In reference to Leica 1200 robotic instruments,?ÿI'd be interested to see if anyone out there has had any luck with the Leica style mini 360 degree prisms. I searched this forum and found a few references to Power Search blowing right by these smaller prisms. Weight savings looks impressive.
So, for all of you Leica or Geomax users I have one question: Are the mini 360 prisms worth the weight savings?
I have always believed that paying extra for top quality is more cost effective in the long run. I have seen knock-offs of these prisms in the $100 range and would normally shy away from these. The sticker shock when looking at OEM versions of this prism was an eye opener. Seems that retail is in the $700 range. Another quandary.
Thanks for your comments.
JA, PLS SoCal
?ÿ
I tried a full-size Leica 360 prism but quickly retired it due to weight in favor of a Leica GMP101 miniprism.?ÿ I use the mini for everything except the very occasional half-mile shot.?ÿ It does make minding the direction your prism is facing helpful, and I do lose lock a lot, but with Power Search and a SurvCE data collector that just means waiting for the gun to spin around to reacquire lock and take the shot.?ÿ (If a counter-clockwise rotation is shortest, pushing the Enter key is all that's required to get the shot; when clockwise is shortest, it means pressing the on-screen Search button and then hitting the on-screen Read key.?ÿ The SurvCE programmers apparently neglected to return the focus to any of the softkeys after using the Search button, an annoyance I curse daily.)?ÿ Many of those lock-loss situations would happen anyway due to line-of-sight obstructions, so my lock-loss frequency isn't solely due to using a directional prism.?ÿ Regardless, having a functional Power Search is way more valuable than having a 360 prism in my opinion.
