I've had my Allegro data collector for about ten years. It runs my Leica Robot and my Topcon RTK system. I knew it was on thin ice last year when Juniper Systems said that its hard drive was failing, and that the Juniper Company was pulling the plug on servicing such an old unit. Today I had to call it quits at a jobsite because the on-off button was staying on and the cursor was dancing around the screen.
Ok, I said. I have nothing to lose. I set the unit on the kitchen table and laid out my screwdrivers, pocket knife and soldering gun. I proceeded to dissemble the unit and within one hour I took out the bad on-off "clicker" and put in one from a key that wasn't used as much. Then I noticed that the hard drive was actually a compact flash card soldered in place. I happened to have one of those that I had bought at Staples on my desk, so I copied the SK.bin file (operating system) onto the new flash card and then soldered it into place. I assembled the unit and held my breath as I turned it on. Lo and behold! It loaded the operating system and took off like a heifer in the spring pasture. Then I loaded the Bluetooth drivers and the Carleson SurvCE program and gave a trial run on my robot and gps units. _A-OK.
I've got to thank Juniper Systems for building something that can actually be repaired on the kitchen table with parts from the local store. So many tools these days are made to be used until they fail, and then discarded. My hat off to Juniper.
I like the way you think!
Good on ya!
FIX DAT PUPPY!
Nate
I work on the theory that if a devise is put together with screws it was meant to be taken apart.
> ....when Juniper Systems said that its hard drive was failing, and that the Juniper Company was pulling the plug on servicing ..... I've got to thank Juniper Systems for building something that can actually be repaired...
I think that I'd be having a word with somebody who had been blowing smoke up my rear end if I were you.
gadget surgeries
I've had to do surgeries like that a few times. About a year or so ago I had to do surgery on our Wii. I had to remove a Lego lightsaber from the disk slot.
Why would Juniper push you away from authorizing a repair on your old allegro? I mean, who would know more than Juniper about how to repair an allegro? Shouldn't it come down to a question of costs vs benefits? If they tell you it's gonna cost 500 to repair it, you can decide whether that makes sense. But to flat out deny servicing one of their own collectors? I just don't get it.
> Why But to flat out deny servicing one of their own collectors? I just don't get it.
At some point the cost of maintaining the spare parts, specialized tools and staff training necessary to service legacy products becomes too high to justify accommodating the shrinking user base. Juniper appears to have reached that point with the Allegro.
...CE model.
They still service the more recent units: CX and MX.
(just to expand)
That makes sense.
But at that point, Juniper could alternatively choose to raise the price, admittedly something that would probably be rejected by frugal legacy users. So maybe it's the right choice for Juniper. It's their choice and I support that.
However, sounds like the repair in this case didn't involve a lot of specialized training or expensive spare parts, and that Juniper could continue to support it's legacy user base rather than turn them away.
I suppose there are repair options for the Allegro besides Juniper.
Al
> I suppose there are repair options for the Allegro besides Juniper.
Ya. As I see it, if my CE dies, cerolli would be my first point of contact! 🙂