Best autoguidance
on the market

In an independent trial undertaken by the respected trade publications Koneviesti from Finland, Trekker from the Netherlands, Bedre Gårdsdrift from Norway, and TraktorTech from Denmark, Valtra’s autoguidance capabilities and user interface were found to be the best of all systems tested. The field study was undertaken in Denmark in the spring of 2023 and aimed to evaluate different brands’ autoguidance and automatic headland turning capabilities.

A total of seven tractors were assessed: a Valtra Q285, Massey Ferguson 8S.285 Dyna-VT, John Deere 6R250 AutoPowr, New Holland T7.300, Claas Axion 870 Cmatic, and McCormick X8.631. Valtra’s Q Series came out on top, scoring a total of 43.5 points compared to 40.1 for the next closest tractor and 33.6 points for the poorest result.

The trade magazines acknowledged that all brands tested offered good tractor GPS features that make practical work easier, however, Valtra came out on top thanks to its ease of use and functionality. Test drivers particularly praised the SmartTouch usability and ease of set-up. Koneviesti noted that ‘Valtra is the best when it comes to user interface in general’, and highlighted that the menus and display are ‘easy to use, both for defining A-B waylines, setting up implements, and generating field parcel data’.

Speed and ease of set-up

In terms of speed, Valtra’s system also scored highly. The study found that the Valtra SmartTouch terminal took only 20 seconds to start up, compared to about 55 seconds for the slowest tractor tested. Simplicity is another area where the Valtra stood out. Testers noted that the Valtra Go Mode made everything much simpler and liked the fact that the information icon (SmartTouch Help) remained in the top right corner of the display in most menus. The test drivers noted that the greatest feature of Go Mode is that there is no need to define the field, set up a task, and select the driver profile before one can create a simple way line. They praised the simplicity of setting up a way line and implement, with Koneviesti noting that ‘You can get started with 7-8 screen presses.’ In one model it took as many as 34 individual key strokes to select an implement, field parcel, and create a way line.

When it comes to headland management and automatic headland turns, the trial concluded that once again, Valtra offered the best solution as all four, or even more, headlands can be individually adjusted. Normally, when working, only two parallel headlands are needed. With Valtra’s system headlands at the other two field boundaries can easily be set to zero. Test drivers point out that this can be particularly useful when working with automatic headland turning or TIM.

Segmented waylines

The study highlights the benefit of Valtra Guide being able to set segmented waylines from field boundaries so that as the tractor starts to perform a headland turn new waylines are automatically detected and displayed on the screen. In this way, the driver does not need to search through menus to find the correct lines after the turn. This feature was not available for all other tractors tested.  

In summary, Koneviesti, Trekker, Bedre Gårdsdrift, and TraktorTech conclude that out of all seven tractors tested, the Valtra Q285 came out best thanks to its mix of good GPS autoguidance functions and ease of use.

The results of the joint field test can be read in Koneviesti’s article ‘ Traktorien GPS-laitteet ja automaattiohjaukset vertailussa – erot korostuivat yksityiskohdissa ja pienissä ominaisuuksissa’ which subscribers can read here.