anybody uses SOUTH brand total station? What are your thoughts on this brand of instrument? quality and reliability?
I am considering getting a used Total Station, and while searching the internet I came across this brand on ebay.
Does anyone know if there is a north American dealer? can you get service and repairs in North America?
Never heard of them. Good luck!
T. Nelson - SAM
I remember they used to advertise in POB and PS.?ÿ I also remember wondering why anyone would take a chance on a new brand when the prices of the regular brands wasn't all that bad.
Here's 7 pages of discussions on South Instruments. ?????ÿ
There is a dealer for Canada out in P.E.I.?ÿ He is friendly and ready to help.?ÿ There is a dealer map on their webpage.?ÿ I can give no opinion to the actual hardware as I have never used it.?ÿ Their literature shows it to be capable, but I value real world experience higher.?ÿ Their prices seem to be inline w/ most other brands when I inquired.?ÿ One needs to temper whether saving a couple grand is worth the headache.?ÿ Only you can answer that.
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Personal example for our company:
Prior to my hiring at my current place of employment, they purchased a Valpar VTS02B total station for ~$7,000 CDN.?ÿ By default, it only spits out a txt file w/ coordinates or a DXF w/ points.?ÿ It, by default, cannot produce an FBK, RW5, etc. (ie. no way to get angles and distances).?ÿ Through..........multiple...........emails and.........much............testing, I found out the following:
1. The VTS02B, sold by Brandt, is just a re-badged NorthWest Instrument NTS02B total station.
Side note--Brandt is a tractor/heavy machinery dealer network that previously dabbled in selling basic construction layout equipment, but seems to have taken over distribution of Topcon/Sokkia up here in Ontario and much of the rest of Canada.
https://www.brandt.ca/Divisions/Tractor/ValPar/Precision-Instruments
Side note--they list a total station as part of a tractor division within the company.?ÿ The statement that it works w/ SurvCE is extremely optimistic in my personal experience.
(this is the newest version of it)
http://nwismart.com/tool/total-station/
2. The tech's I found at NorthWest told me that they also are contracted out to manufacture certain Topcon models in limited amounts.?ÿ I would take that with a grain of salt, but their instruments do use a Topcon pin-out.
3.?ÿ See attached manual.
?ÿTo get it to work, you need to set it as a Topcon or South instrument.?ÿ Using either of those options, I was only ever able to get it to send angles to the DC (I was attempting w/ SurvCE 4 and another w/ 5).
Caveat--I was using a Topcon cable as spec'd in the manual (see attached pinout) and I also attempted via Bluetooth.?ÿ It was an Ebay cable as an official Brandt one was >$200 and we didn't want to pay that for a backup TS.
I present this all not as a statement to South, but just that in trying to save a few grand my boss took up approximately 40 hours of my time as I tracked down info, tried things out, and eventually gave up.?ÿ That was 40 hours I could have put to billable.?ÿ?ÿ
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We have enough problems w/ reputable brands up here, let alone "one offs."?ÿ If I was in New York State and lee was my dealer, I would likely be fine w/ Topcon.?ÿ I cannot recommend them in their current configuration in SW Ontario.?ÿ If my only South dealer is on the other side of the country, that only compounds issues (ie. shipping, time zone difference, etc.).?ÿ Time is money.
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Side note--we went w/ Carlson and are extremely happy.?ÿ We also considered a combination of Trimble, Spectra Precision, Stonex, Hemisphere, Leica, Geomax, and Leica's Icon.?ÿ That being said, we also have Emlid and Polaris GNSS units for topographic and static purposes.
Polaris
https://www.polaris-gnss.com/home
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Emlid
Do you also have other GNSS from the bigger players that you can compare the Polaris/Emlid to? Curious if these super low cost receivers are value for money or not from a productivity standpoint. I.e. dealer support, software usability and actual hardware performance.
Do you also have other GNSS from the bigger players that you can compare the Polaris/Emlid to? Curious if these super low cost receivers are value for money or not from a productivity standpoint. I.e. dealer support, software usability and actual hardware performance.
We have the following in the GNSS "stable:"
-Hemisphere S320 (used w/ SurvCE 5)
-Carlson BRX7 (used w/ SurvCE 6)
-Emlid RS2 (used w/ SurvCE 5)
-Polaris S100 (to be used w/ Android Field Genius and AgOpenGPS.............we are still in the process of setting things up).
