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| I have a lot of opinions on this topic so sorry in advance if I get a little windy. I ran a 1200 for 4-5 years until this year and now have a 1790 CCS both are 16/31. They all will break down so dealer support (Parts and Service) is number 1 priority. We had our share of problems with the 1200 and were ready for a change. So far I am really happy with the 1790.
I cant say for sure which one has more flex but the deere has 6 rows on the main frame and 5 that flex on each wing and the 1200 if I remember correctly had 8 in the middle and 4 on each outer section. I liked the Pro 600 monitor a little better than the 2600 because it was more customizeable. The 1200 is hard to beat on spacing in corn. We have Promax 40 disks on the 1790 and it does do a good job though. With the Pro 600 and GPS you get free auto section control with it so if you compare that to the cost of adding row command to a Deere the 1200 has a huge advantage there. I got along great in corn with the 1200 central fill but when running the split rows in beans I had a lot of problems. The 1200 runs one main delivery hose to a pair of rows and splits into 2 at the end. I would always have one tube fill up to the Y and the other would be getting a limited amount and could possibly run out of seed especially in 1/2 mile rows. In 1/4 mile or less rows, it wasnt usually a problem because it could catch up when turning on the ends. Factory said we needed to reposition the Y's and wouldnt have a problem but in all the years we ran it, it never worked. The 1790 has a hose going from the CCS to each row and seems to work a lot better. The no-till coulters on the 1790 are superior. We used to have a 1780 6 row that went through several thousand acres with not one problem on the coulters. The case coulters are constantly working loose and we would have to tighten them up a few times a year plus they are a pain to adjust the depth if you want to. It is much easier to clean out a 1790 if you do a lot of changing between crops or conventional and GMO. With the case you have to take the entire meter unit off and dump it out. With the deere, you undo one rubber strap, twist the knob to release the disk and all of the seed falls into a special made pan. If you are going with a splitter, the 1790 is nice that you can raise the splits on the wings all the way up out of your way to work on it. Also really like the pro shaft drive on the deere. I think it has 6 chains on the whole machine compared to 35 or more on the case. The deere has a lot more that has to be greased each day (2 on each row plus others) and the 1200 only had a few zerks and didnt have to be greased each day. I like the whole transport of the deere a little better. The only down fall is you can see absolutely nothing behind you when its folded but I have a camera on it so thats no longer a problem. It is quite a bit shorter and easier to manuever. I like having wheels out on the wings for extra support. The 1200 was handy that you could swing it out over water ways and other stuff when turning because it didnt have any wheels but if you were driving with it raised and hit a bump, it would rock back and forth looking like something was going to break. The 1790 also has more ground clearence when it is folded up for going over humps or small hills. I like the depth adjustment on the deere much better. The 1200 has its own vacuum and bulk fill controllers. You tell it what you want it set at and it controls the flow to the motor to maintain that setting. With a deere, you set the vacuum manually with hydraulic flow. Whichever brand you choose, I would recomend pnuematic down pressure. I love it on the deere. Ive never seen the case setup but Im sure it works good to.
Last year we were down for over 3 days with the 1200 with an electrical problem. I had the planter folded out in the middle of the driveway when the problem started and after that it was stuck. I could not fold or even raise it to move it. The year before that our original monitor quit while I was in the middle of a field full of terraces with the planter down. Again it could not be raised and was stuck until I got a new monitor. The 1200 is completely dependent on the monitor. There is absolutely nothing you can do without a monitor. I realize the deere could just as easily have a problem but if the 2600 touch screen quits you can still use the side buttons to navigate. If the monitor quit completely you could still raise and lower and fold it with the switch box. If it was a mechanical drive you could even plant. Either one could be a nightmare with electrical problems. Some of our other problems with the 1200. There was a problem with the marker linkage and instead of double folding like it should, sometimes the outer section would remain straight and if you didnt see it while it was folding, it would come all the way up and hit the central fill box and bend the marker. The central fill lids cracked and had to be replaced. The central fill box had a large crack in it. The boxes leaked water if left out in the rain. If you dont know that it can leak and you have a box half full of beans and you let wet beans sit in the manifold for a couple of weeks, you have a real problem. Had a lot of trouble with vacuum hoses coming off(though I have seens some complaints on here about deeres with the same problem this year) We also had a lot of trouble after a couple of years with it breaking some brackets that would hold the lift hoses and would allow them to rub or get pinched. I never figured out what was causing it but after a couple of times breaking hoses on sunday afternoons, we started keeping a spare around. There were plenty more problems that I cant think of right now but you get the idea.
There are 2 things about the 1790 that I absolutely hate. 1. it is extremely slow raising and lowering on the ends. 2. There is a message on the 2600 that comes up when a row is not planting and it takes up the entire screen and until you press a button to acknowledge it, you cant see anything else. When you raise on the end it comes up, if you are going down the road in transport and a seed falls through the sensor it comes up, if you shut a section off it comes up and sometimes I think if you look at it wrong it will come up. It may be a minor problem but man is it annoying. There have been some posts on here about it and supposedly deere is working on it.
We dont have any regrets about switching colors but Im sure there are many people who have switch from green to red and are equally as happy. When the 1200 was running it was a great planter but with so many minor problems and the electrical problems we became scared of it. Especially after last spring and now this spring with all the rain we've had, working days are few and far between. You dont want to spend a 1/2 day working on it not to mention 3 days. | |
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planters John Deere vs. CIH
