Combines challenger

[land_Surfer]

The proper order of combine needs should be: Capacity! Must be relative to farm size and capable of harvesting all on-farm crops within 30 days or less (may need to consider two combines) Reliability! Equals productivity! Comfort! Your in-field office for 30 days Dealer! Close proximity a luxury, but not necessary if reliability is considered a high priority. Simplicity! Is only in the eye of the be holder. Price! Representative of the heirarchy of needs listed above.

 

[Darryl]

I agree with most of your thoughts on selection, but somewhere you need to look at parts availability. Even the most reliable machines break down occasionally. If it takes 2 weeks to get parts, then it sure takes a big bite out of your 30 day harvest time. For example, when the New Holland TX68's came out my neighbors had to wait 12 days for parts that had to come from Europe (Belgium I think). This is just not acceptable, but is definately more of a problem on new production machines of every brand.