Anyone using it?
If so, how do you like it?
I played with one last week. I have been talking with the people at Tersus. It has a lot of potential and some great features. I plan on running it through some test very soon. Speaking with one of the folks whom I have known there for a very long time and he has been with the other big folks in his career and I do trust him. I think it might have the best IMU on the market. We took a shot on the concrete pad and inverted it and took one on the floor of the balcony above us. I had no tape to check but the numbers were within reason. My first impressions were that if you had suggestions and say something that you wanted in the software or feature they were very open to hearing about it and if it was reasonable and they could see the demand for it they would get started on it. If you PM me I can probably get you an invite to the next webinar they have or get you in touch with the right person if you have not been contacted already. It took me about 30 seconds of looking through the menus on the software data field software and very little guidance and it was easy to navigate for my first time. They said you can customize your workflow to a certain extent also. I asked if they were ready for the new datum’s and they said yes. Very down to earth folks I spoke with.
I've got a rep that's going to stop by to show me the units. I'm not in a big hurry to purchase any surveying equipment, but if a price is right I might. I need to see how it is. I know the 980's are really pricey.
@mightymoe Well They do have a good price point for sure. The R980's vs R12I's are pretty good for sure. The R980 gets you the extra radio type which is great for the construction side if they already have a base for the machine control etc. or you are getting interference in town on the 450 mhz etc.. If you get to working with the Tersus most definitely keep this updated so we all know how it goes.
The 980's are apparently an update to the 12s with better cell modems?
We can't really use them that way cause so many of the areas we end up in are devoid of cell coverage. It's something I believe Starlink could be helpful with.
Many people I know locally are flocking to Starlink and are very happy with it. I've got a colleague that watches everything at his cabin cameras that are linked through Starlink. There isn't power or any other way to get phone to it, so it's all solar panels (batteries) for power and Starlink for phone and computer.
I don't know if it's usable as a link for GPS, but I'm going to ask, it could be a game changer for me if Tersus is already set up for that.
@mightymoe so the farm land I lease up until a year or so ago had no internet and very poor cell. I needed to locate a profile of the grass runway and such for him to compare to the previous years as he kept his permit and keep the strip active. I had a rover and could not dial into the network via cell. He simply placed a WiFi booster from his home using starlink out to me and and I just used that. He has kids that do gaming and they were streaming all there TV and movies. It was nice. He loved it as well. Now we have fiber at his house so he does some Raving and he and his family use starlink the portable/ mobile set up. Yeah the r980 is better for SIM card in the receiver they say than r12i. It has both radios in it the spectra and the 450. So it does have some flexibility. I personally never have placed any SIM card in the rover as I always placed it in the data collector so I could send files and access email on my data collector and use Trimble Connect. But that’s for the bigger companies were crews hardly ever come to the office and are on the road. I am impressed with DAC if you wanted static IP to do base rover on cell that would be a great case for having the sim in the head of the receiver etc.
Are these guys building their own receivers or is it just Leica or Trimble guts inside a box with their name on it?
The advertisements suggest that it's home-grown equipment.
@bstrand They build their own boards so not a Trimble or Novotel board just rebranded under the hood.
Anyone using it? If so, how do you like it?
Use it and like it. Just got back treking through swamp in LA w Oscar. Was able to log onto local DOT network and get most shots, then network down last weekend and I wanted to finish and have a day at beach. Switched to rinex in deep canopy then network back up Lost a day, missed beach but got the data. Board does most all of what Leica does. The NUWA software (android) is a powerful tool on small footprint. Wen, Lin, David, and the others in Singapore and Australia are good to work with and incorporated most all requests to make it work in the US. Three important issues: no charges for updates, Tersus listens and will respond (they are in a different time zone so that is a small problem), and NUWA works well for what we do and is versatile. And, it would be my first choice if i were buying again.
Only negative is the cellular chip on both their data collector and the instrument. Tersus was able to help find workaround so not a problem now. UHF is onboard and another option if working with 2 instruments (we mix and match with Leica).
Read Gavin Schrock's article 5yrs ago.
@bstrand We are building our own. It's not rebranded.
Wendell, not sure if ok to link Gavin Schrock's review but here goes:
https://www.xyht.com/gnsslocation-tech/what-is-tersus-gnss/
Also, did not know how to edit my above post but wanted to add Tersus support person Min as he has been most helpful. And, for a company half-way around the world, they communicate better than most localities we work with in the US.
And to add to the above: Why did we stray from our swiss provider? Because we have $500k+ of hardware and software that cannot communicate with each other because they do not have the license or are feature/node locked. Tersus solved that problem and came with everything we needed in one small box and intellectual support to back up - no extra fees for support, no extra fees to configure as base or rover or limit where you can work.
We still use our swss equipment and it is well constructed. However
Got the D&P show, they look awesome. The LUKA interests me greatly. The OSCAR not as much, we aren't big in engineering topo so it may be for someone else. Although, mixing the two would be the sensible way to go with a Base/Rover. They feel very sturdy when you pick them up.
New here. anyone from Texas? We are thinking about buying a Oscar Trek from Tersus.
I do like my LUKA, very lightweight, fast, accurate, it's easy to type in codes on my screen. I've only used it for boundary, don't care about elevations, but it does check in well 3d against my other units. The software isn't TBC level, but I download into TBC. I don't use Tersus software, so I can't speak to it beyond the DC and I'm good with that, some stuff I like better than Trimble, some not as much.
@mightymoe I was browsing their website briefly and I didn't see any brackets where the DC could be mounted on a rod. Do they make such a thing?
That's a good question, I simply mounted my existing DC adaptor and use it. It works well on the Tersus rod. This may sound a bit odd, but with the Tersus rod, the receiver and my DC I felt the unit was too light. I went back to using my Seco rod to make the setup heaver. That's something I didn't think I'd ever say.