Learning all that equipment sounds frustrating. Like driving a foreign rental car for the first time from an airport, not knowing where to go or how to turn on the wipers.?ÿ
That Trimble sounds like a nice robot/scanner. I've never used Trimble. Not sure how well I would like a gun with no optics. You see everything through the tablet or controller.?ÿ How do you find the prism 100m out through that small hole between tree limbs and leaves.
They are accurate. Had another surveyor on a large construction site working with an SX10 doubling into my control.?ÿ We constantly agreed within tolerance throughout the project. Had a third surveyor on the same site jumping between a s5 an s8, whom we had problems agreeing within 50mm. I'm not sure it was do to the instrument or procedures or both.
Yes it was frustrating learning different equipment especially when I was a new party chief and very busy trying to keep up.?ÿ
But I feel it's an advantage having experience with different software and it's nice to know what the different options are. I hated magnet at the start until I took my own spare time to learn it and now I consider it the best in a lot of ways. Especially when using a tablet with no keyboard. It was also in the same league as Trimble for not having glitches. The only real issue was the robot randomly just taking a several minutes break and not bothering to look for me. It happened on both the Sokkia and the Topcon loaner but the first couple weeks with the loaner was like pure bliss, I thought it was the best thing ever. Zero issues.?ÿ
I wish Fieldgenius would do an update so the keyboard worked properly with a tablet just like magnet field but I don't think that will happen.
Leica captivate software looks nice too but no idea how it works with Microsurvey CAD. Long term we will probably be switching to Fieldgenius for Android as that's what Microsurvey is focusing on and it should be less glitch prone than the windows 10 software. It will be hard to give up my FZ-M1 since it's been the best data collection equipment I've used yet and cost $800 used locally. There is an android version of the Panasonic but it's an old version of Android and weaker CPU. The fz-m1 and TSC7 also interface perfectly with our server.?ÿ
Sorry if my "Go retro" suggestion led nowhere. Sounds like you need a full blown computer if you are carrying an entire subdivision drawing with you.
Good luck, I admire your enthusiasm for the job.
You are a bit harsh on Juniper systems - have served me well for many years, including minus 40 Canadian winters when I was the only guy still working when everyone else's data collector was frozen. (Yay for me...)?ÿ
You're probably right... we have had a different experience with juniper products. My first experience was an Allegro MX. It ended up having a screen failure after a year or so and even when new the battery didn't last more than an 8 hour day. The next was the surveyor 2 which has had 2 major failures in the past 4? Years we've had it. It doesn't have any physical damage visible. Also the Mesa 2 I wanted to try with my setup to see if it had the same issues, failed and is unrepairable apparently (that's all I know about it).
Now I have a full blown computer basically (the Panasonic fz-m1) which was 4 years old when we got it used and it's holding up perfectly a year and a half later. I pause windows updates to prevent major failures and only update every 6 months or so or when trying to solve an issue. These things seem to be known for holding up well also. I have been the only one to use the FZ-M1 which may help with longevity. It was $800 used vs like $4000 for a juniper DC with a processor that's slower than what I had in my Android phone 10 years ago when I started as a summer student.?ÿ
I really appreciate and respect my boss and I feel like it's in all of our best interest to spend money as needed but not needlessly. But it's always worth trying to improve workflow and efficiency.?ÿ
Just out of curiosity, assuming you work in bright sun, how's the sunlight readability of that Panasonic tablet?
Here's a few pics of it out in the sun. The screen protector is a year and a half old and getting a bit scratched up, I believe it was on auto brightness in power saving mode. The first pic is very bright sun. I think the picture of the Allegro 2 in the same spot is on a better angle so it looks better in the picture. My modern phone has better sunlight readability but I'd call the Panasonic screen decent for readability outside. Viewing angles are definitely better than the older data collectors. I don't know how it compares to any other tablets like the Mesa 2/3 or the tsc7 though. I know it's hard to see when I have sunglasses on but without them it's easily readable.?ÿ
Thanks for that. We're up for a new DC and a are looking at better readability. It seems that reflection off the screen is a significant issue - you can focus your eyes to admire your handsome self, or focus on the software - and it looks like there are some anti-reflective screen protectors around.
What data collector is it replacing? I've found the lack of a keyboard is more of an issue in Fieldgenius (as it was never designed to be used without a physical keyboard) vs Magnet field which felt like it was meant for a tablet. With the extended battery it was at 40-50% battery at the end of the day. With the Parani's connected and running Fieldgenius it gets about 6 hours before I have to switch to one of the original batteries to finish the day out. Usually I plug it in while in the truck travelling or doing notes.?ÿ
Hopefully I can sort out the battery drain issue but it's definitely only when the Parani's are connected in Fieldgenius.?ÿ
The extra button's for hot keys would be an advantage on the Mesa 2 but I think the processor is actually better on the fz-m1 (at least the version I have). It has 8gb of ram so nothing seems to slow it down.?ÿ
Moving to Android, replacing a Nomad and a South S10 - both of which run SurvCE on Win Mobile.
And both of which, one needs to use The Force in bright sunlight.
I would think the android version of the FZ-M1 would be a huge upgrade over both of those DC. I've only used the Windows version though and they do have a better processor and ram than the android version.?ÿ
Rather use a powerpack if I run out and get the better Bluetooth range.
Yeah I typically couldn't get more than 140m with just the internal long range Bluetooth but the range can be affected by drivers with the windows version. Leegreen was going to help me look into that but I ended up getting the second Parani and then the longer antenna (on both ends now) and I've gotten over 300m a couple times (for a backsight) and we'll over 200m several others. If range randomly gives me trouble at less than that I shut everything down and restart it and it seems to fix it.?ÿ
With the android version the drivers are probably what they are. How do you like it besides the BT range? I don't think the Parani is an option with Android.?ÿ
Update: I got the RH17 radio handle today and used it all day. I couldn't get far enough from it on the jobsites to disconnect, so end of day at the office I set it up in our huge parking lot and went over 250 meters before I ran out of space and a truck got on my line. I was able to get line of sight and search again but the connection was definitely slowed down once he got in the way. Walking a few meters towards the robot and it was working perfectly again. This was with just the internal long range Bluetooth in the Panasonic fz-m1. So the Parani had much weaker Bluetooth. Now I don't need either Parani..
I'm a happy camper so far. Hopefully it stays that way. It's still an 11 year old robot being used all day long so who knows what could happen.?ÿ
