Here is what customers that used 20/20 SeedSense have to say . . .
Rodney Mogler, Alvord, IA
My planter is equipped with both eSets and 20/20 and after planting a season with this combination, I wouldn’t plant without either.
The system gives you the vote of confidence so that you know what you are getting without waiting 3 weeks for the corn to emerge. We know within 200 feet if we are doing things right. I’ve got SeedStar which is great for 15 second averages, but 20/20 picks up row fails and singulation errors – things you can’t get when you are looking at averages.
There’s a nice screen that shows economic loss . . . that’s the one I really watched because when it started climbing,
I knew to look at the other screens to find reason for the loss – then I could track it back and make the correction. I want all rows running as close to each other as possible. I like the large diamond to cover all the small diamonds. Before eSet, that never would have happened. Now, on 26 rows we would be within 300 seeds across the planter
Skip Klienfelter, Nokomis, IL
The biggest change we made because of the 20/20 was downpressure. We had added pneumatic adjustment so we could control on the go. What 20/20 showed us on our strip tillage was that we could take all of the downpressure off the row unit and still maintain depth. That shocked us but made a lot of money.
I think it’s a must for every farmer that plants. This unit gives you a lot of information. You are very surprised at the things you didn’t know before.
Mike and Steve Bousema, Worthington, MN
We were really impressed by the fine tuning we could do to our planter.
We felt more comfortable planting faster. The display said we could speed up and stay within our economic loss target.
Rich Schlipf, Milford, IN
I appreciated the more accurate population count than I was used to before. I stopped more often because I kept learning things that needed tweaked.
It’s like having a MeterMax test stand in the field.
Owen Gudeman, Kouts, IN
You know exactly what the planter is doing the minute you drop it in the ground. You know how each row is doing and not just population but singulation. With the other monitor, rows can be screwing up but your population looks fine. You have to have singulation data and 20/20 gives it to you.
We adjusted our speed because of the 20/20. We could drive faster depending on how smooth or rough the field was.
We planted faster this year than we have in the last six because the monitor said we could. We watched the economic loss indicator a lot. Even when I’m running at 99% I can make adjustments – such as speed – and see the extra dollars that the adjustment makes me.
Population was running dead-on regardless on the standard monitor, but the singulation was terrible and we could see the economic loss. We could see an equal number of skips and doubles and realize that while the population was ok, the singulation was way off.
The newest thing we’re excited about is the new 20/20. We can measure down force on the go, real-time population and seeding errors. We had the beta units and found some planting errors that we never would have found with the standard monitor. We found out that the down pressure we ran for years was incorrect even though we thought it was right.
Darrell Dies, Normal, IL
The economic loss screen is interesting. I put in $3.50 per bushel and we managed the planter so we could stay under a $6 per acre loss. When we could do that, I was tickled. Now as I look at our stand in the field, I am very happy.
I mounted the 20/20 below my John Deere 250 monitor. I wish I had it higher because the 20/20 was so much more accurate than my 250 . . . that’s all I watched.
Tom Stribling, Ashland, IL
I had a seed that was planting pretty well at 4.8 miles an hour but thought I could do better. So I slowed down to 4.2 and my economic loss dropped to almost zero.
20/20 showed us that the way we worked the field made a big difference. It showed us that a little bit of ride difference affects singulation and economic loss. Slowing down paid off. Where we ran across stone picker tracks the 20/20 system showed us the affect of field conditions on spacing.
Gary Parr and Mike Mullins, Charlotte, MI
Down force was an eye opener. What you think you need and what you really need is surprising. It was constantly telling us to lighten up and it was right.
(Gary) It’s as close as you get to having a test stand in the cab with you.
(Mike) It’s like having a set of eyes right there in the seed trench. We caught some problems before they happened. We didn’t have to be walking our fields to find the problems we saw them as they were happening. 20/20 did what it was designed to do.
Chad Kuntz, Mount Union, IA
Our John Deere 350 monitor gives me population and row fails but it doesn’t tell you singulation, spacing all the things we get with 20/20. I have a confidence level that is much superior to what we had before.
