Sorry for the long-winded story, but I am about to very subtly accuse someone of being a bit shady. As such, I should probably justify my actions somewhat.
Recently I sold a TCRA1103+ XR to a guy in Italy. On a personal level, he was a major pain in the butt. He would give a migraine a headache, but his money is as good as anyone else's.
I won't lie- the instrument I sold him was rough. Really rough. But I made that clear to him and took more photos of it for him than a grandmother at a children's birthday party. Videos as well. It was fully functional and my conscience was clear.
But I was on edge with this guy because he had previously tried to buy a TPS1100 laser that I was selling. I ended up having a lot of trouble explaining that it was only the laser itself, and not the EDM board that he was apparently looking for. So, I knew that he was looking for an EDM board.
He took delivery of the instrument and instantly started complaining about the condition of the instrument and was making threatening "eBay dispute" noises. I reminded him of the photos and the fact that they had all been sent via eBay, so there is a record of it all. I had guaranteed in writing that it was fully functional, but also that it was about as pretty as I am.
He changed his tune and started talking about.......you'll never guess......EDM board problems in the instrument. That made me nervous. I stood my ground and shut him down quick smart.
Suddenly, another Italian contacted me out of nowhere regarding a second TCRA1103+ XR instrument that I was selling (I'm slowly moving back to Australia, so I've been active on eBay of late). He is from a village that is 20 km's down the road from the first guy (but initially denied knowing him) and wanted me to prove (via video) that the instrument did not have a very specific problem:
He had shot a slope distance to a target in RL, then shot the same distance to (allegedly) the same target in IR and had a ??SD of 0.006m in ??50m. He wanted me to perform the same experiment before he would buy the instrument.
After explaining to him that such an experiment cannot be done easily because one target was reflective tape and the other was a prism, and that setting up a baseline like that would be more trouble than it was worth, he sent me his hand written field notes of his experiment. I figured out that he was either trying to commit fraud by taking a reading, holding the target to maintain HZ and VA readings on the screen, then changing the scale factor in the instrument to simulate an incorrect slope distance reading to the same target, or was an imbecile who was maintaining tripod/tribrach positions and swapping targets.
Between that, and the fact that I managed to connect him to the first guy, I eventually told him to go and fornicate with himself. I then took preventative measures against the first guy by informing eBay of a potential fraud taking place. They backed me.
However, the second guy had become pretty friendly with me because he had lived in my hometown for a year. Over the course of this long-winded exchange he had sent me photos of his equipment, and that exact same instrument was used in his SD experiment.
I am 100% certain that the first guy is now selling that same instrument:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stazione-Totale-Leica-TCRA1103-XR/264757086624
That is the instrument that had the "nonsensical EDM problem". As I (hopefully) made clear, I think that he (or they) fiddled with the scale factor between readings to simulate the world's weirdest EDM problem in an attempt to either:
a) return the battered (but fully functional) instrument that I had sold him because the photos didn't do it justice, or
b) bought my battered instrument, swapped out the EDM board into his previously broken instrument, then tried to return the battered one to me via eBay's return system.
The moral of the story is this: between those two guys, they have an instrument that has a broken EDM board (because he was looking for one earlier) and another instrument that might have an incredibly strange EDM problem.
Curiously, he is not accepting returns or Paypal. Naturally, I am casting aspersions and potentially slandering someone. I know that. The instrument might be fine. I might need to apologise to him someday.
But.........buyer beware.
Does this mean you're finally giving up on the trusty 1100's?
Or are you still running them?
I just bought one and hope it behaves...
I did message Chris_1 who occasionally posts here about fixing Leica EDM's and he confirmed he is still in business 🙂 ?ÿ
When I saw the subject line for this post, I thought it was about fishing...........
We should talk more about fishing! At least sometimes, this job takes me places where I wish I'd bought a rod and bobber. 🙂 ?ÿ
I've only bought one survey instrument over the InterWebs, a Kern DKM1(2?) miniature theodolite at a good price where the guy had three of them surplussed from a mining company which he was selling as a favor for the recently widowed owner.?ÿ Looked good in the photos and description but I procrastinated and ended up with the third one with no accessories, scratched objective, broken canister container, opened Kern wax covered main bolt, the internal optics so dirty you couldn't read the micrometers even in bright sun. It was like it was filled with coal dust.?ÿ Not the one in the photos.?ÿ Contacted my local survey equipment supplier who told me they'd have to ship it to some guy on the East Coast for cleaning/refurbishment at 4 times what I paid for it.
So I got stung.?ÿ My reaction, it was my mistake.?ÿ He clearly said no returns/as is so I swallowed it.?ÿ My reaction to getting ripped off is to walk away from that vendor and never deal with him again, but I'd give him zero stars on an EBay if it ever came up for misrepresentation.?ÿ
Sounds like you wouldn't have much to lose by trying to open it and clean it yourself. You might learn something even if not professional repair results.
I went casting aspersions once,?ÿ all I caught was flack.
I used to cast lead soldiers - does that count?
@cf.67
No, I'm not giving up on them. I have a few at home in Oz and will continue to use them when I return. I have a 1200 for those occasions where I need a more powerful EDM, but it doesn't get used. I love my TP Stakeout, my license-free instruments, and also don't do the sort of work where I need to chase the extra +/- 1mm/km that the more modern EDMs offer.
I'm aware of Chris_1. Thankfully I haven't had cause to contact him (yet). But it's fantastic that someone like him still exists.
I agree. I had an 1100 that failed and I can honestly say that part of me got excited because I could then justify pulling it apart and tinkering with it. I now have a working TCRA1103+ with an internal radio. No more external modems for me.