Dusty Britches
Well-known member
Lets talk tractor guide when spraying or putting out fertilizer.
I prefer to do things as cheaply as possible with as little impact on cash flow as possible. I remember when I first started spaying my own pastures, I would ball up toilet paper and throw out a fist sized ball to the end of the boom. Not exactly what I would call precise, but it was better than paying commercial operators and I didn't have the money to buy one of those fancy tractor mounted GPS systems.
As time marched on, I learned how to pick specific landscape markers to generally guide my drive. It was easier than the balled up TP but if I didn't pay attention I could easily get off the line. Then I learned about apps on my phone. The first app I tried was Farm Sprayer App worked decently for the first 20 minutes and then would cut off. Frustrating as hell. And I learned I wasn't the only one with that problem.
Then I asked my brother in law to design one (that's his business) and he said it was easier for me to use Field Navigator Parallel Driving System. I tried it but was disappointed in that the GPS wasn't very accurate and "skippy". I wasn't going to complain because the app only cost $15 (one time cost). It was obviously more capable that I could understand and was still better than anything else in my spraying evolution. This app has a "contact support" feature, so I asked them about the skippy. They recommended that I buy Garmin's GLO bluetooth GPS. It is palm sized and links to my phone, which is currently the Samsung Note S10. It cost about $100 for the GLO. What the heck, I thought. Still cheaper than those fancy high dollar systems.
GLO requires you to download Bluetooth GPS to use the app. Ok. Then the final thing to do was to hack into the phone's developer section and allow the use of a mock GPS. Yup - the phone thinks you are using Google's location but the mock provider overrides it and keeps Google from knowing where you are. I still smile when I think of that. I use the GLO a lot now, more than just spraying and it works well even when the phone doesn't have a signal.
I don't want to sound like I'm trying to sell this app, but it only works on Android systems (not Apple). It has a lot of customization that took me a long time to learn how to use but now I'm fairly efficient at it. I can spray with a six inch accuracy - yes with my phone and GLO. I was thinking about buying a dedicated tablet with a larger screen but for now, at $115 one time cost, I can spray well enough and close enough to not even consider buying a nice tractor mounted GPS system. Honestly I think I would pay a lot more and even annually for this app if they asked me to.
What have you all used and are currently using to maximize field spraying and fertilizer application?
I prefer to do things as cheaply as possible with as little impact on cash flow as possible. I remember when I first started spaying my own pastures, I would ball up toilet paper and throw out a fist sized ball to the end of the boom. Not exactly what I would call precise, but it was better than paying commercial operators and I didn't have the money to buy one of those fancy tractor mounted GPS systems.
As time marched on, I learned how to pick specific landscape markers to generally guide my drive. It was easier than the balled up TP but if I didn't pay attention I could easily get off the line. Then I learned about apps on my phone. The first app I tried was Farm Sprayer App worked decently for the first 20 minutes and then would cut off. Frustrating as hell. And I learned I wasn't the only one with that problem.
Then I asked my brother in law to design one (that's his business) and he said it was easier for me to use Field Navigator Parallel Driving System. I tried it but was disappointed in that the GPS wasn't very accurate and "skippy". I wasn't going to complain because the app only cost $15 (one time cost). It was obviously more capable that I could understand and was still better than anything else in my spraying evolution. This app has a "contact support" feature, so I asked them about the skippy. They recommended that I buy Garmin's GLO bluetooth GPS. It is palm sized and links to my phone, which is currently the Samsung Note S10. It cost about $100 for the GLO. What the heck, I thought. Still cheaper than those fancy high dollar systems.
GLO requires you to download Bluetooth GPS to use the app. Ok. Then the final thing to do was to hack into the phone's developer section and allow the use of a mock GPS. Yup - the phone thinks you are using Google's location but the mock provider overrides it and keeps Google from knowing where you are. I still smile when I think of that. I use the GLO a lot now, more than just spraying and it works well even when the phone doesn't have a signal.
I don't want to sound like I'm trying to sell this app, but it only works on Android systems (not Apple). It has a lot of customization that took me a long time to learn how to use but now I'm fairly efficient at it. I can spray with a six inch accuracy - yes with my phone and GLO. I was thinking about buying a dedicated tablet with a larger screen but for now, at $115 one time cost, I can spray well enough and close enough to not even consider buying a nice tractor mounted GPS system. Honestly I think I would pay a lot more and even annually for this app if they asked me to.
What have you all used and are currently using to maximize field spraying and fertilizer application?