Re: navigating the field

Posted by redforlife on May 07, 2022 at 09:04:15 from (174.210.135.116):

In Reply to: navigating the field posted by CKain(MI) on May 07, 2022 at 07:40:03:

I don't use it. Simply because I don't have new enough equipment to install it on.
But I have hired out, to operate other people's equipment that had all that GPS stuff on it.

My thoughts. I really like the row shut off feature, when planting (made possible by GPS). A lot of terraced ground around here. A lot of point rows. So the automatic row shut off, is huge in this neck of the woods.

I have never spread fertilizer with GPS. But fertilizer rates being adjusted by GPS according to soil tests, would be just as huge or better, than the row shut off is. There are MANY fields in this area where the lower part of feild is prime bottom ground, further up in elevation is some really thin ground, and up at the top (if levels out again) is some fairly descent ground. This, mind you, all being in one field. Change of fertilizer rates, is a huge thing when it comes to that. Made possible by GPS.

That said, aside from those features, you can take GPS and shove it, in my opinion. I can live without auto steer, and the rest of that non-sense. In certain situations, you (as an operator) got to over ride what the GPS is telling you. Especially if your GPS system is not all that sophisticated, and giving you problems because of that. When you are experiencing that, you are in for a really long day, and might not get a whole lot done.

One time I was planting corn for a guy. His GPS system would not always jump to a different satellite perfectly. Some times it would be off by feet, some times inches, when it transitioned. Basically you would have to over ride the row shut off, make one round around the peremiter of what you had left, to establish a new perimeter for the GPS, before things would work right again. And you had to be smart enough to figure all that out, and how to get things back right again, on top of everything else you have to know about planting corn.

GPS = .... Not a dumb man's tool, if you ask me. Definitely not idiot proof. Not something you want to rely on 100 percent.
Is it worth doing??? Yes. It certainly is. But, like everything else, there is a burden that goes along with using it. It makes fantastic things possible. But, bottom line, owners and operators of GPS, need to have the know how to use it, and apply it to what they are doing. If nothing else, to determine when it is not working (mal-functioning).
To lay that out for ya a little bit, malfunctioning for only 15 minutes while planting corn, is a big malfunction. Especially with a 16 row, or larger, planter. A lot of dollars involved if planter is double (overlap) planting, only half of it is planting, or worse yet, it is NOT planting at all but the GPS and monitor is saying that it is.

GPS is nothing more than a tool, in my opinion. Use it accordingly, as you would a hammer, or screwdriver, or any other tool. Every tool has its own place and use.

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