> I'm in the same boat, been using my Geodimeter 650 Bergstrand since I bought it in 2005. It's still a fantastic, if heavy, instrument, but I really think adding reflectorless will help me in the field. I posted a while ago in the buy/sell/trade category and got exactly two emails and no comments. I'm also thinking of a refurbished S6, but haven't made up my mind yet.
I'll be interested to hear what you settle on. Since I use the equipment myself, I'm more interested in having something that is free of the annoying crappiness that the Topcon folks apparently consider more of a feature than a bug.
> So, are you expecting to be able to point an instrument without a telescope at a mark on a bearing tree, a radio tower that is a coordinated point, or a remote building corner?
Yup, you will see it on the video screen.
> > So, are you expecting to be able to point an instrument without a telescope at a mark on a bearing tree, a radio tower that is a coordinated point, or a remote building corner?
> Yup, you will see it on the video screen.
Will that be the same video screen that one can't view very well in bright sun?
Another thing to bear in mind: a total station used to be something you bought and adjusted occasionally. The addition of capabilities like reflectorless measurement, automatic target recognition, and robotic capability now means that critical adjustments require a shop visit. You also may need a maintenance contract to keep the firmware up to date if you want to keep up with bug fixes.
Leica has great optics. i used a Zeiss TH43 for about six months. Awesome optics.
The whole Zeiss Elta series was too boring for me. No alphanumeric?!! I used a laptop
with the weird type Leica cable to connect to my T2000 and T1600. You could use
the laptop or the Leica keyboard as the controller. If you could remember the descriptor
codes, they displayed as alpha on the laptop for any correction necessary. You could
shoot trees or power poles without any offset entry -- aka shoot the sight of the pole
for distance and vertical angle and turn to the center of the pole and measure the
horizontal angle and then record the horizontal angle, vertical angle, and slope
distance.
I think Carlson tried something like this and called it Tsuami on a laptop. No rain,
snow, sleet, or bad weather allowed for their system and my system. There was an
expensive Panasonic laptop called Toughbook which worked pretty good.
> I do like the two handed tangent adjustment though. It just feel natural for me now.
I bet all of this talk about two-handed tangent adjustments and tripod reach arounds has all of you old guys survey weenies rock hard. Next thing you know ya'll will be talking about "slappin 90's" and witchin for pipes 😀
:good:
hahahaha
We've got an older Topcon with reflectorless. Range is kind of limited compared to that of today. I can hit a power pole at 400 feet generally. Brick buildings are about the same. The beam is kind of wide too so you have to be careful of the angle of incidence and nearby obstructions, which today's beams are much more narrow. We have a robot also with a much longer range that is also much heavier, so I don't like to carry it unless we're doing a robotic survey.
I occasionally daydream about replacing our manual instrument for something with a better reflectorless range and Bluetooth capability. From what I'm seeing, if you want a "quality" instrument, one that isn't for the construction market, you just about have to go with a robot - even if you don't plan on using robotics. Leica seems to be the one exception to this, for now, as they offer a few instruments that are neither construction grade nor robotic. However Trimble (and Nikon by extension) and Topcon (and Sokkia by extension) seem to have taken this approach and since everything has been consolidated I'm not sure what else is out there.
From the direction I'm seeing in the product offerings and pricing, I think they'll all be robotic before long except for the very basic construction grade instruments.
I've not handled the Topcon instruments you mention, but I believe I've read that the data collection connector is above the horizontal motion? If you are Bluetooth, it shouldn't matter, but I would not want to be wired to the upper motion of a gun - you couldn't do reverse pointings very well. But maybe I've misunderstood and this isn't an issue.
> Will that be the same video screen that one can't view very well in bright sun?
If I'm wrong, you still don't need the greatest of optics to see a bearing tree or building corner.
> > Will that be the same video screen that one can't view very well in bright sun?
> If I'm wrong, you still don't need the greatest of optics to see a bearing tree or building corner.
Well, the contrast of the display is the problem I'm familiar with. In bright sun it all washes out.
Sadly, I can see a day where Dave's and Norman's vision, or something like it, will come. Even the best commercial digital camera with 16 megapixels (or whatever the latest is) must be cheaper than the optics currently found in the cheapest total stations. Soon we'll be looking at images on an LCD screen with a cross hair superimposed on the screen - Something along the lines of the Leica Disto 3D. Hooray for progress. Yes?
I cant say enough good things about this gun.
> Sadly, I can see a day where Dave's and Norman's vision, or something like it, will come.
I don't know; I've been waiting 40+ years for those Jetson's style hover cars of the future that were promised to be just around the corner when I was a kid. 😀
> > Sadly, I can see a day where Dave's and Norman's vision, or something like it, will come.
>
> I don't know; I've been waiting 40+ years for those Jetson's style hover cars of the future that were promised to be just around the corner when I was a kid. 😀
No flying cars but.... hey, can you believe all of these angry birds on my telephone?! My telephone?!
fwiw, I'd rather have rotary dial and the flying car.
> I cant say enough good things about this gun.
What model is that? If it has Zeiss optics, it raises my expectations for the quality of the rest of the thing.
Kent, it's a Trimble VX. A bit spendy but does light scanning and it's a 1" robot. If you don't need the scanning look at the S8. Top shelf units.
Just to be clear, there are two different locks for the case. The front hinged locks you are referring to are removable and replaceable. The ones Kent is referencing are the ones on the side, that are an integral part of the case.
The only reason I commented is I have seen three different types of Sokkia cases, one with front locks, one with side locks, and ones like the CX instruments my present company uses, with both.
Kent, yes there is a monoformed O-ring style waterproof seal for these cases, more a tongue and groove design rather than a traditional rubber O-ring insert. Fewer parts to replace and easier to keep clean.
I would be interested to know
If you decide to rent an S6 I would be very interested in your critique...I believe your assessment is correct regarding the Topcon biz model...
hello Kent,
yes, put the wireless data collector on your hip, lanyard round your neck, tripod, anywhere. or use the on-board one. despite what you read on this board the leica on-board software runs just fine; some of us even make money using it!!!
regarding the boxes, well our red leica boxes last just fine. it wouldn't bother us if the boxes were made of eggshells as the fact that the instrument is in there is reason enough to treat them with the utmost care. it is a non issue for us.
> Kent, yes there is a monoformed O-ring style waterproof seal for these cases, more a tongue and groove design rather than a traditional rubber O-ring insert. Fewer parts to replace and easier to keep clean.
Yes, I had a look at that detail of the case when I was out today. It seem like more of a dust seal than a moisture seal of the sort that the thick silicone rubber gaskets on the Zeiss cases familiar to me were. Those plastic "locks" on the side of the case still seem as if they won't last six months and, as you say, they aren't replaceable.
I'd think that anyone who bought that CX/ES line would plan on just finding a real case to either stick the original inserts into or some replacements they fabricated out of better material.
