Mounted mower conditioner comparison – part II: In this, the second part of our comprehensive profi mower comparison, we focus on the cutterbars of our nine test candidates – to see how much power it takes to drive them. Power consumption varies by as much as 60% between the mower conditioner models, but that is in itself only part of the ‘bed’-time story
We kick off part II of this mower test in the same way as part I (profi 03/09) – with a fresh reminder to readers to think ‘red’ wherever they can see ‘green’ in the accompanying Vicon pictures. Vicon kit is sold under the Deutz-Fahr equipment banner in many parts of Europe, hence the risk of colour confusion for readers on this side of the Channel.
On to our test, where the level of independent cutterbar thinking among this group of nine mower manufacturers is more marked than we at first realised. There are no design clones within this mower line-up. All the key statistics that follow are listed in the Outline Specifications table, to make it simpler to carry out a side-by-side comparison. But read on
before utilising this data to arrive at any conclusions.
Starting with disc number, Vicon, JF-Stoll, Kuhn and Lely mowers all employ eight
discs, these machines offering working widths of between 3.10m and 3.20m.
In the seven-disc camp are Claas, Krone, Pöttinger and Ziegler units, with working widths of 3.02m to 3.15m. The 3m Fella stands alone in featuring six discs, and these, not surprisingly, have the largest diameter at 47cm.
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