Hi,
I was wonderinging why many people don't use Leica gear. I was impressed with the 2 SEC TS02 I used in China, the optics inside the building in low light were great.
Do other brands have as good optics, I did not like the laser plummet due to tolerances needed less than 1.5 mm, but it seems they are all going that way.
T
> I was wonderinging why many people don't use Leica gear....
Well, Leica's competitors aren't all chopped liver, you know.
I've been using Leica GS15/TS15 for a little over a year after using Trimble 5603 for many years.
IMO, the software is Leica's weakest link. To a very large degree if you go with Leica you commit to buying into Leica's whole package, field to finish, and learn to like it. Other vendor's products play better with third party software. And it is at the top of the heap, price wise. Very nice hardware, no doubt about that.
Tracking of the target diode by the 5603 was better than the passive tracking of the prism by the TS 15.
The 5603 needed a lot of NIMH battery power. A LiIon battery pack for the 5603 would be a big upgrade.
Was treated to a demo of the Topcon QS a while back. It looked like a whole new ballgame for Topcon. Very interesting.
FWIW, optics aren't as critical as they once where. I haven't looked through the lens that much in 15 years of autotracking.
I like Leica but sometimes it seems like the menus and keypunch sequences to do anything are counterintuitive. I think one of our support guys said you have to think in Swiss to understand it. The last GPS unit we bought had a revised operating system but it still wasn't as easy as a Trimble unit.
David, I have a follow up question off forum if you could email me at your convenience. andy at rplsfaq dot com
> Hi,
> I was wonderinging why many people don't use Leica gear. I was impressed with the 2 SEC TS02 I used in China, the optics inside the building in low light were great.
>
> Do other brands have as good optics, I did not like the laser plummet due to tolerances needed less than 1.5 mm, but it seems they are all going that way.
>
> T
How is this a legal issue?
We have a Topcon QS and the optics and everything else works great.
I'll bet that Leica/Hexagon would sell instruments like hotcakes if the snotty Swiss would just hire an American Land Surveyor to re-design the software to work the way he/she preferred it. Might sell better in other countries, too ...
Can't beat the optics and mechanical quality, though.
Swiss software has always sucked.
If I remember correctly the 1200 smart worx is mostly the work of an Australian.
1. The snotty Swiss are required by treaty to give preferential hiring treatment to candidates from EU/EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement) nations over candidates from other countries for positions on design teams in Heerbrugg.
2. A journalist acquaintance of mine was interviewing conservative politicians from Europe a year or so ago and one of the points many of them made was that Americans would do much better internationally (both politically and economically) as soon as they realized it’s not 1945 anymore.
Leica already sells like hotcake in the markets they worry about selling like hotcakes in. At Intergeo a few years ago I asked the head of marketing of one of the Chinese instrument companies if they had any plans to expand their dealer network into the U.S. He looked at me like I was a moron and said they would look to expand in secondary markets once they were established in the major asian markets, Russia, Brazil, and India.
The Swiss may be clever but I would like to see them try to build a GPS constellation and then provide it free to the entire world. Europe, China, etc may be doing OK but lets never forget who is king.
> The Swiss may be clever but I would like to see them try to build a GPS constellation and then provide it free to the entire world. Europe, China, etc may be doing OK but lets never forget who is king.
On the surface that sounds like a legitimate statement, however it's patently false. The US would have never had a space program had it not been for European Rocket Scientists, Ohio State would have never had a Geodesy program had it not been for European Geodesists. US Students are falling so far behind in Math and Science that it's just a matter of time before.......
BTW I don't think Leica is marketing to people who call themselves professionals because of their legal expertise. If you need further evidence just look at that [msg=185537]GPS thread[/msg] recently posted.
Ralph
> Europe, China, etc may be doing OK but lets never forget who is king.
This is exactly what Jim Fleming mentioned above......."it’s not 1945 anymore"
And even then, here are just a few of the more famous immigrants who advanced American science:
Alexander Graham Bell (Scotland)
Nikola Tesla (Serbia)
Albert Einstein (Germany)
Enrico Fermi (Italy)
Edward Teller (Hungary)
Wernher von Braun (Germany)
Peter Goldmark (invented the LP record) (Germany)
And those are just some of the better known ones I can remember offhand.
The must be thousands just like them, maybe not as famous, but certainly as much a part of scientific advancement, not to mention economic advancement.
