John Deere has unveiled its new 800i series of trailed sprayers that is claimed to offer new levels of accuracy, productivity and operator convenience.

The new sprayers are ISO-bus ready and are available in 3200-litre and 4000-litre tank capacities, with boom sizes from 18m to 39m.

Deere says that the new 800i machines are designed to take full advantage of the firm’s latest GreenStar II displays.

The operator has total control of the sprayer and can use the pre-installed guidance software and include field documentation data with the same display.

Spraying operations are automatically recorded on to a compact flash card to aid the production of reports and documentation.

New developments

To assist spraying at higher speeds with wider booms – especially on irregular fields – Deere has developed the SprayerPro package, which includes automated boom section control and automated master on/off switch at the headland.

The system controls the booms sections and automatically switches them off when covering an area that has already been sprayed or is located outside the field boundaries.

The master valve is automatically switched off at the headland, which according to Deere amounts to chemical savings of about 2%, even in large fields of more than 25ha (62 acres).

Further savings of up to 14% during pre-emergence applications are claimed through the firm’s AutoTrac assisted steering system.

The new 800i trailed sprayers are equipped as standard with a digital tank level control which shuts off agitation when the level drops below 200 litres. This prevents foaming and ensures complete tank emptying, according to Deere.

A new application rate control system automatically switches between pressure and flow-based regulation to ensure the most accurate spray rate at all times, says Deere.

Flow-based regulation will be active when spraying at normal rates. As soon as lower rates are used – such as when boom sections are limited – the controller automatically switches to pressure-based regulation.

Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but Deere says that an 840i – 4000-litre tank on 24m booms – would have a base retail price of £42,500.