SurveyPro 5.x.x Upgrade

I bought a new Ranger 3l last year that came with Spectra Precision Survey Pro 5.0 installed, I think it was the first major update after Trimble bought out TDS. It was pretty buggy at first, but there has been a number of updates to address the problems. 5.2.2 is the latest version and it still has the feel of Survey Pro, but I don't know for how long. Unlike Trimble Access, Survey Pro has drivers for most brands and models, which is a good thing.

Kelly

Hi Kelly, it's good to know most of the bugs were solved in the latest version. I like the onboard SurveyPro in my Nivo, I could say it has a good GUI and very intuitive to use. However, what annoys me is that I think the software is very sensitive, I mean, if I just rotate the instrument to measure a point from the left towards my right, the electronic bubble suddenly pops up and tells me to check my levels! I'm really confused because im using a Crain Trimax which is firmly set on the ground and i think there is no way this midget of a device can destabilize the heavy duty tripod.

Another thing I noticed is that when my hot-swappable batteries are nearly discharged (say around 15-20%) the software is having a glitch (it simply freezes) the first time I power-up the Nivo. I needed to restart my device 2 or 3 times so it could properly work. However, this anomaly doesn't happen when the batteries are fully charged.

I don't have any experience with that instrument, but some of the issues may be with the instrument firmware and not the on board data collection software. The check level issue is probably due to the title sensors needing a second to settle out when turning the instrument, I've seen this with other instruments and don't think it an issue.

I still 4.7.1... the last TDS one. I was told by my dealer that I could upgrade it for like $350 so I was going to do it, but everything I have read about new Spectra Survey PRO has been bad.

We upgraded our Ranger to the new (Spectra Precision) Survey Pro about 3 months ago. It shows 5.1.1. We don't like it at all. There are some upgrades and some nice features, and I would probably say it was O.K., but it seems buggy to say the least. It seems like it often just locks up for no reason and you have to do a hard boot. This happens maybe 1 to 3 times a day. In working with our GPS equipment, it just seems to hook up slow and get started slow, but once running its fine.

One really annoying feature is when doing stakeout, it has changed the way it stores your staked point. Say you are staking point 1000. We always store all the points we stake so we have a record. It tries to store the point as point 1000, instead of a new point number. So say you store it as point 12,000, when you stake another point, say 1001, it doesn't try to store it as 12,001, but it tries to overwrite point 1001 again. In the past it would always default to the next available point number, which it no longer does. This might not sound like a big deal, but we do a lot of layout work and its a real pain.

If we didn't need the upgrade to get the drivers for our new GPS system, I would have asked for a refund and rolled back to the older version we were using. If the version you have is working O.K., don't upgrade, stick with what you have.

I use it daily for robotic and vrs and only experienced lock ups in 5.0 when using the stake to a line routine repeatedly. The problem was addressed with one of the early updates. 5.2.2 is up on the website now.

We store all of our stake out points also. Under "job settings"/ "point naming" there are 4 different options for handling the number used to store stakeout points, including next available based on last stored point.

Jef don't do it. You will regret it. If current version works stay there. I hate 5 point slow.

Thanks to all of you, guys. I guess i'll skip the upgrade until majority of the comments are positive for this software.

Have a nice day!

Jef

Let's face it guys. TDS is dead. This SP Pro should be called "Not really Access, Not really TDS"

I think most of the problems are when people are upgrading older collectors or instruments with the new program. I wouldn't hesitate to get it on a new Ranger. The new Rangers have a lot of memory and processing speed and I experience no lock ups or slow ups running the program. As far as the program its self I've used Survey Pro since we had it on a hp48 up through the Husky, the Rangers and a Recon and don't notice a lot of change, so far. I do worry that one day Trimble is going to surprise us and turn it into Access all in one update.

Kelly