When's the last time most of us bought a phone or TV made in the USA? Or a computer made solely with "American" parts?
Europe, China, etc., are not just "doing OK", and we need to realize it, and find ways to deal with it.
Well. If only "The King" would make some decent survey instruments.
I still don't get your point, from some point every person in the USA is an emigrant. It's the philosophy of the country that creates the opportunity for invention and advancement not the random DNA associations to some geographical region. Can you explain why Germany or the Swiss did not develop the advanced technologies like the USA since 1945. Even today with glosnass and galieo they are about 25 years behind the USA which is about the same as being in the dark ages. We developed GPS over 25 years ago so think about what type of TV, cell phone, computer, etc you were using in 1985. I agree the Swiss are great watch makers and put together good equipment but that does not put them on par with the inventiveness of the USA.
I expect Europe, China, Russian wish the world order was not the same as it was in 1945 but I would say the US is still the top of the food chain and they can kick and scream all they want but I doubt they would ever be prepared to throw a punch. As far as our position in the testing of the level of education I doubt if Michael Dell or Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates scored at the top of their classes but they still managed to create companies and technology that changed the world.
> I still don't get your point, from some point every person in the USA is an emigrant. It's the philosophy of the country that creates the opportunity for invention and advancement not the random DNA associations to some geographical region. Can you explain why Germany or the Swiss did not develop the advanced technologies like the USA since 1945.
The allies basically kidnapped and confiscated their way to a space program. I remember when I worked for Hermann Lange, who grew up in Germany during the war and he would tell me stories. The Germans had the first 7 place Logrithm book in the world, the allies took it. In Europe at the time everybody had theodolites, the US was still using Transits way into the 1960's and 70's.
Have you ever heard of "Operation Paperclip"?
Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II (1939–45). It was conducted by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), and in the context of the burgeoning Soviet–American Cold War (1945–91). One purpose of Operation Paperclip was to deny German scientific knowledge and expertise to the USSR, the UK, and (divided) Germany itself.
> Even today with glosnass and galieo they are about 25 years behind the USA which is about the same as being in the dark ages. We developed GPS over 25 years ago so think about what type of TV, cell phone, computer, etc you were using in 1985. I agree the Swiss are great watch makers and put together good equipment but that does not put them on par with the inventiveness of the USA.
I hope you realize that during World War 2 their was no action or fighting on American Soil, thus there was no need to re-build the underlying infrastructure. Priorities...Priorities
> I expect Europe, China, Russian wish the world order was not the same as it was in 1945 but I would say the US is still the top of the food chain and they can kick and scream all they want but I doubt they would ever be prepared to throw a punch. As far as our position in the testing of the level of education I doubt if Michael Dell or Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates scored at the top of their classes but they still managed to create companies and technology that changed the world.
You do realize that Jobs was natural Genuis, and Gates was accepted and dropped out of Harvard, and also had a perfect SAT score.
Ralph
OK so we can up against an aggressor and kicked A** and took names and i supposed to be ashamed or apologise for that.
>
> You do realize that Jobs was natural Genuis, and Gates was accepted and dropped out of Harvard, and also had a perfect SAT score.
>
> Ralph
Yes, and what do they have in common? Answer: They are both products of the damaged and inferior US education system.
> OK so we can up against an aggressor and kicked A** and took names and i supposed to be ashamed or apologise for that.
No, you're trying to say that the U.S. is King. Based on what?
BTW here's a picture of Group of 104 German rocket scientists in 1946, including Wernher von Braun, Ludwig Roth and Arthur Rudolph, at Fort Bliss, Texas. The group had been subdivided into two sections: a smaller one at White Sands Proving Grounds for test launches and the larger at Fort Bliss for research.[2] Many had worked to develop the V-2 Rocket at Peenemünde Germany and came to the U.S. after World War II, subsequently working on various rockets including the Explorer 1 Space rocket and the Saturn (rocket) at NASA.
In your home State none the less
> >
> > You do realize that Jobs was natural Genuis, and Gates was accepted and dropped out of Harvard, and also had a perfect SAT score.
> >
> > Ralph
>
> Yes, and what do they have in common? Answer: They are both products of the damaged and inferior US education system.
Wrong, most of what they learned was through self study. Both dropped out of the system
Oh I don't know, let's paint a broad picture and say space exploration, medicine, technolgy in general, weapons development. Name one country that can match the US in any of those fields.
They dropped out of Grammer or High School?
