Leica vs GeoMax vs Trimble
Looking to upgrade my manual reflectorless total station to a robot. Currently I am very fluent with Carlson software and would like to continue using it.
I rented a GeoMax Zoom95 for a week. It worked nicely except for the long delay when trying to reacquire the prism after a search. After telling the dealer about my experience, he found out that there’s a bug in the GeoMax driver in SurvCE. When running the instrument using the Carlson CR2 driver, it works flawlessly. (They’re both the same unit, manufactured by GeoMax, but the Carlson version has a Carlson sticker label)
I rented a TS16 A1000 from a local dealer the next week. I felt like the instruments themselves were pretty comparable, however I had to use Captivate on a CS20. The Leica rep told me there is no Geocom licensing available in order to run the instrument with a 3rd party software. (Is this true? I haven’t confirmed it). Captivate is intuitive but too many clicks and menus to go through to do what I want to do vs a few clicks through Carlson.
I’ve used a S7 a few years ago for almost 2 years straight at another company with a TSC3 & Survey Controller. I didn’t care much for the software but the instrument seemed to work OK with the MT1000.
The bulk of my work is boundary surveys, topographic surveys and construction staking.
I wanted to get some opinions on current GeoMax, Leica and Trimble users and how they like their instruments. Pros and Cons?
Has anyone bought a 2022/2023 year TS16 and was successfully able run it with Carlson SurvCE?
If you’re using a Trimble, what model, year, collector and software are you using? How do you like it when traversing or collecting centerline control?
Does anyone use a GeoMax Zoom95 with Carlson or X-pad? Which one do you prefer and why?
I’m planning on making the investment before the end of the year and want to hear your opinions on your gear and why?
Thanks for your time!
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