::UPDATE 1::In this post I made some assumptions about how cheaply you could get RTK from other companies. I was still in the research phase and now have more information. This information makes the mojoRTK look much more competitive. I am also learning that it may be possible for the mojoRTK base station to send a signal to Trimble receivers which would greatly increase the value of the system in my mind. I am not going to delete anything I previously wrote but will instead add "::Update #:: new information ::/Update #::" throughout the post just like I'm doing here. Maybe later once I've gotten more options covered I will create a new post that summarizes everything I've learned. ::/Update 1::

A few months ago I was seeing a lot of information on this site regarding mojoRTK. I read a lot about how people were thinking about buying it as a low cost entry point into RTK. Since that time I haven't heard much about whether people actually followed through or not. Are there very many people on here who did? What are your experiences?

I'll start with ours. We bought it before they bumped the price up a few thousand dollars. We bought it with the intention of planting and drilling with it.

Previously when we drilled we set our overlap to 1 foot on WAAS with our EZ-Guide+ and T2 EZ-Steer. We don't plant much with the EZ-Steer because we're frequently following the rows that are already there so that we don't end up planting right over the old cornstalks for extended periods. It also has a little bit too much drift to trust it very far.

Our hope is that we can reduce our overlap on drilling and start planting with the EZ-Steer. As far as planting is concerned, we're considering going at a slight angle to our previous rows the first year so that we aren't ever planting directly on top of corn stalks for extended periods. The second year we intend to plant the field in the most efficient way for each particular field which will once again put us at a slight angle to the stalks. From the third year on we hope to be able to stay on the rows that were set the second year except we will be planting between the rows every year.

We will be planting with a 16 row 30" John Deere planter. It will be pulled by a JD 4840. We will be drilling with a Case air drill pulled by a Versatile 875.

Since planting season is what's coming the soonest, we've set the mojoRTK and EZ-Steer in the JD 4840. Initial impressions are mixed...

Accuracy:

Good

We haven't actually hooked the planter up so things could change slightly but we don't really expect them to change very much. Anyways, to test the accuracy we set an AB line in milo stalks. We were less than 1/2 of a mile from the base station. We drove the same AB line over and over, hitting terraces straight on. There is rarely any drift at all. As viewed from the cab you can see the tire running down the exact same tire tracks. When hitting the terraces at an angle there is very little difference between previous tire tracks and new ones and the correction is fairly quick. We don't expect to even be able to notice the difference in the planting because the planter is so far behind the tractor that it probably will not move nearly as much as the front wheels of the tractor (which didn't move much anyways, maybe 8 inches). When we get a chance we will check the accuracy at larger distances.

Support:

Good

So far anytime we've had a question we've been able to call John with Leica and he's been helpful in answering any of the questions we've had.

Simplicity:

Excellent

Once everything is set up you do things in the following order:

1. Drive to field - - - Depends
2. Set Base station up on tripod - - - 45 seconds (we've been leaving the Base connected to the tripod)
3. Turn base station on and wait for position fix - - - 4 minutes or less (I think it's about 2 and a half but I'm just estimating)
4. Make sure the EZ-Steer has power - - - 1 second?
5. Turn cab unit on and wait for position fix - - - 1 minute (once again a guess)
6. Set your AB line - - - Depends on the length of your field but it's about three button pushes (very intuitive)

Documentation

Fair to Poor

Sorry Leica. I'm almost being generous on this one. The documentation we received left much to be desired. It consists of a single CD that has a nice logo on the CD itself but when you pop it in all you get is one PDF file. We printed it out to make it a little more portable and easy to deal with. While reading the manual sometimes the pictures of the display did not match with topic being discussed. In at least one instance sentences were mixed similar to the following example I made up:

"I am having This is a nice computer a good day" which should be "I am having a good day. This is a nice computer".

In many places it says to refer to online documentation. There isn't any documentation online as far as I can tell. I understand that there is a printed manual...or there will be a printed manual after it leaves the printer.

Fortunately, it's pretty simple and the important parts of the documentation are usable. Any questions are quickly answered with a quick phone call to a friendly mojoRTK representative.

