tedbear - 8/18/2017 07:58

More Info. I was able to update my InCommands to V 2.5 yesterday without any problems. I had access to the ECU update for the SteerCommand and performed that update as well.

I also became aware that there is an update for the 6500 GPS as well as the aforementioned updates for the InCommands and the ECUs. The update for the 6500s allows them to work with TerraStar L. A menu item for TerraStar L is added with the InCommand update. In other words, I did an update for each InCommand, each ECU for SteerCommand and each 6500 GPS. This took a while.

TerraStar L is a lower end subscription service from the TerraStar folks. If the 6500 GPS is new enough (based on the Serial Number), the owner is entitled to a one year free subscription to the service. Older 6500s can get the update free but would not be entitled to the one time free yearly subscription. It appears that the yearly subscription for TerraStar L is $400. The TerraStar L unlock is free whereas the TerraStar C unlock is not but might be included in another package deal.

At this point, I have three InCommand 1200s, each with a SteerCommand ECU and GPS 6500s. All of them have the TerraStar C unlock but only one has a subscription which is for TerraStar C. After the updates, I literally drove each tractor on a gravel road to check things out.

When I drove the tractor that has the TerraStar C subscription, I could choose either TerraStar C or TerraStar L. It appeared that both worked fine but I assume that I would choose TerraStar C since this is the higher end correction service. I noticed that the convergence value for TerraStar C was 30" as before. When I chose TerraStar L as the correction source, the convergence value is 24" which puzzled me. Maybe I was actually still getting the higher level correction even though I chose TerraStar L.

When I drove the tractors that don't have a TerraStar subscription (they do have the TerraStar C unlock), I got no correction which was expected. When I switched the source to WAAS the correction was switched and they behaved as expected after waiting for WAAS.

So I believe I'm completely up to date. The two tractors could be subscribed to TerraStar L or TerraStar C if needed. The other tractor which does the planting will likely remain on TerraStar C.

In some respects the TerraStar L service versus TerraStar C seems to be somewhat like Omnistar XP versus HP. TerraStar L is cheaper than TerraStar C but is less accurate. Maybe comparing the TerraStar choices is not like comparing the Omnistar choices.

Heres a press release on TerraStar L:

https://www.novatel.com/about-us/news-releases/news-releases-2016/ne...


Yeah, it says 40 cm, so more like maybe a stable more repeatable WAAS??? just a guess on my part