Anybody using GPS guidance for their field work?

[Steve Wilson]

I recently replaced the manual valves on my sprayer with a set of three electric valves. One master toggle switch provides power to each of the toggles for the spray booms. I will be adding a forth valve, toggle switch and boom extender nozzle for fence lines and roadsides. The new set up allows me to turn any combination of booms on and off from the tractor seat.

Now I'm trying to decide which GPS lightbar and monitor system to go with. Leaning toward Trimble's 250 or 500 models.
The 250 will do most anything I can invision needing, with the exception of being able to control the spray booms automatically. Of course that task requires adding a boom control module to the GPS system. Its screen is pretty small though, only 4.3 inches.
But the cost is only half of the 500 model.

I intended to put a foam marker on the sprayer this winter. Late last month, I no tilled about 60 acres of wheat into existing pastures. Now you would think it would be child's play to see where you had just drilled and get lined up for your next pass. But it can be near impossible to pick up the drill marks after you turn around and try to get lined back up, in the right conditions.
That's what really got me to thinking about going with a GPS system. It provides guidance, no matter what the implement is, displays areas you have sprayed, drilled, broadcast fertilized/seeded, mowed, etc and tells you the acreage done.

Are any of you using GPS for your field work or know somebody that is? I'm really interested to hear good and bad about the various systems available from the likes of Trimble, Raven, Tee Jet, etc. Or those from the major ag dealers.

Thanks,

 

[dun]

I tried using one for a year or so, sold it and got a good foam marker. In large regularly shaped fields I think they may work ok. With the shapes of our fields, it takes a couple of seconds for it to get ready for the next pass and you end up with a lot of skips. I don;t stop and turn around at the end of a pass, I just adjust the position as I turn and keep going. I found I used more herbicide trying to avoid the skips then I do with the foam marker. Mine was a Centerline 220 and not worth the investment. I would suggest you try to borrow one and give it a try before you cough up the bucks.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Go round and round with the drill. You can see where you have been if you run in the same direction as the pass before.

 

[dun]

Go round and round with the drill. You can see where you have been if you run in the same direction as the pass before.

I used to think that too. But the angl;e of the sun can make the gound hard to read. It will work fine though in tilled soil but not to either drill into existing or spraying.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

It has always worked for me. l know the sun can make it hard to see, but it is still the best way i know to do it.

 

[Steve Wilson]

Yes, when the sun is up high, is the worse. Even going round and round proves difficult in odd shaped pastures. Where was it I had to make that jog on the last pass? Up farther. About that time, you realize you have completely missed the turning point and have driven over three prior passes. All while looking right down beside the tractor, trying to stay next to the last set of drill marks and the outside tire track of the drill. They drove the pick up out to refill the seeder in one pasture. I can't tell you how many times the tire tracks from the truck messed me up.

Short grazed pastures are the worst in high sun conditions because everything is so faint. Too little vegitation to leave a good impression to follow. You would think it easy, at the start, to pick up the knife marks from the planter. Ought to be easy to see. Right? Wrong. The same things can happen when pulling a fertilizer buggy, spreading 50 foot passes. Or even slinging clover seed with a 3 point seeder in the winter. A lot of times, it's just plain hard to see your tracks from a previous pass.

I got a late start spraying weeds this spring, because of having to rebuild the trailer mounted sprayer I borrowed. By the time I had it all up and running again, the weeds were brushing the bottom of the spray boom, which was 20 inches above the ground. I'm sitting 6 feet off the ground on my Allis Chalmer 190 XT. Seeing all the mashed down vegitation caused by the tractor and sprayer tires didn't seem like it would be any problem. That is until I found myself completly lost several times. Heck, the last tracks are less than 30 feet over there. Yea, but where is over there? Oh damn, right under me now.

I abandoned the consideration of just a light bar. I need more visual cluing of where I am, where I need to drive next and a display showing what has been covered already. This is especially true when working in odd shaped pastures, further complicated by ditches, patches of trees and such that create little pockets you have to cover too. Sooner or later you will mess up and either double apply or just plain leave big skips. It doesn't matter if you are going round and round, or doing U turns. The stress caused by that much concentration becomes very tiring after a few hours. In short, I need guidance....all the guidance I can afford. Here is a link to the systems I'm leaning toward right now. http://www.ez-guide.com

 

[SaskHerf]

We have a 500 model and i really liked it. We have it equipped with the EZ Steer as well and use it for cutting hay in the tractor. Kind of nice not having to worry about steering.. makes a long day not quite so bad.

 

[ERNIBIGB]

For our smaller irregular shaped pastures and hay fields I prefer a foam marker. I used it last year with only one side dropping foam to sow ryegrass seed with a drop seeder and it worked fine.(Going round and round in same direction) This was only in pasture and small acerage so it didn't have to be perfect. Also use it for spreading fertilizer and spraying with boomless nozzle. All of our work is on small fields (50 acres or less) and the cost of GPS would not pay off.

 

[MarshallForage]

Have a look at http://www.farmergps.com. It has a large as-applied map which makes it very easy to use on small or irregular-shaped fields. I use an old Toughbook laptop I bought on ebay for $200. Don't scrimp on the GPS though, sure it can use the input from those little 'mouse' gps's but they are nowhere near accurate enough for guidance--they'll just frustrate you. Get the Novatel smartantenna. I've got the Smart-V1 but it's accuracy is probably overkill, the regular older Smartantenna worked just fine for me for years.

This system is far cheaper than anything out there and outperforms most of them until you get into auto boom or auto steer systems. Now that I can afford any system on the market, this is still the system I prefer to use.