There had been much hype and excitement in timber harvesting circles in advance of the launch of John Deere's new E Series. However, I think it's fair to say there was more expectation and talk amongst machine operators in this country, as opposed to owners, due to the challenging market conditions here.
No one we contacted within John Deere was giving anything away with regard to what new models or changes to expect. Certainly, all of the secrecy did add to the talk and conjecture regarding what features we might expect from the John Deere designers. Finally, on Wednesday May 28th, John Deere Forestry introduced the new E-series with the unveiling of three machines: the 1270E and 1470E harvesters and the1510E forwarder. At the same time, the company also unveiled the H414 harvesting head, which has been designed for the 1170E (to become available later this year). The rest of the new E-series model range, including the 1070E harvester and the 810E, 1010E, 1110E, 1210E and 1910E forwarders will be introduced at various times throughout this year and in 2009.