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Brief overview of my use with them.
Hemisphere S320
-works pretty good in the open
-a bit "fixy" when it comes tree cover and requires multiple check shots
-vertical is a bit floaty
-great support in SurvCE in Canada
-internal radio range is decent
-1 of our units had the SD slot die
-SIM slot does not work w/ current SIMs even w/ an adapter
-decent units, but easily outclassed today
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BRX7
-fantastic out in the open, pretty good in foliage (see my post where I compare it to a total station shot in a tree "closet")
-good vertical
-great support in SurvPC
-logs RINEX easily
-have only used it for RTN work, but it's great at that
-Hybrid w/ the CRX is quite nice
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Emlid RS
I call it a great "supplemental" GNSS. It's good for:
-that crew that always break stuff
-logging static for PPP/baselines
-RTN work if you don't care about adjusting vectors (ie. txt or csv only.?ÿ SurvCE can only connect to it as a NMEA unit so you don't get the vectors for adjustment)
-you can't afford a data collector (their software, which is quite good, is free and runs on your phone)
-you need to integrate your total station work (ie. their software does basic topo, shot averaging, and basic stakeout though they have plans to improve it with cogo at some point)
-you want to perform PPK along with your RTK (ie. they have free software to do this)
-if you verify your foliage GNSS shots conventionally
-quad driving
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It's not good for:
-mixing with other brands (you have to mess with legacy protocols and it's a bit of a pain; easiest way is to setup a portable RTN and not use the internal radio)
-foliage performance is somewhere between a BRX5 and a BRX7
-a used BRX6 is only a little bit more, but has full Survce compatibility and full tech support
-software is a bit fussy for downloading RINEX. I don't even know how I would do so without OneDrive.
-only supported in Survce via NMEA (ie. no vector adjustment)
-software does topo and basic stakeout--no cogo
Good to support other equipment. Great bang for buck. I still prefer the BRX7. You get what you pay for. Excellent to use in conjunction with your "main" GNSS.
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Polaris S100
Currently on the back burner as we are swamped.?ÿ I hope to use it for AgOpenGPS at home on the farm, for site static vectors (ie. short baselines under 2km w/ 3 units logging), and for quad topos where there is poor cell coverage.?ÿ We have used the Emlid RS2 more than we thought we would; the Polaris uses the same chipset so we hope to experiment w/ it as supplemental on projects.?ÿ I would still get a BRX6 or BRX7 if I could only have one GNSS setup.?ÿ The ublox units, though, are fantastic as "support" units.?ÿ
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See attached example of a PPP report based on data collected by the RS2. We often use the RS2 as a check on the Topnet RTN by submitting to NRCan.?ÿ For this, we're not looking to verify to the mm--just that things are roughly working as expected.
Hey all,
thanks for the replies.
and those 7 pages is quite a bit of reading. still have a way to go. Some interesting pointers on buying used in general.?ÿ
you guys really share quite a lot of useful information. i made a purchase yesterday which I hope will fill a gap in GPS usage.
The post on South total stations are old. Does anyone on here have any recent experience on buying South or other chinese brand total stations.
I dont need anything fancy, Reflectorless to at least 300ft is?ÿ must.
@jaccen?ÿ
FWIW, Brandt bought out Sokkia/Topcon during my struggles with the Sokkia ix robot I was using...while the hardware was always very problematic while I was using it, the support from the local sales reps was pretty good. They had made seemingly strong efforts to get it working properly with fieldgenius, we gave up eventually and they traded us on FG license for magnet field which fixed many of my issues (Microsurvey can't even fix the issues with FG running a Leica (hexagon owned product) so I'm sure they were the biggest problem with solving the issues.... however when Brandt bought Sokkia, the sales guy called to inform me of that, maybe to give me a discreet heads up that I might never hear from him again (I never did after we received our Sokkia ix back and sent the Topcon gt loaner back to them). Nobody seemed to care about whether the issues were resolved or not (they were by switching to a Leica 1200 series and leaving the Sokkia on the shelf).?ÿ
So I wouldn't be likely to recommend anything from Brandt.?ÿ