Prism poll

I am an old HIXON fan. I have used other poles, for short periods of time, but always returned to hixon.
Now, I am interested in Carbon Fiber poles, and other such like... But, a Hixon is hard to beat.
So far, I have only had ONE major problem with a Hixon. the Bubble "Blew up". It slowly got bigger and bigger, and lost accuracy. It was bubble failure.
Kinda crept up on me...
Now, I will say, it is a bit light for placing a 7+ LB GPS on top of... So, I am interested in a little larger center section. And always lighter, and such.
I think that there is a good market for a complete Carbon fiber setup, that has no ferrous metal in it, anywhere. So, you can metal detect without moving the pole.... And extends to 12 ft.
N

Disclaimer: I do not work for Tim or Shannon Hixon. They are great American People.
When somebody makes a GOOD product, it is ok to endorse it, for nothing!
https://www.hixonmfg.com/shopping/details.asp?itemchoice=P50060 .
N

Nate The Surveyor, post: 396127, member: 291 wrote: I am an old HIXON fan. I have used other poles, for short periods of time, but always returned to hixon.
Now, I am interested in Carbon Fiber poles, and other such like... But, a Hixon is hard to beat.
So far, I have only had ONE major problem with a Hixon. the Bubble "Blew up". It slowly got bigger and bigger, and lost accuracy. It was bubble failure.
Kinda crept up on me...
Now, I will say, it is a bit light for placing a 7+ LB GPS on top of... So, I am interested in a little larger center section. And always lighter, and such.
I think that there is a good market for a complete Carbon fiber setup, that has no ferrous metal in it, anywhere. So, you can metal detect without moving the pole.... And extends to 12 ft.
N

He said, "poll", not "pole", Nate.

I'm fine with almost any brand. Use Leica with our current setup since they play best with their own. But back when I used Nikon or Topcon, I'd use those brands, CST, Seco, almost anything. But would check them first to make sure that they were correct.

O sorry! um, Listen, I have NOT shot a prism in 15 yrs. REALLY!
I had a machine shop make me targets, with a design on them, and DOT tape on the face. They are WAY better than a PRISM.
I bought a LEICA 307-r, and then had these targets made. I can send you a pic if you like.
Prisms are not needed!
🙂
N

In the south, we use many spellings, because we are bi-lingual! (so we can talk to yankees!) he he-- Poll, Pole, Po, whatever! JUST PUT THE THING on the rebar! 🙂 (Just laughing at my mitsake)

It depends entirely on what we are doing. For structures it's reflectorless, topo is Trimble AT 360. For deformation monitoring g and column control it's a SECO nodal. Occasionally we get out the SECO mini on the Bob string to overcome an obstacle.

I use Leica prisms pretty much exclusively these days. For most work the GMP-102 mini is my choice, but on those rare occasions that I need to shoot a half mile or so, I'll go with a GPR1 "regular size" model. I have a GRZ4 full-size 360å¡ prism, but I very rarely use it because of its weight and bulk. I have a bunch of other glass -- CST, AGA, Geodimeter, SECO -- from the days before I went with a Leica (and now GeoMax) robot, but nowadays they just sit on a shelf.

For the most part I stick with Leica. For most topo and layout its the GRZ122 360å¡ prism. While on the tri-pod the GMP101 mini prism, it has a centering accuracy of 1mm and a 2000m range which is more that enough distance for me. Anything longer and I'm breaking out the GPS. I do have several GPR1 prisms that I keep around as well as a GRZ 101360å¡ mini prism. I would use it more often but powersearch does not seem to like it and the pole adapter is about twice the size of the prism itself. It is nice on top of a 8m rod though. I have literally hundreds of GP104 monitoring prisms set on structures around the NW, actually I'm now buying cheep Chinese knockoffs 200 at a time. I also have a coupe of Seco mini prism that I use under a GNSS antenna so I can acquire long GNSS observations while still using the point as a back sight.

John Putnam, post: 396403, member: 1188 wrote: GMP101 mini prism, it has a centering accuracy of 1mm and a 2000m range

I've never gotten anything close to 2000m with a mini, but that may have more to do with heat shimmer than anything else. Even a GPR1 is tricky at half a mile on a warm day in the valley, using either a Leica TCRA1102 or a GeoMax Zoom80 (yellow TCRP1202).

