Hello people.
I would like to know if anybody here has experience with both, a Leica TCR-705 and a Leica TCR-705 with the ‘auto target recognition.’
Iknow of these for sale. They are about the same cosmetically and I’m assuming they both operate correctly. The one with auto target recognition (atr) is about $900 more than the standard one. The one with atr also has the guidelight option.
What I would like to know is…would it be worth it to go for the one with atr? And are these with atr reliable? I know it’s a few years old and I was curious to know if the atr would operate for a while or if it is known to break down.
There are less moving parts in the regular model but the atr would be handy at dusk time when there is little light
Thanks for responding!
Personally I'd go with the ATR - it's fast and accurate and makes field work a lot more productive. As far as I know their service record has been good... I'm sure there are plenty of guys out there who are still using 1100 and 1200 series ATR guns.
thank you for the reply...do you know what year these were made?
I looked up the dates but their were many iterations of the TPS700 but the years are very close. The TCR705 would have started productions in 1999 and would have ended production in about 2003. I think once they started going more into models with ATR the non-ATR instruments were in the same production line. The TCR705 Auto would have started production in about 2002 and ended prodcution in about 2008. The new models would be have a name Ultra which meant they had the newer R300 refelctorless board which had a range of 300 meters. Leica's ploicy is to keep repair parts for a minimum of one year after the end of prodcution. I am sure that yu can still get these repaired if needed.
I used the TPS700 Auto in the field and it was a solid instrument. The ATR will pay for itself in a short time. The instrumentman just has to point roughly at the prism with the peep sights and the instrument will lock on and measure to the prism. If you get the TPS700 Auto you will notice that the ATR does not point to the center of the prism. That is the way ATR works. The system can calculate the offset to the actual center without having to point directly at the center. I think you would see the speed that the ATR will give you if you could demo an instrument with ATR as an option.
wow thanks for that info. if i got one and saw that it wasn't moving to point directly at the prism i'd have gone bananas thinking it was broken. the dinosaur i use now can measure while not pointing directly at the prism.
but... twelve years is a relatively long time i'm wondering if pushing $4,000 is too much to pay for the tcr 705 with atr. or $3,000 for one without. any thoughts on price? i know an 'instrument' can last a long time - i currently use one that is more than double that age.
....well.. those prices are a little off - i'd be paying closer to $3,250 for the one without atr factoring in time, diesel to go get it (or postage/ins.), etc. i'm not sure about the overall price but the price diff seems like it'd be better to get the atr for roughly $750 more.
thanks again for the replies!
Sometimes when I look at gear on Ebay or from posts on beerleg, It seems to be overpriced from reality sometimes. I do have an old price list from Leica and the list prices from 205 are:
TC705 List = $ 7,700.00
TCR705Auto = $ 14,340.oo
So depending on the condition of the instruments that seems to be a fair price (less than have original pricing). I would also look at what is coming with the instrument - batteries, chargers, etc. You can get the instrument cleaned and calibrated - only at a Leica Authorized Service Center. You can do a field calibration on the horizontal calumniation, vertical indexing and ATR centering yourself.
Just food for thought.