We have a bunch of R10s, and we pretty much just keep the tilt sensors turned off. The crews say that their constant need for calibration is more of a pain than a benefit.
Has anyone experimented with how accurate they are? I saw a picture on Trimble's website showing someone getting sewer inverts with them, that seems like a great use if plausible.
I say "if plausible" because it seems as though the accuracy would be linked to the accuracy of the internal magnetic compass. Manholes would certainly be a source of local attraction, I know power lines wreak havoc on them.
Wondering if anyone has put them through their paces. I know Javad has implemented electronic bubbles as well.
The best way I have found to retrace old compass surveys is, not surprisingly, with a compass. Most of the time the local attraction that perverted the original survey still exists, and can lead you right down those original footsteps. From using a compass, though, I have also learned how easily they affected by things you think wouldn't matter much, like a CMP under the road 10' away.
Use it all the time, it's extremely simple to check if they are accurate. If you think about how it works it will come to you how to check the function; it's kinda built in;-)
Yes, I can check it pretty easily, but having to check a lot to confirm accuracy kinda defeats the purpose...
On the R10 the compass needs calibrated pretty much every morning, and it takes about 10 minutes to do all of the calibrations. You can tell when it's out of calibration, because the ebubble doesn't match the rod. For 99% of what I do it's more of an annoyance than a help.
The R10's ebubble seems to go out pretty quickly.
You can calibrate it at the start of the day, and will be wrong by close of play.
Best way we have found to calibrate them is on a levelled tribrach.
