SOIL SAMPLING WITH THE YUMA

Chris Eschhofen of Bryan, Ohio has been soil sampling for over 10 years and has used many types of mobile computers.  At the top of his list is the Trimble® Yuma® rugged computer.  Chris states, “We’ve used the small handhelds in the past and graduating up to the Yuma has pretty well doubled our productivity.”  It was easy for Chris to list some of his favorite features of the Yuma, such as the ruggedness, large screen, and integrated GPS.  Chris was quick to point out that some of the older handheld computers did not have built-in GPS and those took more support connecting a cable to the external GPS receiver.  “Sometimes we will have guys out sampling two hours away from the office so minimizing support issues is essential for us.  When we are using the Yuma, we simply turn on the Farm Works Mobile software and GPS is working”, says Chris.  

One big advantage of the Yuma is that it’s more than just a soil sampling machine, but an actual computer running Windows® 7.  This flexibility enables Chris to install other types of software such as Farm Works™ Office.  When asked about where he sees soil sampling in the future, Chris was convinced that wireless communication between the field and office will play an important role.  “I would have to imagine that we will be using some form of Connected Farm™ technology to quickly receive data from the field without storage cards”.  By adding an off-the-shelf wireless modem to the Yuma, you can wirelessly send logged sampling points and other data from Mobile to the office via Connected Farm.

For more information about the Yuma, please click here.