I have used Trimble Data Collection for many years. I have recently evaluated Carlson SurvCE and have been pondering making a switch.
I have read the users manual and tried a demo unit on a couple of projects with my R8s, took a while to get them talking correctly.
As with all Carlson software you could pick it up and pretty much start using it, but a conversation with a long-time SurvCE user has me confused.
Trimble's approach to GPS is pretty seamless on the data collection end. It's just holistically a part of the project. But Carlson has all this .REF file base point stuff that seems wonky. The guy I was talking to also said that if your base point got wiped out you couldn't use your localization file any more? Could someone elighten me as to how SurvCE approaches GPS compared to Trimble?
I also looked at the RAW data, it looks as if you do not get the vector data for later consideration in SurvGNSS, but I may have just missed a setting on that one.
There is a setting to store vector data in the receiver setup for topcon we use it. Don't know about Trimble.
here is a big issue.. Trimble R8-3's (and I am assuming newer units) have a random code generator which will not allow other softwares to connect to the receiver. My R-8-3 will not work with survce, while my r8-2 will. both will work with Trimble Access.