Hello again all,
First of all, I want to thank all of you that contributed to my initial topic, you were all a massive help and a testament not just to this forum, but you as individuals.?ÿ ????ÿ
I'm hoping that you'll help me again, although I completely appreciate you won't like my method of purchase.
"Never buy anything expensive on internet auction sites", that's what I've always said. However on this occasion I think I've found a trusted seller, details at at the bottom to avoid dirtying your browser history.
From research, it seems to be right for me, following our extensive conversations in my previous topic created on here. To reiterate, I'm only considering this as I find local surveyors either have a very long lead time, can't do small jobs cost effectively (completely understandable) or it may look better if I can do land surveys 'in house'. I know surveying with this equipment is far from 'point and shoot' and there will be a learning curve, though I have used similar instruments before, however a little time has passed since then.
Here are my views:
Pro's:
It's being sold within 50 miles of me, so I would go there, check it (to the best of my abilities) and while there pay via paypal so I get buyers protection.
The seller has 100% feedback and may be quite old as he's sold lots of miniature trains (so may be a little more trustworthy).
He's not had much interest, so I might try him for ?2500 instead of the ?2900 asking price.
It's an expense so would help towards my tax bill.
Con's:
Research has shown it's a 10+ year old model, so batteries and consumables will be hard to come by I expect.
It seems more an American manufacturer than local to me (in the UK), though it has been certified and I checked that he had the documentation to prove this and all is in order.
Money (as usual), I'm planning to build myself an outbuilding for use as an office. I rent at the moment, and it would save me approx. ?5k a year on costs...unfortunately it will cost me around ?10k to build. I will no doubt borrow the money, but it's still a tricky one.
-----------------------------
Thank you again in advance and sincerely hope you're all well and good.
Chris
?ÿ
Here is the advert blurb:
Description: Topcon GPT-8205A Robotic Auto Tracking Reflectorless Total Station Calibrated
I have a Topcon GPT-8205A Robotic Auto Tracking Reflectorless Total Station Calibrated for sale,
Used Condition
comes with:
Charger,one battery,carry case.
ANY QUESTION
PLEASE E-MAIL TO ASK.
PAYPAL IS THE ONLY WAY I WILL ACCEPT THE PAYMENTS.
PAYMENT HAS TO BE MADE WITHIN 3 DAYS AFTER AUCTION FINISH.
ITEM WILL BE SEND OUT AS SOON AS PAYMENT CLEARS
Happy bidding
I would be very skeptical of this purchase since it does not include a 360?ø prism.?ÿ Also, does it need bluetooth external radios for robotic communication??ÿ It's not close enough to a complete setup for me to make that purchase.
I would be very skeptical of this purchase since it does not include a 360?ø prism.?ÿ Also, does it need bluetooth external radios for robotic communication??ÿ It's not close enough to a complete setup for me to make that purchase.
I would be very skeptical of this purchase since it does not include a 360?ø prism.?ÿ Also, does it need bluetooth external radios for robotic communication??ÿ It's not close enough to a complete setup for me to make that purchase.
Thank you Jason, good to have a different perspective, especially someone who knows significantly more than me. Is the 360 Deg prism something I 'could' buy separately do you think? I can certainly ask the seller about the bluetooth facilities. I appreciate it's going to be far from use full time, but I'm hoping for around 1 survey per week at most.
I don't see any prism glass, rods, tripods, controller. etc.?ÿ included. Without those things it's a paperweight.
Without a recent( within 6 months) calibration and proof of not DOA, its an EXPENSIVE paper weight. If you can stop by his place to see it working, with the above mentioned items, otherwise rental would be your best option IMHO.
I'd also pass.?ÿ If you have all the other stuff, as already pointed out, to make sure it would work, its not a bad price.?ÿ Without all the other equipment to make sure its working, you are taking a chance.?ÿ It also screams "stolen" to me.?ÿ
As stated in previous replies, you would need a prism, Data collector, Bluetooth/radios. It??s far from ready to use. That being said the asking price seems a bit high and unless you can get it for far less, you might be better off with something else.
ChrisA - Hear me out before getting offended by the following post:
It's been said before and it's worth saying again (and again):
?ÿ It's false economy to attempt to work with unreliable equipment.
?ÿ And in a for-profit environment - it's false economy to do those things that you can't do well.
Ultimately you will waste money and your client will have their project delayed. You may even be sued when you miss-locate or forget some critical item that impacts construction and cost. It's possible that you'll come out ahead on a few projects or you might not have any successful surveys with this gear; but in the long run, this will almost certainly be viewed as a poor strategy.
If the survey is small then you can do it with a tape, a plumb bob, right angle prism, and a level (or hand level) - do it by setting up a baseline and measuring station/offset.
Station/Offset methods will take longer than an expert crew surveying the same area with a robot but less additional time than you'll spend debugging bluetooth or radios or data export formats or bad backsights or bad HIs or forgotten measure ups or data corruption or miss-coded points or a host of other issues that people who work with the gear every day are trained to deal with.
If you can't do it by station and offset, use the survey company that you had good luck with in a prior post.
No client appreciates seeing the architect on-site bumbling around with survey equipment and then returning a few days later to resurvey things that didn't work out. They view that as wasting their money and delaying their project.
Not trying to rain on your parade but you need to be REAL about this. It's in your best interest to invest your time and dollars improving your professional skills as an Architectural Technologist. If you want to be a surveyor (which would be the logical thing to do given the shortage of surveyors in your area as well as your interest in doing the work), go to work for a survey company and get some solid knowledge so that you can succeed.
?ÿ
Some more thing to check when buying used stuff.
Did you receive the serial nr of the ?ÿinstrument? ASK for o picture.
forward it to topconeurope to see if it wasn??t stolen, check it??s calibration and maintenance history.
check if you can get new batteries at topcon, does the instrument have an internal backup battery, it probably needs to be replaced.
if it connects to the dc with cables be sure the contacts and cables are as new, communication problems are a pita when doing fieldwork.
Chr.
?ÿ
?ÿ
Pass up this instrument Buy new and don't look back Like you said it is a tax write off and could be leveraged into a great asset considering all of the changes that have come in the past 5 yrs That technology is too old
I don't see any prism glass, rods, tripods, controller. etc.?ÿ included. Without those things it's a paperweight.
Thank you Norman, very fair point. I have the tripod but not the other equipment, very much appreciated.
Without a recent( within 6 months) calibration and proof of not DOA, its an EXPENSIVE paper weight. If you can stop by his place to see it working, with the above mentioned items, otherwise rental would be your best option IMHO.
Hi Jitter, second person who's say it's potentially paper weight material, Thank you.
I'd also pass.?ÿ If you have all the other stuff, as already pointed out, to make sure it would work, its not a bad price.?ÿ Without all the other equipment to make sure its working, you are taking a chance.?ÿ It also screams "stolen" to me.?ÿ
Many thanks David, I'm sensing a theme, and even the a slight chance of it being stolen is a no no. I do have the tripod, but that's about it.
As stated in previous replies, you would need a prism, Data collector, Bluetooth/radios. It??s far from ready to use. That being said the asking price seems a bit high and unless you can get it for far less, you might be better off with something else.
Thank you Drrating, I'll certainly think further about it as well as questions for the seller, but so far the chance of me taking a punt is very low, mainly because you are all being very consistent with your comments. Thank you all ever so much?ÿ
