USED MACHINERY: John Deere S600 and current S700 series single rotor combines sit in the 70 to 75t/hr performance category respectively. Launched in 2012, the S600 models were replaced by the current S700 range for 2018, with used examples of both now being easier to find if you look early enough. But do they make a sound used buy?
As recently as a decade ago, combines were still being swapped out by some businesses on what we would now consider to be a short three season cycle, although five seasons was more common. These days, seven- and ten season cycles are more the norm. The knock on is a growing scarcity of more recent
combines on the used market. This can put brand and dealer loyalty under pressure as used buyer’s need to consider a broader range of makes and models when seeking out a newer buy.
Which is where the single rotor S600 and S700 series models we consider come in here. John Deere may make more combines than anyone else worldwide, but the company is not the dominant combine supplier in Northern Europe. Although the company’s T series walker combines have a growing UK following, Deere has had to work harder to sell its rotary models but they have their followers building on the experience of the earlier single- STS and twin-rotor CTS models.
A decade of experience has helped convince many that S series combines are able to deal with heavy crops and green straw plus cope with fickle harvesting conditions, the more so as John Deere has not stood still development wise. The S600 series, launched in 2012, saw several tweaks up until their replacement by the S700 series in 2018. The latter have had the odd detail change as you would expect. In the main, however, all models have had a chance to ‘prove’ themselves in ‘our’ varied harvesting conditions.
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