Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Review: Fieldmaster GMT230 Topper



Had this machine coming up 12 months so sufficient time to settle opinion.
Basically, its thumbs up.

Pros:
  • solid construction, heavy duty gearboxes
  • easy to mount and dismount to/from tractor
  • thing I like most is the height adjustment, undo 4 lock nuts, turn the top screw to the required setting, there's a scale pointer marked in inches. I've bought a purpose wrench handle and appropriate size socket which I keep in the tractor
  • looks like the skids are reversible, handy for when they inevitably wear
  • joy..., have discovered it handles small to medium rushes, as in pic
  • mulch function great for cleaning up crop stubble, cali's etc, ahead of direct drill, I think the fine mulch is a benefit to the organic matter hamper. I've got the triple blade tip mulch option
Cons:
  • don't think it covers ground quickly, I've settled on 8-10 kph ground speed, rather the efficiency is in its width. There again, I enjoy working slow, and its a great way to make gear last a distance
  • dosen't cut cleanly in some going. I think this is a result of blade rotation direction cutting over rather than against the "nap" left by the rear tractor tyre, requiring at times some overlap of swath and resultant loss of cut width efficiency. On the other hand, on cut targets that stand up, like rushes, it works really good, so am not complaining, plus you can jiggle with the cut height and sometimes get under the problem
  • cost, here in NZ $11k odd plus GST, that's about 25% of the purchase price of the new TYM tractor its attached to. I traded my 9' roller seed drill to get it, a fairly close swap

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