This referring to their ET (Electronic Tech) for remote diagnostics etc?
Can older equipment be bought without the crap? Like cars et al...pre-chip old-timey stuff may be an option...though harder to find...
What do other outfits do? Deere, Komatsu, Mitsubishi et al?
Apart from knowing some manufacturers I really have no experience with anything heavier than a Bobcat and trailers and such, lol!
I'm referring to the fact that if the equipment/tractor breaks down in the field, it sits in the field until a Deere-certified repairman can get there.
ETA: I don't know about the other brands of tractors/eqpt. except that Gunsmith is a big fan and promoter of ooold Massey-Ferguson tractors, of which we have two. We had a third he bought to repair and sell, which we did -- he had to "split" the thing to replace the clutch. No chips, no crap, just mechanicals.
The new vehicles are just as bad with their computers/chips and such (not to mention the spy-on-you crap). A code-reader is needed to even determine the problem when there is one.
Big Massey-Ferguson fan here, also. I have a ~'74 MF-175 which I've owned and farmed with from about 1984. Easily maintained, still fairly easy to get parts for, and easy to understand mechanics that require no special expertise to repair or replace parts. And most importantly, no computers or microprocessors.
I think it was John Deere who started the "restricted from the owner" repair data trend several years ago. It's now been picked up by some car manufacturers, and I think it was Massachusetts that recently passed a "Right to Repair" law because of it.
Older is indeed better when dealing with cars, trucks, or tractors, for the simple reason that I understand 'em and I can work on 'em.
K.I.S.S.
