Decoding Leica Product Designations

I've never gotten a satisfactory explanation what plus means.

Here you can find lots of Leica/Wild models and the year and accuracy they were introduced:
http://www.wild-heerbrugg.com/shop/index.php?cPath=1_3_5_29_50

Here at page 10 and 11 you can find out what the different letters mean:
http://www.leica-geosystems.com/downloads123/zz/tps/tps1200/brochures/Leica_TPS1200+_brochure_en.pdf

M - Motorized

P - Power search

Jim,

I believe the C means that the distance is measured through the optic lens instead of offset like the old T1000 with the DI1000 being on top. That is what I remember about the TC805 that I had.

Ed

> I believe the C means that the distance is measured through the optic lens instead of offset like the old T1000 with the DI1000 being on top.

I found this in the January issue of TPS News 2002:

>TPS1100 - Product History
>In November 1998 the first
>TPS1100 Professional Series
>instruments were introduced. At
>that time four different models
>were available: The classical
>total station (TC), the reflectorless
>total station (TCR), the
>reflectorless motorized total
>station (TCRM) and the total
>station with automatic target
>recognition (TCA).

I think the "P" means Power Search.

I think the Plus line was indicative of an aggregate of improvements that almost, but not quite, justified calling them a different series. I think the biggest change was improving the robotic camera technology used. If I can remember correctly the previous ATR used a distance histogram to determine center of target, and in some circumstances it could result in erroneous measurements. The new ATR uses a digital camera to store collimation values for prisms. The biggest difference I see is that Leica now publishes an ATR spec for their instruments, and no other manufacturer does.

Edit: I see Trimble now includes this spec. for their new line of robots.

> I think the "P" means Power Search.

It might now, but I have a circa 2004 TCRA1102plus and it has PowerSearch.

Hello Jim,

If memory serves correctly for total stations:

T - Total station
C - On-board data collector/storage
R - Reflectorless
M - Motorized (but not Automatic aiming)
A - Automatic target aiming
P - Power search (more recent)

It seems that the usage is inconsistent, as I've seen TCRP instruments advertised as having ATR. Maybe Leica just didn't want to have a gun with a designation of TCRAP.

> It seems that the usage is inconsistent, as I've seen TCRP instruments advertised as having ATR. Maybe Leica just didn't want to have a gun with a designation of TCRAP.

No, it is consistent.

In the 1200 series some letters makes the other redundant: P implies A, as P won't work without A. Just as A implies M as you can't have A without M. P also couldn't work without M.

But if we include the redundancies then the fully featured 'Jim Frame special' would be either TCRMAP or TCRAMP.

reading this is giving me a TCRAMP.....may I just need to take a TCRAP

> > I think the "P" means Power Search.
>
> It might now, but I have a circa 2004 TCRA1102plus and it has PowerSearch.

Jim,

I had one of the original TCRA1103s which I purchased new in 1998 (or was it 1999). At that point Powersearch had not been released. Powersearch came out in 2001, I know this because Leica sent me a demo which was subsequently destroyed by a freak wind cell. The plus models did have Powersearch by I would guess that Leica did not want to rock the naming convention until the 1200 series came out. As for the "C", I'm sure that was for coaxial. I began to appear on the first coaxial total stations such as the TC1010.

Jim,

This is for the TPS1200 series...

Everything started with TC so if you had a TC1205 you had a manual only model that was a 5 second model with no reflectorless. The other designations were:

M = Motorized but no ATR (automatic target recognition) - there were some users that installed a the GUS74 laser pointer that mounted on top of the telescope assembly.

R = reflectorless EDM

A = included ATR components - if you had ATR then you automatically had the motorized instrument so the "M" would not be included in the designation

P = Power Search module - if you had the power search then you also had the ATR included so that the A would drop out.

So possible designations...

TC120X - manual total station with no reflectorless

TCR120X - Manual total station with reflectorless

TCA120X - motorized total station with motors and ATR

TCRM120X - Motorized with reflectorless with no ATR and no power search

TCRA120X - motorized with refelectorless and ATR - no power search

TCRP - full robot - motorized, with ATR, power search and reflectorless

My theory ius that the call the "full robot" model with all letters it would be a TCRAP with a hidden word that would give the instrument a bad designation.:-D

In reality only a few of these combinations were actually sold. I think the original thought was to have a very salable product but in the end only a few were actually used.