I'm still looking at purchasing a dozer, mainly for my own use on the farm but maybe some minor use when needed in my business. I've narrowed down to the Deere 700k or the Komatsu D51 series but leaning really heavy towards Komatsu at this point. Now that I am pricing the D51PX vs PXi (it will be a used unit for sure), for just a little more I can get one with grade control. I have no experience with these new systems but like the idea of it. I do not see where any subscription is required for it to function unless I need downloads, which I will not. Can anyone give me some real work experience using this system on their dozers? How easy/difficult and is it worth an extra $ for the increase in productivity?
Not sure on the ins and outs on the Kommie but the newer Cat's have 2D grade control for building pads and simple slopes. Works really well without a laser, total station or GPS base. We'll use it sometimes if we need to grade something simple off the GPS model or build a flat pad. Cat's 2D system is part of the machines hardware.
Up here in Chicagoland it's love or hate. The ol' timers ain't to keen on it cuz it takes control out of their hands. Youngsters coming up, trained on it, love it. Most guys are used to hitting a load, throttling up and powering through, not realizing they spun the tracks. The geepers just gradually, unnoticed lifts the blade and continues on. I guess you'd have to try it for yourself.
While I'm not a hater, because as a business owner I know that grade control would put dollars in my pocket, I hate the fact that we are training the next generation to not be able to do anything without a CAD map. I've ran into a few of these "youngsters", they can run a dozer, sure. But send them to a site and tell them to flatten it out and build an approach? The first question they ask is when is the engineer coming with the CAD file. When you say not today, you're gonna have to eyeball it, it's like asking them to recite the Declaration of Independence, no chance. They have no idea how to move dirt without the computer telling them where to cut and where to fill.
A CAD file is just part of the GPS model. It takes a CAD file, the control points the engineer used from the survey crew to build the CAD and a model builder using the grade control software of choice to build the model. Our model builder also likes to have the PDF's in order to compare the CAD to the PDF's in order to see any discrepancies. Anyway doesn't matter the details but yes the machine control will increase productivity and thus profit. However machine control at this point is really best suited for commercial projects with a detail set of civil drawings and defined scope of work one can build a 3D model from. A grade control 3D model for a project or even the 2D tech for building flat pads and simple slopes reduces the time of final grading. Time is money and these systems are not going anywhere, if your competition is using this tech then you need to be. However this tech does bring it's own new set of problems since the old rule of "garbage in = garbage out" is alive and well using these systems. One has to think like a surveyor with the preciseness of setting up your base station and calibrating a site. A miss of .05' on one control point's elevation can create a .5' bust on the other side of a 2-3 acre site for example. An operator that has the bubble in his butt and can see grade is still the best operator regardless the tech that's put in front of him. Being able to see and feel grade is a gift from God.