As the title suggests, I am in the market for a basic gun. I want new or dealer demo with warranty and support. I am looking in the 4-6k range. I use Survey Pro on external DC so onboard anything is not useful to me. All the units listed below offer excellent sales/service within reasonable driving times from my location. 3-5" Guns. These are the units I am considering at this time:
Nikon/Spectra/Trimble - NPL,DTM,M3 or a stretch to a Nivo M. $$
Leica TS02 (Probably out of my range and don't know if it plays well with Survey Pro?) $$$
Geomax Zoom 30 (Do they work with Survey Pro or same problem as their Leica lineage?)$$
Topcon/Sokia - Set65/GTS255 $
For me my priorities are: Accuracy/repeat-ability, Reflectorless, Shot speed, Ability to get accurate shot through difficult vegetation, Bluetooth, and durability.
If there are others I haven't listed above please let me know.
Thanks for the input.
CB
We have a bunch of Spectra Focus 6 5" guns and they've been good, but they're more than $6K.
The Leica TS02 should work fine with Survey Pro. I am not sure if Survey Pro added a driver for the FlexLine series but the FlexLine series can use either the GSI commands (older Leica mid range instruments) or the GeoCOM commands. You may just need to use a driver in Survey Pro for say the TPS400/800 series and it should work. One issue at that budget would be to make sure you get an instrument with refelctorless capabilities. Manufacturers still offer instruments without reflectorless but I just cannot see buying anything but an instrument that has reflectorless EDM capabilities. The Leica TS02 with refelctorless for a 5 second instrument lists about $ 8K. Maybe you could find a demo model that a dealer (whatever brand you decide on) has and is in need of selling. Sometimes you can get a nice deal on a demo model tthat has barely been used.
We just went through this. I was tasked with buying a TS with reflectorless and a ~$5k budget. We only needed a 5" gun.
The options I came up with:
Sokkia Cygnus KS-102
Nikon NPL-322
Trimble M1 DR (this appears to be a rebadged NPL but with bluetooth added)
CST/berger CST-305R
Northwest Instrument NWi NTS02
We wrote off the NWi and CST due to name brand issues & lack of regional dealer.
The Trimble was over our budget.
Haven't purchased yet, but it looks like we are going with the Nikon over the Sokkia.
Bluetooth is only available on the Trimble and NWi out of the ones I listed if that's a deal breaker. Also, the reflectorless range on these are somewhat limited.
We got a Nivo a few years ago, and it was pretty frustrating to deal with. I don't know exactly why, but it wouldn't hold 0. You'd set 0, take a handful of shots, and it'd be out 2 minutes or so when you look back. We switched tribrachs a few times, but it was never right on. I'm thinking that it is something to do with the lateral force with the non-locking screws. Leica has this method down, but Nikon not so much.
We have all Leicas now, TS02 & TS06. They work fine with the Spectra Ranger/Survey Pro, using Bluetooth.