tech but they're pretty simple and reasonably reliable.

The FMX COULD do yield monitoring, but if Precision has a kit, it doesn't get much easier to run a 20/20 in the combine. Year in and year out I am less than 1% of scale tickets if I calibrate a few times a season, and calibration is a snap. I have my FMX's NAV feed GPS to my 20/20. We have yield unlocked on our FMX, but I do not use that functionality because the 20/20 is so much better, and the Yield Sense is VERY accurate.

One advantage to an FMX is the same rate and section controller used for spraying could also be used for fertilizer application as well as ANY application you want to control with an FMX short of a Rawson drive, which you NEVER want. You do not need different controllers for dry, liquid, or nitrogen applications. You can just take the controller off one implement and attach it to another. I've done it for years and it's easy.

We ran several years with only 3 modules. Preplant with one, plant with two, take the preplant module and spray with it. One of the planter modules then ran the side dress bar. Later on, two of them went on the fertilizer spreader. They got used all season.

For corrections, you could TRY CenterPoint RTX and see how you get along with it. "Here" it's VERY repeatable and accurate. Not QUITE as accurate as RTK, but VERY close. I like it because all you need is ONE antenna for the monitor and nothing else. No radios, no modems, just an AG25 antenna on the roof. It makes switching from one unit to another easy.

If RTX isn't for you, depending on your geography, a cell based RTK would be my next go to. They don't have the line of sight issues that Radio RTK has. YOu have Digifarm (several on here know loads about it) and Trimble has VRS.

We are stuck with Trimble because of decisions made more than a decade ago when Ag Leader and Trimble ended their collaboration. We had to make a decision. At the time it was the right one. Now, I am not sure who we would go to if we had to choose.

Tedbear and several others here love their AgLeader hardware and get along fine. We have two InCommand 1200's sitting in a file cabinet. We removed them and are storing them.

I've run the InCommand, and while I have an appreciation for some of it's features, it IS faster than an FMX, it IMO has many drawbacks. Maybe it's because we have run FMX's so long, I don't know. I'd run one if I had to, I know I would get used to it.

We pulled the InCommand out of the Hagie because my FIL had a hate/hate relationship with it. At least 2-3 times a season we had to have the dealer out to fix troubles. Once it was the Steer Command that went bad, another was an ethernet cable, another was a bad relay. I just don't run nor really understand HOW AgLeader does things so I was little help. It frustrated me to no end. One thing I absolutely HATE is the lack of the ability to re open an event once it's been closed. It makes NO sense to me. Yes, you CAN load it as a background, but if you make a mistake and close an event, it's closed. This is one place where having an FMX spoils me. Having to have different modules depending on what you are trying to apply is something I also don't like about AL.

AVP_Matt was instrumental in keeping our 1200's running when we had them on equipment.

That's my .02



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