any comments on the Leica style equipment . Survey P
ro claims that it meets the same specs as the brand name equipment. thanks for your help
Nope, but....
Leica $850 +-
Survey Pro $250 +-
My local chevy dealer has a 2017 Grand Sport 2LT Corvette on the lot for $64,000. ?ÿIf someone told you they'd sell you an exact copy, meeting all the same specs, for $19,000, how willing would you be to write a check for it?
A Leica professional traverse kit cost $4,000
Over a five year lifespan that's around $3 a day (accounting for weekends, holidays, and vacations). ?ÿRaise your rates $1 an hour for the next five years, make an extra $10,000, buy the Leica, and take your wife to Tahiti with the other $6,000
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BTW - I once used one of those precise laser plummet carriers?ÿset up over a manhole to transfer coordinates 30' down into a 5' diameter storm drain line that my crew had traversed 3/5 of a mile along, starting at an end section. ?ÿChecked within a tenth. They paid for themselves on that job?ÿ
Had to map the old turn of the century storm line because the client was going to drive piles straddling it. ?ÿ
Nope, I am done buying cheap survey stuff. Site Pro Dave(id) White stuff is Garbage - China made Knock-off. Stay as far away as possible...
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I bought mini prism pole with bipod?ÿ from the same company:
I will NOT buy cheap stuff ever again!
Brand new, I'm sure it all works fine.?ÿ And you can check it compared to your other gear.?ÿ The tribrach and carrier will probably wear out of adjustment a lot faster than brand name gear.?ÿ The prism is probably going to be ok, since it doesn't have much in the way of moving parts.
I'd rather look for used on ebay and adjust and recondition it myself.?ÿ But it's tough sifting through all the knock-off crap on that site to find the real stuff.
There's an ancient saying:?ÿ "You get what you pay for".?ÿ
I've learned that lesson enough times to verify its true. Don't waste your money on junk.?ÿ ??ÿ
It seems like a tribrach is a fairly simple piece of equipment and that it would be easy for a manufacturer to build decent ones of decent quality fairly inexpensively and that an off-brand should be nearly as good as one from one of the major brands.
Nope.?ÿ Worked with off-brand tribrachs with previous employers and even was dumb enough to buy one myself thinking I would use it only for targets on side shots.?ÿ It wouldn't stay in adjustment reliably enough to even use in that limited capacity.
Stay away from the knock-offs.
"Surveying is simple, you should only hire the cheapest" an architect said to her client.?ÿ Approximately two or three years of fighting with my client, she contracted cancer, eventually lost the 4 feet of property(her surveyor claimed was her's) and she lost the house because of the attorney bills.?ÿ During the time she was losing the house, she cried on my shoulder one day and stated if she would have known, she would have spent the money on a good surveyor.?ÿ ?ÿIt was very unfortunate for her.
Stay away from knock offs.?ÿ?ÿ
I have found that the knockoff tribrach has a vinyl/plastic ball under the bulls-eye bubble.
I've replaced that with a tiny metal ball bearing and it makes it a better piece of equipment.
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