hello all,
it just doesn't happen here in australia. virtually no 3rd party gear runs leica equipment, or trimble for that matter. well not that i have seen or heard of.
it seems very commonplace on this forum, which implies common in USA. i did visit the carlson web page to see what it was all about but i could find nothing to separate it from smartworx. i must say it didn't look as sharp/clean to my eye. i would find it like buying a ferrari and ditching the beautiful steering wheel and fitting old faithful from my GM!
is it just familiarity? is it what you started your career with and switching would be more trouble than it is worth? or are there some real advantages that might make moving to carlson worthwhile?
any and all opinions/experiences welcome.
I think part of the reason for it is that we have very good, nationwide support for Trimble, Leica and Topcon. As such it's a very sensible proposition to stick with a complete system in Australia.
> I think part of the reason for it is that we have very good, nationwide support for Trimble, Leica and Topcon. As such it's a very sensible proposition to stick with a complete system in Australia.
Support is the key to learning and implementing any new software. With the new business model created by both Hexagon and Trimble, where dealership is exclusionary they try to "farm out" the support to the "who's your dealer?" B.S and if you call your local dealer they refer you to your local sales rep, then it gets interesting. If you're into Land/Boundary work, most of the elementary functions will get you by, if you're into Engineering Surveying most of these guys have no clue what you're talking about, absolutely none. There is very little literature in terms of manuals and any kind of training that can provide a transition and in the case of Trimble, they own TDS which was by far the most popular data collection software in the U.S., yet they haven't picked the minds of the TDS people in order to streamline Trimble Access. If Trimble had respect for its Users they would go out and get a feel for the U.S. market and check its pulse. What I foresee is Trimble continuing on with it's pathetic policy of trying to bleed it's end users and generate quarterly earnings (on petty nonsense), while a company like Carlson starts distributing hardware with seamless integration (software to hardware and vice versa), far superior customer service, "Much more knowledgeable Support staff" and it's library of free training videos (which is a pretty robust library), they start to eat away at their market share.
Trimble's ability to acquire new technology is admirable, their inability to incorporate the human capital that comes with these acquisitions is comical. But that's Okay we can go to Dimensions, get drunk, laugh it off and forget about reality.
Just my 2
Ralph
honestly, i suppose i take it for granted that when you buy a total station in australia you will be backed by a decent dealer support network. the flow-on for a dealer for providing good support and service post-sale seem obvious.
> honestly, i suppose i take it for granted that when you buy a total station in australia you will be backed by a decent dealer support network. the flow-on for a dealer for providing good support and service post-sale seem obvious.
I agree with you 100% Conrad, in the case of Leica, I'm slowly starting to realize that they are light years ahead of Trimble when it comes to Engineering Surveying apps., so it probably stands to reason that Leica's sales force is further ahead with regards to most other aspects. I met some of the Trimble people from outside the U.S. (Christchurch, Australia, Germany, Spain etc.) and they seemed to know exactly what I wanted to do and how I should go about it. I had some local guys come by to demonstrate a Scanner and one guy's point of sale was its ability to be used to generate an "elevation certificate" (you wouldn't know what this is, since you're down under but it's pretty comical) I had a hard time keeping a straight face.
Ralph
