New robot or new truck?

It's dusk on a site that's as far away from home as you've ever worked. Which one would you rather break down?

1. You only think your robot runs great. Wait 'til you compare it to what a more modern robot can do. You should at least give your local salesman a chance.

2. What about your GPS situation? And office software?

3. If your robot is a Trimble 5600, for instance, you may find yourself having trouble getting parts for it when it breaks down. I doubt that you would have any trouble getting your truck serviced.

4. You could split the difference and buy both a truck and a robot that are 5 years old.

Get used both? 1998 was a while ago....

While it sounds like a really good idea, and I am drooling over the New Chevy Midnight commercials....
I will never buy another new vehicle. Let someone else take the depreciation hit. If you are not in a hurry, you can find 1-2 year vehicles with 12-30k on them. I have done it twice for my wife. The last one had under 16k on it was only 14 months old. It is fully loaded, with a sticker of $32,000+. I paid $16,500 - and it is paid off already.

I vote go barely used truck. Get a new or demo robot the following year.

toivo1037, post: 330437, member: 973 wrote: While it sounds like a really good idea, and I am drooling over the New Chevy Midnight commercials....
I will never buy another new vehicle. Let someone else take the depreciation hit. If you are not in a hurry, you can find 1-2 year vehicles with 12-30k on them. I have done it twice for my wife. The last one had under 16k on it was only 14 months old. It is fully loaded, with a sticker of $32,000+. I paid $16,500 - and it is paid off already.

I vote go barely used truck. Get a new or demo robot the following year.

this. lurk for the truck first- in january found a '10 truck with 20k miles on it for about what a nice 1" conventional instrument goes for. 2 things were key- it was 5 years old (though basically brand new), and it was a king cab as opposed to a quad cab, and fairly stripped down. i've found that work trucks are becoming a rarer species and if you can settle for things like vinyl seats and manual windows/locks you can often find great deals on stuff nobody else wants.

not sure how business is for you, but i bought a second (demo) robot at the end of the year after we did the books- was the perfect way to make some money disappear that otherwise woulda just been appropriated by the IRS.

all in all i'm out about what a new robot or a new truck would cost normally.

Salesman here...

You can fix a truck from 1998. It might not be the best move but if you need to get to a job site you can make it happen.

Robots from 1998 are almost unrepairable. Depending on the instrument there is usually zero parts available and are not cost prohibitive to repair. For example lets say your robot is worth $10,000.00 and your EDM takes a crap. You send it off for a $3,000.00 repair. It gets fixed and the next day you bring it out to a job site the main board starts to smoke. Now you have another 2k, 3k or 4k dollar repair. I have seen this happen, and is one of the reason why we don't like repairing 20 year old instruments. Just because you replace the radiator on the robot doesn't mean that the brakes are still good. It's also impossible to diagnose an instrument, they usually don't tell you when something is wrong unlike a squeaking suspension or a slipping transmission.

.02

There are good points on both sides here.

I bought a 2011 F150 4x4 last year with 24K miles on it. It is pretty loaded, and it looks good. I have a 2002 era robot that I am the second owner of, and it runs great, but I know I want to upgrade it as soon as possible.

My wife made the call on the truck. My 2001 F150 had 260K miles on it, and I do a good bit of driving, and am solo 95% of the time. She did not want me breaking down on the road while out of town and being stranded. I wasn't ready for the note, but I believe it was the right move for us at the time.

I buy my trucks to keep for a long time, so I say buy the nicest used truck you can find within your budget. I won't have a work truck without power windows or power door locks. I also like the nice aluminum rims. I hate getting on one side of the truck and the doors being locked. I just hit the keyless remote, and boom, they are unlocked. The types of clients I try to "court" are higher end construction companies, and development companies, and you get one chance to make a first impression. I have my truck organized nicely, and it is a reflection on my company.

I will upgrade the robot pretty soon, and I am sure my productivity will increase. I can't wait.

Robot all the way. It will pay for a new truck.

Plus. Trucks from the 90's are typically better built than these new luxury vehicles they pass off as trucks these days. Yes they are nice, but I don't need bluetooth, backup camera, leather seats, heated seats, cooled seats, side view mirror defoggers, xm radio, sirius radio, sun roof or any other goofy contraption they have decided to put on a "Work" truck. It has gotten crazy. Robots on the other hand, I have found beauty in the simplicity of the instruments. No chords, no bulky radios attached to the rods. Simple and sleek. Even a new robot will only be between 20-35k. Well worth it.

Jimmy Cleveland, post: 330477, member: 91 wrote: There are good points on both sides here.

I bought a 2011 F150 4x4 last year with 24K miles on it. It is pretty loaded, and it looks good. I have a 2002 era robot that I am the second owner of, and it runs great, but I know I want to upgrade it as soon as possible.

My wife made the call on the truck. My 2001 F150 had 260K miles on it, and I do a good bit of driving, and am solo 95% of the time. She did not want me breaking down on the road while out of town and being stranded. I wasn't ready for the note, but I believe it was the right move for us at the time.

I buy my trucks to keep for a long time, so I say buy the nicest used truck you can find within your budget. I won't have a work truck without power windows or power door locks. I also like the nice aluminum rims. I hate getting on one side of the truck and the doors being locked. I just hit the keyless remote, and boom, they are unlocked. The types of clients I try to "court" are higher end construction companies, and development companies, and you get one chance to make a first impression. I have my truck organized nicely, and it is a reflection on my company.

I will upgrade the robot pretty soon, and I am sure my productivity will increase. I can't wait.

I should also say that I am solo. I don't know that I would put a crew in a super nice truck, but it will look good as a reflection on the company. I do plan on adding a backup camera for hooking up the trailer and more importantly for safety reasons. It makes hooking up to the trailer with a camper shell a simple task. A good after market one can be had for under $200.

Heck, have a new kid!

A 1998 truck would be a step up for me. When I want to drive somewhere, I do. Sure don't worry about paint getting scratched or other silly stuff like that.

New moneymaker is probably the better way to go.

My vote is for the robot. New ones lock on quicker, track better and are generally quicker all over.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 330499, member: 291 wrote: Heck, have a new kid!

Haven't you worked out what causes that yet?? :-S:whistle:

Not advocating one way or another, but a 1998 truck is about 18 years old. That's how old my 1990 F-150 was when it finally got to be too unreliable and too uneconomical to maintain. I well remember the feeling of driving out into the boonies and not knowing how I was going to get back if it broke down yet again. My new truck -- which is almost 8 years old now -- doesn't do that to me.

However, my robot is 11 years old, and it's starting to give me that feeling. It hasn't quit working yet, but it's had a few glitchy days with no apparent cause. I'm starting to think about a replacement plan of action...