Compared to a $1600 Bluetooth handle it's cheap but I've so far bought one Parani sd1000 to use with the long range Bluetooth in my Panasonic fz-m1....it worked reliably (except for more than doubling the battery usage on my tablet), except the range was just over 140m at best, often disconnecting at less than 50m when buildings, cars etc are near my line of sight. I always face the antenna towards the backsight or wherever I'm shooting. I then bought a spare Parani from someone on here for a backup and backup cables etc. It also works fine but had the same limited range. I bought the longest antenna I could get for the sd1000. It increased the range by maybe 20m on average.?ÿ
Then I bought an sd1000u for the tablet (thinking tablet Bluetooth range wasn't good enough). I've occasionally gotten 200-300m but other times it disconnects at 60m with nothing but a dirt pile near my line, antenna facing the prism pole/tablet.?ÿ
Ive now ordered another long antenna for the sd1000u at the tablet. I'm waiting for it's arrival but I keep on buying more and more of there stuff and from what I read online it should have much better range than this. I don't know what else to do. I have doubts that the antenna at the tablet end will solve my issues.?ÿ
I work by myself and basically now I may have to tell the boss he has to buy a $1600 RH17 and all the money I spent on Sena products was kind of a waste.?ÿ
I frequently shut off the windows 10 tablet to save battery between jobs so it's always getting a full reboot.?ÿ
Any suggestions?
Thanks guys.?ÿ
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antenna facing the prism pole/tablet
Not sure what you mean by this, but my understanding is that bluetooth is vertically polarized and so you want both antennas vertical in order to maximize signal strength.
To be more clear...here is a picture....
My options are mount it lower on the tripod so it can to straight up, or I point it partly upwards and partly towards where I'm headed.?ÿ
Not what you want to hear I'm sure, but given the problems you are having, I would go back to the SRX. In my experience - Yes, slow and heavy, awkward and frustrating...but accurate, dependable and 300m range effortlessly.
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Alternatively can you try a plain old windows mobile data collector instead of the tablet?
I have read there are dozens of different configurations of that Toughpad. At one time it was the tablet Carlson recommended, but all those different configurations caused them alot of headaches with drivers working on this one but not that one and that was why they went with their own tablet.
?ÿThe root of the problem may be Windows 10. Everything might work better with windows mobile - just a thought
Someone else uses the SRX. It will soon be the backup. Besides being slow and heavy the prism constant randomly changes if you're using it robotically so they only use it manually.?ÿ
Ix is light, but slow and glitchy. I won't use it unless they let me keep using magnet field with it, so they would probably rather buy a new robot or a radio handle for me than deal with the raw data issues.?ÿ
I should be able to try the Allegro 2 with it as the one crew is switching Fieldgenius onto that this week. I could at least determine if some of the issues go away but I've been spoiled now by being able to have linework and an entire subdivision of points without the data collector choking to death....
Oh and the connecting the tablet to my phones Mobile hotspot so I can download emails directly to the tablet, plus uploading and downloading in the parking lot over Wi-Fi to our server. Especially during Covid the boss likes that feature.?ÿ
No.
Windows Mobile?ÿis a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for?ÿsmartphones?ÿand?ÿpersonal digital assistants.[1]
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pocket PC 2000 which ran on?ÿPocket PC?ÿPDAs. It was renamed "Windows Mobile" in 2003, at which point it came in several versions (similar to the desktop versions of Windows) and was aimed at business and enterprise consumers. When initially released in the mid-2000s, it was to be the portable equivalent of what Windows desktop OS was: a major force in the then-emerging mobile/portable areas.
Following the rise of newer smartphone OSs (iOS?ÿand?ÿAndroid) Windows Mobile never equalled the success and faded rapidly in the following years. By February 2010, Microsoft announced Windows Phone to supersede Windows Mobile with a more modern take on the industry. As a result, Windows Mobile has been?ÿdeprecated. Windows Phone is incompatible with Windows Mobile devices and software.[2][3][4]?ÿThe last version of Windows Mobile, released after the announcement of Windows Phone, was 6.5.5. After this, Microsoft ceased development on Windows Mobile in order to concentrate on Windows Phone.
Well I came home to the box from Sena.?ÿ With this monster of an antenna hopefully the range issues are solved. I will find out tomorrow/Saturday.
