This is a YouTube video titled "John Deere Africa Middle East | From Factory to Farm | interview with Brandon Page" containing an interview conducted on September 29, 2023. The content features a discussion between an interviewer and Brandon Page, a product marketing manager, focusing on the new SF 7000 receivers by John Deere. The interview covers technical improvements, benefits, serviceability, and future advancements of the 7000 receivers and their satellite-based RTK signals.
We're going to have a discussion with Brandon Page, product marketing manager for the new SF 7000 receivers. He'll be giving us some insights on the new receivers as well as improvements done on the accuracy and signals. Let's have a chat. Looking at the 7,000 receiver coming to market now and John deere launching the 7000 technology, what kind of benefits can customers expect when they receive the new 7,000 receivers? And what benefits will be there available if we look at the 7000 comparing to previous models?
Yeah. So the Surfire 7000 receiver will bring our customers a lot of benefits that weren't available on either the three or six thousand in a few areas. One of the biggest is it's the first time that we'll offer a satellite based signal that can become within near parity of radio RTK. So customers that want that 2 1/2 centimeter pass to pass accuracy, the quicker pull in times with 8 minutes or less for SF RTK and for the first time ever, the repeatability that our customers have never seen with satellite based signal, that in a whole will really bring our receiver in line with what our customers have been used to from the radio side. But it brings more of the business into our satellite based side. Another big component is with the 7,000. We wanted to make the pershing experience more efficient for the customer. So when you look at a 3,000 or 6,000 receiver, we had a pretty complicated license structure. So going forward with the 7,000 we wanted to simplify that and really create a low cost barrier entry for our SF RTK signal. So when you look at a 7000, we only have three signal offerings and those are SF1 which is an in base license, SFRTK which is a yearly renewable license, and then a RTK permanent license which is for those customers that would still wish to use radio RTK going forward. So with all that we we removed all of the SF Ready activations that our customers are used to on a 3 or 6000 and moved to a simplified one year license for SF RTK which has removed a lot of the cost that it takes to enter the market for a satellite based signal.
Another big benefit on the 7,000 receivers, which we haven't seen in previous models, is the fact that the 7,000 receivers will now be serviceable. Can we le a little bit more on the Serviceability of a 7,000 receiver?
Our 7,000 universal receivers will actually have 20 plus parts that are completely serviceable. So in the unlikely event that a component breaks, the customer can replace one or two components versus having to replace the entire receiver at full cost. So everything from the lower shroud to the antenna to the choke plate, everything can be taken apart re put back together in a very short time frame.
You touched on connectivity now and SF rtk, that's gonna be made available. How does SF RTK compare to our traditional RTK network that we've been seeing in the 3,000 and 6,000 receivers?
Yeah, that's a good question. So really, sfrtk is a signal we're gonna continue to enhance and invest in over the coming years, with plans to reach near parity to radio RTK in the next four to six years. So we'll keep bringing additional advancements to the signal, and we'll get to a point where SF RTK can have parity in terms of pulling time, reconvergence and repeatability with radio RTK. But even today, with 7,000 that a customer will be getting in the next few months, it still for the first time offers eight minutes or less for pulling time versus 30 minutes on a 6,000 receiver and at minimum, five years of repeatability versus one season with a 6,000 receiver.
So, for instance, I'm a customer and I'm thinking about investing in new technology or new equipment. What would be the main things I need to keep in consideration when thinking about repeatability as well as signals on my receivers?
Yeah, so that's actually a really important topic. With the evolution of SF rtk, it'll be really important that customers, when they transition signals, they transition their whole fleet. So if a customer is going to be moving from radio RTK to SF rtk, they won't be able to only replace the receiver on their tractor, for example. So, yeah, going forward, it'd be really important that customers do not mix and match signals throughout a crop cycle. So, for example, if you plant with a radio rtk, you will want to finish out that season with that same signal. Transitioning between radio or SF RTK, customers could see offsets by as much as 5 meters. So it's really important that every step through the crop cycle is with the same signal.
Looking forward to it. I think the advancement of RTK and the involvement of the receivers is something that we can definitely look forward to, and it's something that John deere is not going to stop working on. It's something that's going to keep on evolving as time goes forward.
Correct. And yeah, like I said, SF RTK is the signal we're going to focus on for the future. So when you look to future advancements in either sense, and act solutions or autonomy. SFRTK will likely be the signal that will be required because it allows us to push basically unlimited bandwidth through that signal versus radio, which we're really maxed out on today. So a lot of those future enhancements will likely require sfrtk.
