It is known that installed on a tractor or combine harvester agricultural guidance system from the first hours of use saves 15-20% of money on fuel, fertilizers and salary. Having decided to buy an agricultural guidance system, farmers are faced with a dilemma - to buy a new one at once or save money and buy used.
Look at the pros and cons of buying used direction finders and whether they are worth buying in the long run.
Advantages of buying used agricultural guidance system
The analysis of requests showed that the most popular is a navigation of famous brands like Trimble, TeeJet, Claas, Leica, Hexagon and others. Farmers who consider navigation from these brands, first of all, rely on their popularity and proven reliability.
Indeed, buying agricultural guidance system of a proven global brand, even used and not the newest model, there is some confidence that it will operate for a long time with the expected results.
Among the main advantages of used agricultural guidance system are:
- cost saving
- popular trusted manufacturer
- quality from a reliable brand
Disadvantages of buying used agricultural guidance system
Despite the pros, which give the purchase of a used navigator from a well-known brand, there are many risks associated with this decision.
1. Lack of support for multiple satellite systems
Some people do not pay attention to this and consider it a minor detail. For example, a popular used Trimble EZ 250, which started to be produced back in 2008 and has already been retired, works only on GPS signal, which significantly limits its accuracy and range of application. Accordingly, old models of agricultural guidance system have less accuracy and reliability of signal retention than new and modern ones.
2. No spare parts in case of repair
Agricultural guidance systems are usually operated in an intensive environment with dust, temperature fluctuations, moisture, and vibration. Buying a tractor guidance system that has been in use for more than a year, there is a great risk that it will break down quickly. Repair, especially of already outdated models, can be too expensive or even impossible due to the unavailability of spare parts.
3. Outdated and non-updated software
Software for an agricultural guidance system is as important as the hardware itself. Almost all models of navigators do not have support and software updates to the latest versions. Thus, there is a risk that they will not work at all over time, or will not support new features.
4. Low speed of operation
The equipment, which was produced many years ago, uses an old element base, which leads to lags in the work, the navigator heats up and periodically shuts down on its own.
What tractor guidance system to buy, so that it is not expensive, modern, and reliable
There is an opinion among advocates of used agronomical navigators that new navigation is very expensive, and the one that is cheaper will be worse than the Boo. However, this is not true. If you analyze the lineup of used and new quality tractor guidance systems by characteristics and prices, you can find quite decent new models, which will either be cheaper or in the same price range.
It is guided by such principles that we developed our line of Geotrek agricultural guidance systems, which includes both professional modern models and cheaper ones - budget ones. The main principle is that the driving accuracy and functionality of all our models, regardless of the price, are the same as the professional ones. The only difference is in some additional options, such as improved dust and moisture protection. Thus, by buying even a budget agricultural guidance system kit, like Geotrack Lite, you get advanced functionality, accuracy at the level of 10-15 cm from pass to pass on a free signal, and a modern Geotrack EVO parallel driving application based on the modern Android OS.
Unlike older models of agricultural guidance systems, our ones are constantly updated, support all known satellite systems, and work very fast.
Hence, we can conclude that it is realistic to buy a new agricultural guidance system without any additional risks associated with the purchase of a used one, and overpaying.
Agricultural guidance system geotrack Lite RTK L1/L2 is based on Samsung's 8.7-inch display with LTE, geotrack software and dual-frequency GM SMART receiver L1/L2. This is a low-cost agricultural guidance system with RTK that works with an accuracy of up to 2.5 cm. To get centimeter accuracy, you need RTK corrections or your own base station.
Agricultural guidance system geotrack Lite GM PRO is based on Samsung's 8.7-inch display, geotrack software and GM PRO receiver. The receiver has 14 channels to work with GPS, SBAS. Provides accuracy of tractor guidance, at the level of 15 cm from pass-to-pass. The GM PRO receiver has a special software GLIDE filter, which was developed for use in agriculture. Thanks to the smoothing mode feature high accuracy of parallel driving is provided.
Agricultural guidance system geotrack explorer PLUS is a new development by Geometer company, which provides 15 cm of accuracy from pass-to-pass, and the ability to connect to RTK and obtain an accuracy of 1-3 cm.