Looking at buying a base/rover set-up and want to stick with Carlson products.
The Carlson dealer is telling me to go with the Novatel antenna setup without
Bluetooth. I told him I wanted Bluetooth so he gave me a price on
an antenna "similar to the viva". I asked for pictures and haven't received
them yet.
I am hoping to demo the unit within the next couple of weeks, anyone used
this unit or heard of it?
Also, does anyone have a Carlson CR2 (Leica 1200)?? If so how does it
compare to a legit Leica 1200 and where do you send it for repair work?
Any advice, comments, or opinions are greatly appreciated!
Carlson Surveyor + GPS BASE/ROVER
Why didn't the dealer propose Bluetooth initially?
I would rethink that idea. I too was thinking that buying my CR5 and having their robot with their software would be seamless. It's not and the tech support is almost non existent.
We run a CR5 with SurvPC on a tablet and while we had some kinks getting it setup it runs as well as our Leicas and getting support has never been a problem.
The long range bluetooth was the biggest headache, but largely b/c of the tablet we are using, not the instrument or software.
Really because I know of another guy with the exact same setup and his problems mirror mine. Would like to speak with you. 501-250-4229 when you get a free moment.
Huge Carlson fan here. Run both a CR2 with a Surveyor+ as well as a Surveyor+ Network GPS. Have had little to no problems with either, anything has typically been our fault and Carlson has always been quick help us. It does sound like in a few months you may see a Carlson base/rover setup come out and the price sounds amazing. Possibly needing another GPS setup in a year or so, this will be the first unit I look at.
Our CR2 is such an amazing product for the price point, and we were excited about packaging it with the Surveyor+ since we had one already. Being able to add the GPS pack to that data collector was also an add benefit if ever needed. If there's a major limitation, it's the "passive tracking" but knew that before buying. Has only been a problem in thickets/brush.
Love the network rover as well, the limitations are mostly with network coverage or costs of subscriptions.
Well it's a good thing you guys didn't buy a Carlson CR5 with a Carlson supervisor tablet because your stories would change real quick.
Yeah I personally haven't seen an advantage of the tablets over handheld units, at least in the three units I have taken a look at (TopCon, Trimble & Carlson). Granted they typically have more features and better processors, they also use way more power(less battery life) and the cost of repairs would get greater for things like screens, which was a major concern since our site construction layout guys can be pretty rough on things... I love the big buttons of the Surveyor+, can keep gloves on in the winter and still easily type both numbers and letters unlike most every other unit I've seen.
But again, I cant say enough about my experience with the equipment and help from Carlson. We even like using Carlson Cloud on our units to transfer data back and forth in the field.