You actually know what’s going on before it hits the ground.
20/20 helps you know what happens at the time of seed release before it hits the ground. It gives you confidence.
We had just cleaned out our boxes, filled up and within a hundred feet, one row was giving me a reading of 94.5% accuracy while the others were running at 99% or better. I went back and tipped up the box and saw a little piece of stalk was covering the top of the seed tube. I took it out and performance came right up to the other meters. Who knows how many acres we would have run if we didn’t see the problem on 20/20. Our Deere monitor didn’t pick it up.
20/20 helped me control my vac pressure. I had some very large seed and ran my pressure up and it showed I had perfect singulation. I went to small seed and singulation was still great. It told me that eSets were doing their job.
Jim Seeman, Woodward, IA
I had a chain with a stiff link. It showed I was having some doubles. So I hopped off, found the problem and corrected it.
The Smooth Ride screen was helpful. While planting, you could feel a wash or a dip and the Smooth Ride score would drop. Next pass, I would slow down and my Smooth Ride score and Good Spacing score improved. So after you watch the 20/20 you really change the way you plant.
On the 700 of corn that I plant, I figure, for what 20/20 cost me, that the system has already paid for itself. The 20/20 system was awesome to me. It really made us fine tune our planter.
John King, Boone, IA
It helped us tweak our speed. There was one time I had a row failure. I went to the “suggestions” screen and 20/20 said we had an obstruction. I took the meter off and we had a chunk of corn – actually about four kernels of corn fused together – that was blocking the seed flow. 20/20 caught it right off the bat. Everybody that runs a planter should have 20/20. We learned to tweak our planter a lot more on ground speed and vac pressure. The 20/20 tells you how to drive in the field. We had two monitors in the tractor. We quickly learned to ignore the other monitor. When we looked at 20/20 it had a lot more information. When something wasn’t going right it told us where to look.
Kurt Ehnle Edelstein, IL
We learned a lot about down pressure. We were able to back off our downpressure and do an excellent job of planting and reduce our sidewall compaction.
The system actually helped us see what was going on. We used to get off the tractor and dig all the time, but with 20/20 you could see it from the cab. We still get off to dig and make sure that the 20/20 information was right. But after a few checks you really get confidence in the system. You learn to trust the 20/20.
We could really see the plantability difference in seed size and weight. You could reduce your speed or make other changes to get the accuracy you needed.
I would really not want to go out and plant without 20/20 after experiencing it. I’ve never had a monitor that gives the detail and level of information on the go like this.
I’m confident that the system made us money. This year, the ability to correct down pressure has been very valuable. We were pretty pleased with the information we got out of it. Especially the downpressure. We could see the difference in how we did the tillage in the field and how it affected accuracy.
Bill Brunner, Manitowoc, WI
As far as the 20/20 system, if anyone could really get a chance to see the system . . . If they are interested in really making money growing corn . . . they should consider running the system.
It detected that we had too much downpressure. We actually took the down pressure springs off. It also caught a row that was doubling.
Robert Schmidt, Manitowoc, WI
We watched the loss per acre area of the display. I didn’t like to see the dollars climbing so we’d watch that and correct the things that were costing us money. I’d recommend this to anyone that wants to make more money growing corn. I was really impressed with the system. I didn’t realize how much I was missing. It was really an enjoyable experience.
Russell Keller, New Canton, IL
I had a drive chain that was slipping. 20/20 caught it on the very first day of planting. And it didn’t show up on the Deere monitor. Installation went very well. The fact that we used the existing wiring harness was a real benefit. The system was really easy to use. Plenty of screens to choose from.
We could either get an overview or really dig down to get detail. I highly recommend this system to my neighbors and family. I think it is a really well designed product. It tells me a lot of information that I really didn’t know I needed. I would really hate to not have this monitor to use next year.
The more I use it, the more I appreciate its capabilities. I had calibrated my finger meters for 55 RPM, and planted at 5.1 miles an hour. But 20/20 showed my meter performance was poor. I called Precision Planting and they told me to speed up – which is rare advice from Precision Planting.
