When it comes to choosing a combine, most growers start with horsepower and class size. But do those numbers tell the full story? We sat down with Brenden Johnson, regional sales manager for CLAAS in Canada, to discuss why real-world productivity should weigh more heavily in the buying decision, and why the machines you might overlook on a spec sheet could be the ones that outperform expectations in the field.
Q. When growers are shopping for a combine, horsepower and class size tend to dominate the conversation. Is that the right starting point?
A. Horsepower is the number everyone looks at first, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. What matters at the end of the day is throughput — how much grain you’re actually moving through the machine per hour and how clean it is in the tank. It’s easy to assume a higher class means a more productive harvest, but that isn’t always the case. Two combines with the same horsepower rating can deliver very different results depending on driveline efficiency, threshing design and cleaning system capacity. A machine that routes power through belt drives rather than gearboxes, for example, retains more energy despite friction and puts more of that power toward actual harvesting.
In other words, a well-engineered Class 8 combine can match or outperform a competitor’s Class 9 machine in real field conditions. I’d encourage any grower who’s shopping to look past the horsepower number and ask: How does this machine actually perform in my crop, in my conditions, during a long harvest day?
Q. When you look at what makes a combine more productive and efficient than another, what features are particularly important or most telling?
A. The threshing and separation system is typically a good place to start. A lot of combines thresh and separate material with the rotor alone, so as you increase separation aggressiveness, grain quality can suffer.
Conversely, CLAAS has a proprietary APS SYNFLOW HYBRID threshing system, allowing the combine to independently thresh before the crop gets to the rotors. The operator and machine automation settings can optimize each stage for the crop and unique conditions for better grain quality, lower losses and the flexibility to handle tough threshing conditions that would slow down other machines.
Q. Speaking of machine automation, how does that play a role in overall combine performance?
A. Combine automation systems have been around for a little over a decade and have gotten better over time. Most systems ask operators to set an upper and lower limit for each parameter, and then the system optimizes within that range. This generally does a good job but limits the system from finding optimal performance that may lie outside of those preset ranges.
CEMOS AUTOMATIC, the CLAAS Electronic Machine Optimization System, drives LEXION combine performance further. CEMOS AUTOMATIC evaluates the combine’s full operating range autonomously and automatically adjusts as conditions change, no preset upper and lower limits required.
Q. For Canadian growers, what’s the case for choosing a Class 8 LEXION over a higher-horsepower competitive machine?
A. In much of Alberta, we see terrain and field sizes where a Class 8 machine with a 40- or 45-foot header handles the workload effectively. The LEXION 8600, for example, delivers what we’d describe as Class 9 performance in a Class 8 frame, largely because of the hybrid system we just talked about and CEMOS AUTOMATIC automation to get more out of the machine. Growers who step up to a higher class simply because they assume they need more power often end up paying more at purchase, burning more fuel and depreciating a larger asset without a proportional gain. We’d rather match a machine to the actual operation than oversell horsepower a grower doesn’t need.
A Class 9 combine like the LEXION 8700 absolutely has its place — larger operations, high-moisture canola, bigger headers — but growers shouldn’t default to it just because it’s the bigger number.
Q. What’s your advice for a grower who’s about to make a combine purchase decision?
A. Start with your operation, not the spec sheet. Look at your header widths, your terrain, your grain-handling infrastructure and how many experienced operators you can count on. Then evaluate machines based on total performance: throughput at acceptable loss and quality levels, fuel efficiency, automation capability and long-term ownership cost.
And of course, when talking with your local dealer, ask for a demo. The data from those field demos speaks for itself: grain savings, fuel consumption, hours gained per day.
Learn more about CLAAS combine offerings: https://www.claas.com/en-ca/agricultural-machinery/sales-promotion/small-grains
Brenden Johnson
Regional sales manager
CLAAS Canada