Today I actually had almost zero issues with range and used it at over 200m at least twice. I guess it's unpredictable how much RF interference is in the area. The other day when it was really bad and I only had a dirt pile near the line of sight, I also had poor cell service. So maybe homeowners nearby use cell phone boosters which could cause issues with Bluetooth? Maybe I'm grasping at straws.?ÿ
I could see why drivers in windows 10 could be an issue when I was just using the internal long range Bluetooth but now I have a specific driver I found through the Sena website, to run the usb Parani. So I'm not sure if windows could affect the range...
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With this monster of an antenna hopefully the range issues are solved. I will find out tomorrow/Saturday.
That's the antenna that I use at the DC.?ÿ Most of the time I keep it tucked between the DC and the pole so it doesn't catch on anything.?ÿ If I start getting far enough out to have connection issues I'll orient it vertically, but that doesn't happen very often.?ÿ
I've got a Tesla/Topcon PS combination that, in one mode, communicates via long range bluetooth. Maximum range in that mode seems to be something on the order of 300', and interruptions of several seconds to a minute or more at almost any lesser distance are regular occurrences. I think that it is just the nature of the beast.?ÿ ?ÿ
Today with the longer antenna it didn't disconnect or even lag once. I only got as far as 160m but there was a lot of houses, vehicles and people around probably with lots of electronic devices.?ÿ
My experience with this setup over the last month is that if it lags it's most likely going to fail to shoot. When this happens walking back towards the robot is the only solution.?ÿ
Now I'm still trying different windows updates to try to sort out the display crash in Fieldgenius and extreme battery usage when connected. I did a bunch of updates last night and it only made the display crashing worse and I got a bsod once early in the am.?ÿ
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I tried the Allegro 2. It was a complete fail. I got the Parani's paired with it but the 15 year old cpu technology couldn't even handle a backsight. 3207 points in one of my usual subdivisions. Not even any linework for me to see where I'm going and it just choked constantly. I don't know how juniper systems got away with ripping off the survey community for so long selling complete garbage like this.?ÿ
It kept disconnecting on me and I'm not sure if it was the range or the fact that the cpu couldn't keep up with me putting in the occupy point and backsight point but at least we've ruled out windows 10 being any worse than an old windows mobile DC.?ÿ
That was a 265M backsight. I tried several times. As soon as I put in the setup points and hit accept it would take several seconds to redraw the main screen, then disconnect and and reconnect jumping back to sideshot mode again. Then I would attempt putting the backsight points in again and repeat the failure. These derelict data collectors aren't worth anything these days, I don't understand the price they sell for online.?ÿ
Anyway after 5 tries I put the Parani back in the Panasonic tablet and it connected and got my backsight first try. There wasn't a lot in the way, so I suspect the problem with the Allegro 2 was not the Bluetooth range but the fact that it couldn't handle the number of points in the upload so it kept glitching it out.?ÿ
I've noticed a common theme on your threads relating to this issue.
Not asking your boss for equipment you need is making the decision for him. That wouldn't make me happy.
Quit costing him money trying to save him money.
Screwing around with equipment slows down productivity which can add up to thousands over time.
I think you're reading into this completely wrong. Are you suggesting I ask for a new robot or a new radio handle?
FYI, he's still paying for the Sokkia ix that's been shelved since I've gotten the Leica working better than it was at least. He has to replace another crews old Sokkia SRX that may have actually died yesterday. That guy is now going to have to use the iX until his new equipment gets purchased.?ÿ
I have a reputation for getting a lot of work done in a day despite being by myself so I don't think they are going to understand me asking for new equipment. I understand that nothing is perfect and I wish I could go back and change the name of this thread because I was in a bad mood when I posted it. The Parani's seem to be a good product. I'm just dealing with an assortment of Fieldgenius glitches (which I'm spending time dealing with them to try to fix), occasional lack of Bluetooth range due to busy areas with objects and devices nearby.?ÿ
Doing construction for 12 hours a day means I have a lot of setups. My equipment may work perfectly without issue for 4-6 hours in a day and then have the occasional glitch but sometimes when it acts up and someone is about to pull up and block your line....that could cost you a lot of time. I
I don't see the problem with trying to make what I have work the best it possibly could??ÿ