FYI: There's a brand new Carlson CR2+ for sale over in the Classifieds. Heck of a deal.
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/buy-sell-trade/carlson-robotic-2-cr2-total-station-never-used/
That is a great unit and a really good price, but I have a two crew operation and I have two robots that are running great. Your Carlson CR-2 will make a former Topcon PS user a very happy Surveyor.
I know some guys who work for large construction outfits and their supervisors and bean counters at their office made the decision to buy Magnet Field on one of those Topcon Collectors and they well and truly sucked. It was amazing how utterly horrible they were. This has been a few ago now.
My understanding is that it is more financing than price which leads management to the Topcon/Magnet line. One dealer even expected that the shop convert and trade in all their Leica gear as part of the bargain, lol.
There is a key difference between Magnet and Calson, and that is access to the company that makes it.
Topcon has essentially eliminated any customer contact. There is zero support available through Topcon. That means you are 100% reliant on the knowledge, skill, and caring of your re-seller. Additionally, that means that there are things in Magnet that apparently no one can explain. Try to get a full explanation of the options available during localization. Our re-seller provides good support as far as I can tell, but there are some legacy things with Magnet that are "just they way we do it".
With Carlson, the guy you call on the phone is an expert, no matter who you bought it from. That expert can talk directly to the coders and developers. For support, it cannot be beat by Topcon, It simply cannot.
We are using Magnet because we use Topcon hardware. We make it work. But, Carlson is simply a better software.
I use Magnet. Going that way seems to have reduced connection issues (we bought new GT's and HR's at the same time).
That doesn't mean that Magnet is better. Carlson's Field to Finish is the best I have ever seen. Magnet is clunky. Magnet also seems to have a lot of artifacts leftover from TopSurv or whatever legacy program it is based upon. It does strange and confusing things, but it has worked reliably.
Of note is that every sales person, no matter which color they sell, seems to claim that their new software was written by poached Carlson guys, Topcon and Leica know Carlson is a better product as to the interface and software design (and they tell you so). That being said the transition to Magnet sucked, but it is done. We are productive and relatively happy with Magnet.
Did you all pay for the OAF to make it compatible with non Topcon collectors??ÿ I have been told that Topcon has made there units more proprietary but you can buy the Sokkia and they the same instrument but have cross compatibility.
Update:
?ÿWe have been running a loaner FC 500 with the magnet software with our hyper V??s. With no connectivity issues like we were having with our ranger 3 with survey pro Max. All works well. Except....magnet. I can tell you I will not be switching. It turns out our hyper V??s since they are brand new and ?ÿa newer firmware will not link up with survey pro max so we have to either buy into ??all? Topcon or go a different route with our GPS units. ?ÿ So we are going with the SP80 and rolling with survey pro.?ÿ
@mapper6683
You need to at least try SurvCE. If you draw with Carlson you take the CRD right out of the data collector and run it in your DWG. I had a HiperV and Carlson runs it fine. I have two GR-3 with the new updated firmware, Carlson runs them just fine.