Plumb bob or pole, with prism

Are you talking about sighting a back- and/or fore-sight on a traverse?

I use a prism pole with either a bipod or steady stick. I do use a plumb bob on occasion when construction staking, but have never been as steady as I should be. A peanut prism is my friend in those situations.

I check my rods very frequently. Learned that lesson early on.

I think with properly adjusted equipment, and proper techniques, you can achieve the same results.

My humble opinion.

Depends. 1000' sights, it gets a pole.

Under 200', it gets a string unless it's a non-critical shot.

I prefer a plumb bob & peanut prism. And personally I feel I hold a plumb bob steadier than a pole. That goes back to good and proper training many years ago. You know back in the dark ages when we didn't even know what a prism was.

I will admit that for just running around taking topo shots or other less critical locations, I'm happy with a prism pole.

For locating monuments, foundations, building corners, and other critical locations. Not for traversing or topo.

I only have one plumb bob in my truck and I hardly ever use it. I just never feel the need for one. I don't think I have ever used one with a prism. Guess it's just a matter of what you are accustomed to.

My plumb bob rarely gets used these days. Backsights generally get a tripod/tribrach/prism, and foresights a pole with a 10-minute bubble. When used with a bracing stick -- two if it's windy -- the latter is as good as the former.

I think both are good with the correct procedures, and different field conditions might make one better than the other. I like a bipod or some other way to brace the pole. You can often check the plumb of the pole with the gun; and I think you can sight the center of the pole pretty dang accurately with using the crosshairs and the "offset-hairs" or whatever you call them. If the bubble is in adjustment, it is as plumb as you can get from my experience. Checking the plumb of the pole with the pole facing one direction, then turning it 90° checks the bubble pretty good. Nothing wrong with using a string either; again using appropriate procedures to hang a steady sight. (bracing your arm on something often helps; elbow on your knee if you are kneeling, a solid object nearby, etc.). shooting property pins from another setup should be a good check on your precision from you first shot.

Ditto, on the backsight. Putting a stake with a sight-tack is okay, and a check-distance shot with the location pole; but keeping a tripod setup over the backsight is more efficient I would think. Always check the setup before picking up. (Okay everyone probably does that).

bob got laid off just after he helped us put a pair of tacks in a doorway so we could check our rods and their bubbles

Rod with an 8' bubble
sometimes with bipod, mostly without.

I just made a plumb-bob-dangler out one of those adapters that allow you to put a Leica glass on a regular threaded rod. Drilled the set screw hole so it continues out the other side and looped the plumb bob string through that

(This gets the hiking load down to one tripod, the robot in its case with backpack straps, and the bob, glass, & remote controller all in various pockets of the vest.)

Each has its place . Prism poles are checked and adjusted every wed afternoon .

Have never used a plumb bob in my 15ish years of surveying other than to set the tacks for adjusting the rod.

Use both, each has its place. My plumb bob is on my survey belt and the peanut prism is in a vest pocket. The plumb bob is a frequently used tool for a number of things including checking the how plumb the staff is or locating the PI's of circular curves when the tangents in and out can be seen.
jud

I use whatever works best for the particular situation needs.

But, as a solo operator, I started carrying one of these:

http://www.surveying.com/products/details.asp?prodID=5214-00

Even when I have a helper, I still use this for various operations. It is steadier, it is light and not even noticable in the stake bag.

We use it a lot while cutting brush line. The sawyer can keep cutting instead of waiting to get the shot. Plus, we find we get good results as the mirror is held more steadily.

We plumb lathe over many of our points, so often this little tripod only holds the mirror next to a point nail on top of the lathe. But often we also use it with a prism and plumb bob, particularly for positions we are not going to occupy, but want to get accurate measurments and want multiple sets of angles to. It frees up the chainman/sawyer and is really a good third hand.

Very good tool. I find it to be a valuable addition to the tool kit.

I don't think I've even seen a plumb bob in the last 15 years...

Don't worry. They haven't changed much.

I have a couple of brand new Gammon reels - every few years I wonder what to do with them.

Send them to me - we'll use them.