I think Leica's philosophy may be such that they believe so much in their Virtual Wrench support feature and the simplicity of their product that the documentation is not as important. I'm the type of person that likes to try to learn all the intricacies of the products I own and doing so with the afterthought that is the mojoRTK documentation is difficult.

Expandability

Fair???

Leica has decided to provide a product with many features and then limit the number of features that can be used through software limitations. For example, it has the capability to be accurate 16 miles out according to Leica but we got ours with only the 8 mile option unlocked. The lowest, cheapest option is an even lower range, maybe 4 miles but I don't currently remember.

The ability to use GLONASS can be had for another $3000. The 16 mile range can be had for another few thousand dollars (I can't find the exact price on the site right now). Other options will probably be available in the future. All they have to do is provide a software update to make it do more things. It's difficult to say which of these things will be free and which will be charged for. So when I say fair, I'm assuming that all the things I heard about when we bought it are actually going to come to fruition. It's difficult to say whether these things are worth the price sometimes. If you were to buy the product today for the list price of $13000, then add however many miles of range you want for another few thousand and then possibly end up paying for the ability to store AB lines and other similar options that may become available in the future....well, it was easy to justify at the introductory price and options that were available as bonuses during that time period but I'm not sure I would go for it at the current price. ::UPDATE 1:: I am now aware that to make an EZGuide+ run RTK you're going to need to spend almost $11,000. To make an EZ-Guide 500 run RTK you're going to need to spend $13,000. You'll still have to come up with an EZ-Steer ($3500 new). You still won't have your own base station. Basically I'm saying that the mojoRTK is still very competitive at the new prices. You just have to decide whether a fancy screen, lots of patterns, ability to store points, etc is worth not having a base station. ::/UPDATE 1::

Features

Fair

I don't claim to be an expert in all the products that are available on the market but if my assumptions on how a few things work are correct, the following should be somewhat accurate. If anyone has any insight into the options I mention I will gladly edit this post to make it more accurate.

If you are starting with a tractor that already has integrated auto steer that can be controlled by the mojoRTK then the mojoRTK is pretty competitive for giving you RTK accuracy. As far as I know, the EZ-Guide 500 and other similar products can't control the auto-steer (without adding the NavController II) that came with your tractor so you'll have to get a more expensive solution to add RTK and if you don't have access to an RTK network you'll also have to fork out some cash for a pricey base station.

If however you were trying to start from having nothing to getting an RTK system on EZ-Steer and you had a reliable RTK network you could subscribe to in your area, it would be a hard sell with the new pricing scheme. I haven't researched it thoroughly but I believe the EZ-Guide 500 is now cabable of using RTK and driving the EZ-Steer. If that's the case, $13,000 for the mojoRTK package and $3500 for the EZ-Steer could go a long ways towards getting an EZ-Guide 500 w/ EZ-Steer on RTK. Correct me if I'm wrong but you might even have quite a bit left over for paying the subscription fee for a year or so. Yes, the mojoRTK has terrain compensation in 3 axis and the EZ-Steer only has it in 2 axis but for an entry level system the difference is probably not that large. The small screen, inability to store AB lines, etc make it questionable as to the value you would get out of this system in that particular scenario. ::UPDATE 1:: I've learned that you'll end up spending $16,500 for the EZ-Guide 500 and EZ-Steer that is ready to receive the RTK signal you're subscribing to. So the price is about equal but there isn't any money left over for a subscription like I thought there might be. You have to decide if the features of the EZ-Guide 500 is worth more than having your own base station on the mojoRTK ::/UPDATE 1::

Overall we're in the learning phase still and it's hard to tell whether this was the right purchase for us. ::UPDATE 1:: At the introductory price we paid I know believe this was a phenominal deal compared to other entry level RTK systems. At the current prices the mojoRTK is still very competitive, you just have to decide whether features or your own base station are more important to you. ::/UPDATE 1:: We think it will give us what we want but there may be other products that can do the same thing and more for the price we paid. At the current prices it's very likely that there are alternatives which may be significantly better. Do your research and take the course that's best for your situation.