But I did speed up to 6 mph and my singulation was much better. It was better than ever. In the first 50 acre field, 20/20 went a long way toward paying for the whole system.
George Roberts, Trivoli, IL
I had one row that had a crack in a piece of plastic. 20/20 picked it up right away. I fixed it with some duct tape and dropped my loss per acre. My Vanguard monitor sure wasn’t picking it up.
The information is instant. Not a round or two later. I If you buy one of these you better be willing to get out of the cab and fix your planter. Because 20/20 will show you what to fix. It pinpoints the problem quicker and faster. I’d hate to go to the field without it. I’ve been looking for something like 20/20 for a long time.
I’m very happy with the system. You run eSet and want data to confirm the improvement that you saw on the test stand. 20/20 does that. You make corrections so that you don’t have to worry about walking your fields in June saying, “what happened here?” You already made the corrections.
Dan Sutton, Lowell, In
We never would have known that without the 20/20 system to monitor that. The 20/20 system is definitely making us money. It makes you a better farmer. You’re more aware of what’s going on around you. It allows you to make the changes as you progress through field to increase your bottom line.
The John Deere monitor simply shows you population. That’s all you can glean from that. The 20/20 system shows a whole array of population, singulation, down pressure, speed . . . everything you would want to know is at your fingertips. Everyone should have a 20/20 in their cab 20/20 gave me a lot more information than I ever had in a cab before.
Bob Strand, Hinckley, IL
20/20 showed me how well the eSet system worked over a range of seed size and soil conditions. 20/20 showed we had a problem within the first 500 feet of planting.
But the John Deere monitor never picked it up. I found a corn stalk pinched between the seed tube and meter. It was causing the seeds to bounce down the seed tube. I fixed it and saved a big mistake. From the cab the 20/20 let me watch down pressure. In our soils, down pressure can be a problem.
We don’t run much, but 20/20 showed me I should run with even less. I ran with no air in the airbags most of the season. And that was the right way to run. It was fascinating to actually see the seeds real time as they passed along the bottom of the screen.
It’s hard to put a value on the mistakes because they are one row mistakes, but if you catch them at the beginning of the season, they are huge. It was piece of mind in the tractor seat. I didn’t have to worry about what was happening behind me. Before I was always checking trying to get the planter perfected.
Mark Schleder, Green Valley, IL
I had some 80 pound seed for a seed production field and I had singulation problems but the JD monitor wasn’t picking it up. The 20/20 saw the singulation problems and we could adjust the eSets and we planted successfully.
One side of our planter ran the starter pump and pulled down the population about 500 seeds. The 20/20 saw that, the John Deere monitor didn’t. We adjusted the population on the starter-pump side and evened out our population across the planter.
The thing I found most valuable on 20/20 was the ability to monitor my skips and doubles while going through the field and making adjustments to correct that.
Doug Young, Bismark, IL
20/20 found several mistakes for me. I had some erratic row readings and it turned out we had some debris in the seed pool. We cleaned them out. I wouldn’t have noticed that on a standard monitor.
The most useful thing we learned from 20/20 was that we were running too much downpressure. 20/20 gave us the confidence to lighten the downpressure but we still knew we were getting depth.
John Green, Little York, IL
We needed to replace seals. We never would have seen that on our standard monitor, but it showed up on 20/20. It also helped us find some foreign material that was floating around the meter causing some skips.
The payback comes from the little things like debris in the meter. And the big things like finally being able to manage downpressure.
Frank Mellert, Canton, IL
With a White planter you can regulate the air pressure to adjust accuracy. 20/20 told me how to make the adjustments to eliminate the skips and doubles.
Bob Ellis, Chrisman, IL
In one field, the 20/20 showed an erratic population. We couldn’t tell what was going on so we put the meter on the test stand and determined we had a brush that needed replaced.
The Kinze monitor never did show us the problem. I don’t know how much that saved us by catching it early. It allowed us to see in real time what are planters were really doing.
We’re very happy with that. We really kept our eye on the dollar loss. It gets your attention pretty quick. You get to see what kind of job you’re really doing.