Affordable non-robotic gun for side work?
I’m been doing a lot of thinking about getting into some limited sidework. As much as I’d love to get a Leica TS16 with a new carlson RT4 tablet and a pair of BRx7 recievers, that doesn’t fit the bill of sidework.
As I primarily plan to pursue boundary work, robotic isn’t absolutely necessary (something I can’t believe I’m saying, but it seems there is a significant price jump for robotic).
Right now I’ve been looking at a nikon nemo 3″, but I also used some topcons 10+ plus years ago and recall liking them, but don’t remember specifics and don’t really know which ones are worth looking at.
I’m interested in others experience or recommendations for non-robotic guns? (or affordable robotic)
Additional details (to answer anticipated questions):
I am licensed, been going for about 15 years now, and recently jumped ship to a much less stressful, strict 40hr/week (no O/T!) survey job. However it’s all construction related (sort of), and I’m really missing all the boundary work I used to do (but not missing the stress of the big consulting firm grind). I understand there is a lot more to doing my own work than just getting a gun. I’ve been real close in the past years to going out on my own fulltime, but never took the jump. I guess this is my way of getting my toes wet without having to rely on it for income. I understand sidework would still require setting up proper contracting/t&c, possibly e&o insurance, etc.
One more question if you bothered to read this far: I think my ideal realistic setup would include a gun that I can run with a collector running survce (again probably would go the less reliable used route for now, maybe a used Allegro or Surveyor+), purchase Starnet, and intellicad, or possibly Carlson Survey with Intellicad. My software experience is unfortunately in the high-priced land (civil3d, bentley inroads, TBC), so I can’t really afford to go that route.
Would would you recommend for affordable adjustment/processing/drafting tools?
…or maybe I just need someone to tell me to stop messing around and go full time solo 🙂
- 7 Replies
We have owned a Leica iCON total station (iCR80s) for a few months now, which, due to the iCON software, has the advantage that even non-specialist personnel can work with it without any problems due to the simple user interface.
The manual total stations of the iCON series offer the same user interface, but with limited functions.
However, these should also be sufficient for your requirements!Of course, there are still some providers from Asia (South, E-Survey and so on), but I can make no statement about whether these are now better or worse. With Leica is simply the advantage that as a large provider is also given sufficient support and there are enough dealers / maintenance facilities that have experience with the device.
I know a guy who gave up his solo gig to work with a big firm and has everything you need to either go solo or work part time. Topcon robot, Carlson BRX 6+ are the biggies in the collection but everything else down to desk, printer, legs, probably Carlson 2017 maybe (not sure if that is transferrable) rods, signs. I’m sure there is a way to send some of the proceeds to Wendell for this fantastic website.
I don’t know about the Nemo, but I really liked the old Nikons DTMs, and didn’t like the Nivo series. You can’t go wrong with SurvCE.
I’d recommend getting Carlson, ICAD version if you want to save money. I haven’t tried it since it first came out, but most here say that ICAD has improved a lot from those days
I personally wouldn’t bother with insurance, since it usually only covers you for current work, while you’re paying for the coverage. 10 years from now, if you’ve stopped your side work and stopped paying for coverage, and a mistake is found, you probably won’t be covered. I’m sure I’ll catch some flack for this, but whatever
I have some equipment for sale you might be interested in. Itƒ??s a sokkia sx105 robot, grx2 base/rover setup and a spectra precision collector that runs survey pro. If youƒ??re interested please give me a call at (870)582-2596
The Nikon DTMs are fairly cheap and of decent quality. But everybody who has been in business for awhile has a “backup gun” – the one they used before the one they use now – gathering dust in a cabinet. Call around.
I’ve got a Leica TCA1101 in good shape I might give up cheapish, maybe $2K. I used to use SurveCE on it but don’t have a DC I could part with right now. Charger has a foreign plug I used with a US adapter, so… history is it came from down under about 8 years ago.
ddI’m been doing a lot of thinking about getting into some limited sidework. As much as I’d love to get a Leica TS16 with a new carlson RT4 tablet and a pair of BRx7 recievers, that doesn’t fit the bill of sidework.
As I primarily plan to pursue boundary work, robotic isn’t absolutely necessary (something I can’t believe I’m saying, but it seems there is a significant price jump for robotic).
Right now I’ve been looking at a nikon nemo 3″, but I also used some topcons 10+ plus years ago and recall liking them, but don’t remember specifics and don’t really know which ones are worth looking at.
I’m interested in others experience or recommendations for non-robotic guns? (or affordable robotic)
Additional details (to answer anticipated questions):
I am licensed, been going for about 15 years now, and recently jumped ship to a much less stressful, strict 40hr/week (no O/T!) survey job. However it’s all construction related (sort of), and I’m really missing all the boundary work I used to do (but not missing the stress of the big consulting firm grind). I understand there is a lot more to doing my own work than just getting a gun. I’ve been real close in the past years to going out on my own fulltime, but never took the jump. I guess this is my way of getting my toes wet without having to rely on it for income. I understand sidework would still require setting up proper contracting/t&c, possibly e&o insurance, etc.
One more question if you bothered to read this far: I think my ideal realistic setup would include a gun that I can run with a collector running survce (again probably would go the less reliable used route for now, maybe a used Allegro or Surveyor+), purchase Starnet, and intellicad, or possibly Carlson Survey with Intellicad. My software experience is unfortunately in the high-priced land (civil3d, bentley inroads, TBC), so I can’t really afford to go that route.
Would would you recommend for affordable adjustment/processing/drafting tools?
…or maybe I just need someone to tell me to stop messing around and go full time solo 🙂
I liked the Leica TCR803 Ultra that I used my first few years as an instrument man, running on microsurvey fieldgenius on a Tracker extreme data collector. Good accuracy, good reflectorless, laser plummet, extremely light for carrying through the woods.
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