John Deere has received the 2016 Farmers Guide Award for Excellence for its new joystick. The CommandPro, launched as an option in the company’s 6230R and 6250R in autumn last year, was recognized at the awards ceremony, with marketing manager Chris Wiltshire on hand to collect the trophy and certificate.
He said, “This is valued recognition of the work done by John Deere product designers and engineers to bring this new product to market. CommandPRO was also the result of a great deal of feedback from a focus group of European contractors, and we believe we now have an option that will prove to be extremely popular on our tractors for many years to come.”
The joystick has 11 programmable buttons, with top speed being reached with the push of a single button, while speeds of between 0km/h and 2km/h can be achieved using the creeper control function.
The conventional tractor pedals can be operated at the same time as the joystick and the ISOBUS functions can also be controlled simultaneously without requiring an external ISOBUS joystick.
Farmers Guide machinery editor, David Williams, was on the judging panel for the award and said, “John Deere’s CommandPRO joystick is an important development for the company, and is going to be used all year round by demanding farmers and contractors. There are some very interesting new functions on this joystick that I believe will make a big difference to operators, both in the field and on the road.
“It’s very ergonomic, easy and comfortable to use, and well thought out all very important considerations when you’re spending all day in the tractor cab for weeks at a time. CommandPRO will be a real benefit to productivity and drivers will like it which is why we felt it was the most deserving of our 2016 award for machinery innovation.”
The awards were set up in memory of Doug Potts, who founded the original East Anglian Farmers Guide magazine in 1979.
