We're getting a couple of new base rover units. The r780 is a little cheaper and we're told it has the same capabilities as the 12i but is a little heavier. I've heard good things about the 12i in the woods. My main question is, is the r780 just as good in the woods?
At heart the 780 is a rugged R12
They perform pretty much identically
The 780 has a tougher casing, and more weather proofing but is noticeably heavier.
It also uses a different battery - same sort as the MT1000 prism
I believe the 780 has no Sim card slot.
I did see that the 780 has 1/2 the channels of the r12.
https://geospatial.trimble.com/en/compare-gnss-integrated-systems
Good spotting. Wasn't aware of that. Doesn't seem to make much difference in the field.
Different HZ and VT specs as well I believe. R12i is 8mm hz R780 10mm but i could be wrong on that. It reminds me of a mini me 4800 chicken bucket from back in the 90’s sorta. I remember running one of those with a TSC1. Oh it was bullet proof. So was the TSC1. That is one thing I wish Trimble would do is go back to their own operating system. All the windows updates discontinue support etc etc. A lot less bugs and issues when manufacturers had there own systems. But we live in a world of connectivity and such.
In my first days around 10 years ago I used the old leftover TSC2 with "survey controller". The touchscreen was dead but pretty well everything would work with the keyboard except "compute area". Not sure what it was like with a working touchscreen but survey controller seemed to not have any glitches at all. It just worked. Unfortunately the R6 we used back then was pretty weak compared to the R12i I use now.
TSC2 were windows mobile if I remember correct prior to that were TSCe. Windows ce net. The TSC2 were good for their day for sure. Could do a lot with those.
<div>I would opt for the additional channels of the R12i personally, but I have heard that the 780 performs comparably with the 12i in typical GNSS conditions. I just like having additional channels available as more signals come online and Trimble updates the processing engine to make full use of them.</div>
I believe the 780 has no Sim card slot.
In the USA at least, the 3.5G modems in all the R-series receivers are useless since the deprecation of 3G last year, so lack of an internal modem probably wouldn't be a factor.
That was a big problem for me when the modem in the R10's no longer worked in the US. Interestingly, it still did work as a base in Guyana so I was able to do RTK over cell there.
Because of that issue, I bought an R750 to use as a base here in the US, it works great with an AT&T sim card with static IP. The spec sheet shows it is a 4G modem in that unit. I really wish they would put the same modem in the R12, R780 units. I am able to use these still by using an external modem (connect via wifi), but that is one extra piece of gear to have out there and make sure it has power, etc.
Not sure why the Alloy (great receiver for a base) does not have an internal modem, I also use an external modem with that but using an ethernet cable rather than wifi.
I have a R780. It was a construction product renamed because Trimble had trouble getting parts for the R8S. So it’s heavier than a R12 and uses the old R8/5800 dumb battery that lasts 2.5 hours as a base. We got it for use only as a base because you can pay $10,000 less for base only. R780 has no quick release device that R12 does. It has same accuracy as R12.
If your main intent is as a rover, get a R12i instead. R780 has an older CPU than the R12.
