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MapShots ES or Apex??
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IACSR
Posted 3/24/2007 18:00 (#124930 - in reply to #124701)
Subject: In defense of APEX


I am an AMS specialist for a John Deere dealer in Iowa. First I should say that "Yes, I am biased." I have sold many many copies of APEX. But, I am also part of a large family farm, and I do own a copy of ES as well. We also own an Insight with and EZ-steer on our farm. Most of our equipment though is run through the GS2.
Anyway, I will be the first person in the world to admit that APEX does have it's challenges. If you think you're frustrated as an owner or user of APEX, imagine being in the possition of trying to make customers running the program happy. Progress with APEX has been slow, but I can say it's coming. I've run APEX 2.0, and most of the things you're hearing about the changes aren't just promises to make people happy. Speed is greatly improved, there's a batch export function, and several of the little frustrations have been fixed. I also agree that JD office was very close to a good program and we did step back with the release of APEX.
What I have learned though is that the majority of the customers I have using APEX are using it for simple features and have been satisfied with the results. APEX is not loaded up with bells and whistles like a lot of programs out there. I think APEX really takes a beating on forums because most of the people on forums have a more advanced knowledge of computers and expect more. The majority of the owners I have are not as advanced as many of the members of this forum. My basic explanation is that APEX is a basic "farmer" program, and although speed is an issue, it does a decent job of processing and entering data to save you time when you hit the field.

ES is faster and more high end user based. It's really a matter of preference, necessity, and knowledge base. I've read a lot of posts on this page, and the one thing that I've noticed is that Deere is a big target, and we all (myself included) like to take shots at the big target.

I think that Macy will be the first person to agree that all of the software programs as well as precision ag products out there right now have challenges. I read a post a while back where a guy went through completely re-wiring a 4720 sprayer to make it work properly with a DirectCommand system. That customer was very loyal to that system. If that had been a GS2, we'd all have heard about what a piece of junk it was and why doesn't deere play nice with others. Instead, we all spent days figuring out wiring diagrams, pin outs, signal rates, ect to solve the problem.

I ran a 2388 last year with an AFS system in it, which botched an entire season's worth of data. If nothing else, give deere a little credit for stepping up to the plate and trying to integrate everything instead of letting everyone else do it. Maybe they didn't hit a home run, or even make contact for that matter, on the first attempt with APEX, but atleast they're trying to help the ag customer out. Personally, I think there's something to be said for a system that's plug and play rather than adding harnesses and adapters and scotch-locks to make a system work.

I commend all of the outside companies like mapshots that are working to help the producer out. They have a great product. But the big plus to APEX and the GreenStar system is support. My customers can call me 7 days a week, and I'm only miles away. I will sit down and work through the problems with them directly. I tried to update my EZguide plus today and found that support at Ag Leader is closed saturday and sunday. StellarSupport is open. That's what I like.

So for all of you using ES, it's a good choice and I'm sure it will suit you well. That being said, there's still people out there happy with APEX and GreenStar. Why not just leave things at that?
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