John Deere Over-Rated?

[JoeinTX]

It's a "yes.....and no" answer here.


JD ag products are generally no better or worse than their competition. But, their marketing is top-notch and out of sight. Kubota, NH, AGCO, and Mahindra all build better machines in respective segments..............but none of them can market them like JD. Match to John Deere.


I truly get irked at the newb who runs out to the JD dealer after they've bought a ranchette and wants a small tractor. Seriously. You can buy a 50 year old Massey better suited for you needs for 1/10th the money but so many are too ignorant to know the differences. That's the shame of it all. A general lack of knowledge of tractors, equipment, and how to use and treat them.

Nothing personal, but, I wish there was less "herd mentality" among the neo tractor wanna-bes.


Then, to be fair, on the other hand I like what JD has done in the construction market. They have truly moved themselves into a league with Cat and Komatsu over the last decade or so while virtually all others in the market withered away. Fiat-Allis disappearad into New Holland which isn't all that big. IH/Dresser was eaten by Komatsu and the Polish-based Dressta and is a shadow of itself unfortunately. Case has broken even in its NH merger. While Cat's ag adventures have suffered, Deere's construction efforts are bearing fruit.

If I was looking for a tractor.........I'd drive way past the JD lot. If I was looking for value on a recent dozer or loader or grader then I'd go to the nearest JD construction dealer.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

I'll actually stand up for Deere a bit here. Companies make good products, and they make shootly ones. They can't do everything perfectly... under 100 HP is not their strongest point. They do really make some great farm tractors and some very advanced large farm implememts. No doubt they use their name to sell equipment and as justification for a higher price, but most people do see though that.

As a retailer for about a dozen major lines of equipment, I'd only own Kubota Compacts, ZTR's, RTV's and Excavators, Case farm tractors, New Holland hay equipment and skid loaders, Miller sprayers and Krone harvesters. No one company do can everything perfectly.

 

[Cocre]

When I purchased my used Green tractor late last summer I had no color preference. I was looking for a new tractor/backhoe/loader unit for around 20 grand. I looked at many brands and did not find the quoted prices (not MSRP) to vary to a large degree. The typical first quote for similar tractors generally varied no more than 10 percent. In all honesty the price of the green was a bit higher but not by much. I will have to say in John Deere's favor that their ergonomics far exceed that of the most if not all units, and were the best for my butt of the whole lot. But I was looking for a tractor, not a Lexus so in the end, after much study I had pretty much made up my mind, based mostly on specs and a little seat time that the Mahindra 2615 HST was the most bang for the buck.

Then pops up a lightly used (185 hrs) John Deere 3320 eHydro in the same price range as the new units I had been shopping. The 3320 was way more tractor, way more tractor. So I bought it. I have no regrets. I now have 325 hours on it with no issues. To date all I can do is sing its praises, if it breaks tomorrow, I will be back with another story.

That yellow seat sure is comfy, and the FEL loader joystick placement does not look as if it were an after thought of the design engineers.

 

[phyxer]

I think John Deere makes fantastic machines in the over 100 HP category. I have a room that is decorated in NOTHING but John Deere stuff. In the under 100 HP category I don't think you can beat a Bota, hence my signature

Troy

 

[RWolf]

As far as quality I've pretty much abused my tractor this last year doing things that would make many people cringe. Two reasons I need to get the job done and if it's going to break I want it to happen during warranty. That being said I agree that marketing has a major influence on what people will buy. The debate flows into other areas of industry such as vehicles, electronics or whatever. As far as pricing when I was pricing my requirements I found that the price difference wasn't that great. All of the impliments that I got with "and after" have been good to great quality. I think rollingfarms said it best when stated that we all think our purchase was the best. After all who wants to admit that they bought substandard equipment.

 

[greggh]

The old saying goes that you get what you pay for. That being said shopping around gets you more bang for the buck. I discovered that buying used is not necessarily cheaper. There are deals out there, but they are to be discovered not wished for. I ended up buying new because at the time I could not find a good deal on a used tractor. There were several tractor dealers in my area so I shopped a lot. Asking price is different from purchase price. I didn't find Deere to be that much more expensive than other tractors. They were a lot more expensive at certain dealers usually the mega dealers that have dealerships over a large area. They seem to think that they have the market cornered. But I discovered a smaller dealer that sold mostly CUTs and I got my best price for my 5203 from him.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you are happy with the deal and the tractor, nothing is overpriced or over rated.

 

[Gizmo2]

I think all the compact tractors are overpriced, ratings are an aftermath of marketing and nothing else.
The money these companies are getting for these tractors amaze me. And just so you know, I want another one! It's people like me that keep the prices up, boy I hate it when I do that.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I own several Deere's as well as a several "non Deere's". I'm ANYTHING BUT "color blind". I've noticed MANY of those voicing anti-Deere sentiment have no real evidence or experience to call upon to base their remarks on. Quite simply, it's the old "I own orange/blue/red, so green isn't all it's cracked up to be".

I see NO evidence to say Deere is dramatically BETTER, nor do I see any real evidence to say they're any worse in ANY segment of their product line or consumer product speaking in general terms. They are leaps and bounds above EVERYONE in marketing.

As a whole, most Deere owners tend to over state their devotion to the brand. That's NOT Deere, but I'm quite certain "Mother Deere" doesn't want to discourage that line of thinking. In fact Deere has taken that aspect and ran with it.

Deere sells a quality product. So does several other brands. Where Deere has a leg up on the competition is AFTER the sale. Parts and service.......NO ONE puts as much effort into that end of the business. NO ONE. In THAT regard, they earn their laurals. How MUCH better? Well, that is a very subjective matter indeed.

In general, Deere is also a few steps ahead of the game in product developement and planning for their success in the future markets. They're quite often first, and almost never last to break into new product areas, or with new product developement.

Do they deserve to be "rated" higher than other brands in broad general terms? Probably so. Are they light years ahead of all others in all areas? Probably not. But like 'em or not, there's good reason for their success and the length of that success.

 

[scott_vt]

I truly get irked at the newb who runs out to the JD dealer after they've bought a ranchette and wants a small tractor. Seriously. You can buy a 50 year old Massey better suited for you needs for 1/10th the money but so many are too ignorant to know the differences. That's the shame of it all. A general lack of knowledge of tractors, equipment, and how to use and treat them.

.

Good Afternoon Joe,
I couldnt have said it better myself !

The first few years that I owned my Vt property, I kept the fields cleaned up using my old 42 Farmall A that I refurbed along with an old model #16 A sickle bar mower that I refurbed. That combo did a pratty darn good job, and i probablly only spent $1500 for both and a few bucks for replacement parts !

Today some of these guys have $20,000 burnin a hole in their proverbial pocket !

 

[Mike120]

I currently own a green tractor and a blue tractor. I've owned a few red ones as well. I looked at red tractors but actually wanted another blue tractor before I bought the green one. The blue salesman tried to talk me into an orange one because that's what he had in stock so I went down the road and ordered the green one. I still deal with the blue store because most of my hay stuff is NH. They are still a pain to deal with. On the other hand, both JD dealers I deal with are great and this year I replaced my old red baler with a green one. Pretty much all of the big companies build good products (or rebadge them) and I've found they are all competitive in their pricing. The big difference is in the service from the dealership and the availibility of parts years down the road. They all break sooner or later.