Two farmers compare the John Deere X9 combine to older models, reporting a 20-22% increase in grain output and 9% less diesel use. The X9's automated settings adjust harvester parameters in real time and control ground speed to cut driver fatigue, letting them work 16-hour days without the wear of manual operation.
Less machinery to buy, less running costs, cheaper on labour as well.
I've been on 690s, 790s, then went on to John Deere X9, and I've had 3 or 4 years on X9s. I'm now on my second X9.
We've got fully automated harvester settings and ground speed control on it. You can tell it what quality of wheat you're, you're happy with.
Like your chaff, your tailings, your losses, and it will find the combination of all 3 and it will maintain that throughout the day. It's constantly changing its own settings.
And we're finding about 22% more output with that and using about 9% less diesel.
Compared to the S690, I don't think it would matter how good an operator you have on the seat. He's not going to keep up with the level of change the combine is making itself. It's constantly changing its settings to maintain that quality that you're happy with. It works brilliantly. Predictive ground speed automation takes the, the driver error out of driving the machine, as in it's pushing itself on to full capacity at all times. We're up about 20% on output. Also, as a driver, no matter how much you concentrate, you're never going to keep that combine as full. It takes a lot of the fatigue out of the driver as well because you're not concentrating as much as what you would be without it. You can do a 16-hour day on the machine and, you know, compared to not having it, you're fine at the end of the day. It's consistent. It's getting closer to that 100 tonnes per hour and it maintains it. It's a far better average compared to driving it yourself.
For us, the technology has been brilliant. I don't think we'll buy a combine without it now.
