I'll give you my 2cents for what it's worth. I have been using precision ag at my father in laws farm since 2008. It has been an incredible learning curve. We started with a PRO600 and have moved on. We have currently a 250, a 500 two FM-1000's and a FMX.
The 250 is a good basic cheap reliable lightbar. Nothing else. The biggest drawback I have against it is the small screen. Overall setup and use are easy. The 500 is a step better, color, lots more features and would eventually run sutosteer if you ever wanted to head in that direction. But on the features side, it is lacking in that it is not touch screen and has only 6 buttons to run it. The 750 is a wonderful choice, albiet a more expensive one. But is has been out for a few years now and used ones should be affordable. The rate of payback on something like a 750 or a 500 is greatly accellerated if you use it to control your sprayer boom sections and rate with FieldIQ. It is a matter of only a few years before you will save the money of the hardware by product saved by more precise application. And that is just savings on the sprayer. You save more if you use it in more cabs. The other good thing about sprayer use is that you do not need expensive corrections (i.e. sub inch) to realize savings on a sprayer. WAAS is plenty good enough.
Your family at the Case IH dealer will be able to help you get a nice setup that works with what you have. Or sometimes a Trimble only dealer (such as in my area) is the only one that has all the expertice needed in these situations. Our CaseIH dealers are kinda lacking in thir Trimble knowledge. CaseIH is in partnership with Trimble but also builds their own products to compete directly against Trimble products.
