Has anyone seen/used one of these yet? It seems like a neat little gun for the price.
Looks good, however the reflectorless capability (700')is less than I need.
I take at least 500 shots with a GPS for every shot I take with a total station. When I needed a gun I bought one of these.
It's IP-54 is a step down from the IP-66 I see on a lot of guns, and it's plastic. Knew that going in. The chord for connecting it to the data collector is behind the screen. So it rotates with the gun causing a little chord wrapping, and the optics aren't as clear as the old 303.
Other than that it's exactly what you see. The documentation says it's a Topcon design built in the far east.
Steve
Why is everybody putting the stupid chord plug up on top like that nowadays? They had it underneath for a reason!
Just a WAG, but I'll bet it has to do with the availability of Bluetooth and the assumption that no one will use the port for anything other than downloading. Putting it in the upper portion of the instrument is simpler because they don't have the complication of a data connection that needs to rotate.
TUVM for the info.
Show me the eyepiece end !
For people with big long bugles (at least longer than our Asian colleagues) I need the length of telescope to be nothing less than our SET 530R3.
Cheers,
Derek
Looks like the "GOWIN" brand
Bought and been using one for about 3 months, after my Topcon 304 died. Great gun so far, but yes the cable plugging in on the upper motion is a bit of a pain. Used a Sokkia for a while and it had the same set up.
Regarding the location of the data port, if you think about it, with the port in the body of the instrument, they can connect it to the output from the processor/calculating capability of the instrument with a simple cable connection.
But to put the data port in the base requires an assembly that consists spring contacts and slip rings to transfer the signals from the body of the instrument to the base. Maybe does not add a lot to the cost of the equipment but it does add some.
Another factor is that Topcon sells a lot of the instruments to parts of the world where they do not use data collectors, but use the on board capabilities of the instrument. So I suspect that the port is there more for the ability to connect the instrument to a computer to download the data.
No bluetooth, You'd have to do the Parani thing. Hayes will bluetooth the non-reflectorless version of this instrument for a fee.
I own it. It works, but I'm 50-50 on whether I'd buy it again. Mostly because of the optics and the position of the connection/no blue tooth. Someone told me refelectorless guns always have a touch worse optics because of all the 'stuff' in the way to make it work. I'm a little doubtful.
My choices were at the time to spend 2k more and get a 'real' topcon w/blue tooth and reflectorless. Or spend 2k less and get a used Topcon 30x like I had before.
I just don't use it much. So, like a lot of decisions I make, ask me in 10 years and I'll tell if I was right.
Steve
