When launched in January 2005, the ‘new’ Commander shared little with the previous Hardi trailed sprayers apart from the same name. There was a lot of emphasis placed on stability, with the low-slung profile tank and steering axle being some of the bigger changes. In fact, at the unveiling in Denmark the press were challenged to see if we could get it to ‘cock a leg’, but none of us managed to achieve this feat.
It is a design that has proved itself, so much so that the current Commander looks very similar until you starting opening panels to see the extra technology that has found its way onto the sprayer over the intervening years. Initially there were just two tank sizes: 3,200 and 4,400 litres and the 6600 one year later; whereas today there are four capacities on offer — 3,300, 4,500, 5,500 and 7,000 litres. There are also 8,500- and even 10,000-litre versions, but these are for the US, Australian and South African markets — not the UK. Year on year, there have been tweaks to the Hardi front line trailed sprayer, which we will get to. However, to simplify things there are essentially two generations: the ‘new’ version from 2005, which was designated internally at Hardi as the Commander 05, and the 2012 updated version which is known as Command 11 because the pre-series version was on test in 2011.
Chassis and tanks
The chassis is more or less the same across the board, even now. The original 3200 and 4400 do have subtle differences to account for the larger tank. As you'd expect with the extra capacity and having to deal with the weight of liquid fertiliser, the earlier 6600 and current 5500 and 7000 have a much beefier