As far as bang for the buck goes, I like the Sokkia tilting prism and target linked below. (The prisms are BK7 optical glass, not "polycarbonate" as the ignoramus who wrote the ad copy claimed. The prism holders are polycarbonate.) The target design is great, the quality good, and the price low enough that I don't worry about something happening to it. The one feature it is missing is the collimator to point the prism at the instrument which earlier generations of this product line from Sokkia had. It would be well worth the additional cost.

https://www.benchmarkarizona.com/sp12a-sokkia-single-tilt-prism-with-target_8_31_84.html

I buy the Leica GPR111 basic series prisms to mount on the spigot on the Leica poles or carriers. The prism glass is generally mounted to +/- 1mm accuracy which is within advertised tolerances for the cheap (relatively for Leica) basic series prisms. For accurate work I determine the unique, combined prism/instrument offset anyway so I'm not bothered by the tolerances.

The advantage of the nodal prisms and spigot mount is they are able to be observed from a wide range of angles without sacrificing pointing or distance accuracy, so prism orientation isn't critical. This allows moving station location onsite without usually having to return to reorientate the prism. Another advantage (for me) is the plastic carrier has some give and so is able to accomodate shims to enable centring the prism laterally to the point where the offset from spigot centreline is below 0.1mm.

Jim Frame, post: 396406, member: 10 wrote: I've never gotten anything close to 2000m with a mini, but that may have more to do with heat shimmer than anything else. Even a GPR1 is tricky at half a mile on a warm day in the valley, using either a Leica TCRA1102 or a GeoMax Zoom80 (yellow TCRP1202).

have you tried long range mode on the zoom80? This seems to essentialy be reflectorless mode/laser/power. That will go a very long way to a single prism.

I have many seco, and retro style prisms single and triple.
Several generic mini prism that I use with simply a point or 1ft pole or to hang a plumb bob from.
For control, I use tripod and tribrach setups with a 0.35ft stub pole under a tilting target.
On very long shots I put a 1ft stub pole on top of a retro prism & holder.
I like the retro prisms holders for resecting setups and to close into because they can be stacked on top of one another to be seen from different directions without returning to the BS to make adjustments.
Really like the prismatic targets and tape. Have put on stub poles, pvc and back of gammon reels.
The tape and targets will eventually replace my use of prisms.

Conrad, post: 396426, member: 6642 wrote: have you tried long range mode on the zoom80?

I haven't, because I'm usually running robotic, and ATR doesn't work much farther than half a mile either.

Jim Frame, post: 396434, member: 10 wrote: I haven't, because I'm usually running robotic, and ATR doesn't work much farther than half a mile either.

if your firmware has the facility to put the ATR mode to 'fog & rain' then give that a try for extending the range a little. I suspect it ups the transmitted ATR laser power a bit. Under ideal conditions I was able to get ATR shots out to 2.3km where the standard ATR mode failed. If image scintillation is your prob then it may not help, but I'd give it a go anyway.

Conrad, post: 396483, member: 6642 wrote: if your firmware has the facility to put the ATR mode to 'fog & rain' then give that a try for extending the range a little. I suspect it ups the transmitted ATR laser power a bit. Under ideal conditions I was able to get ATR shots out to 2.3km where the standard ATR mode failed. If image scintillation is your prob then it may not help, but I'd give it a go anyway.

That is interesting. This weekend I had to use the 'fog & rain' mode on my MS50 to pick up a target out about 200m in the fog. When the fog cleared the gun would on get the shot until I returned the ATR to the normal mode.

As for getting 2000m with the prism, I have never even tried that is what GPS is for. I have reached out over 600 meters to one with ATR.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 396133, member: 291 wrote: O sorry! um, Listen, I have NOT shot a prism in 15 yrs. REALLY!
I had a machine shop make me targets, with a design on them, and DOT tape on the face. They are WAY better than a PRISM.
I bought a LEICA 307-r, and then had these targets made. I can send you a pic if you like.
Prisms are not needed!
🙂
N

Please post a picture of your targets.

Using the trimble multi track prism for my S7

And for my focus I have the normal focus 360 prism but I bought it off eBay from China for 180 bucks instead of 800. Tested for a year, no worries and is perfect.