My robot has been in for its annual cleaning and calibration. I've been using my trusty Topcon GPT 1002 and HP 48 with TDS Survey Pro. It's kind of cool reliving the "old" days. TDS has some routines that I like better than Topcons new stuff. TDS was WAY ahead of the times "back in the day"! AND the HP48 ROCKS!! (I do LIKE winding angles with the robot though:-) )
Have you ever considered a Trimble or Spectra robot? TDS (now called Spectra Precision Survey Pro) will run both brands and they are pretty incredible. Also, I am not sure which version of TopSurv you are using but the newer versions have gotten much better.
I did consider a Trimble robot. It was a few years ago, when times were good. I couldn't get the local Trimble sales folks to call me back... probably wouldn't have that problem now. I'm mostly happy with the Topcon, software and hardware. It's just that TDS Survey Pro seems to take substantially less key strokes to get the same result. Also, I prefer a keyboard but the FC 200 uses a touchscreen. I'm running Topsurv 7. something, but the dealer is installing Topsurv 8.
I've held off loading version 8 because of some issues that my dealer warned me about (rod heights changing when you exit and return to topo screen, and quirks with the new features in codes). A version 8.1 "release canidate" has been out for a couple of months and topcon has been claiming that the production release of 8.1 is "imminent" for about 6 weeks now.
Dang, they didn't warn ME about that... I think they're loading it today. I'll give them a call. Thanks for the heads up!!
