Are any of you using the latest Topcon Imaging Total Station? How do you like it? Is it fast?
What about the quick station?
How heavy is the pole-mounted transmitter? Will GPS mount on top of all of this? Will the unit work without the pole-mounted transmitter on the pole?
When the quickstation is used for conventional traversing how long does it take for the unit to boot up and lock in with the data collector?
What about the new Hiper II GPS, which looks like the newest Sokkia unit...
Is Topcon reasonable about firmware and after-the-sale support? We used to use them but changed platforms when they got behind on GPS.
I am hoping that Topcon doesn't have the expensive maintenance fees for firmware, and that they don't lock their firmware so that it can never be used on any other data collector if the data collector breaks or if the enduser wants to upgrade to different data collector.
We have used Topcon Hyper + GPS with Topcon Tools post processing for over 7 years and have never had to pay to upgrade firmware or Topcon Tools (version 1 - 8). I don't know about the new total stations but we are planning to buy a new one soon, a lower end model because we don't need the bells and whisles.
Frank, Topcon does not charge for software or firmware updates. A few years ago they released GIS software that was basically ArcPad with Topcon's hardware interface integrated. As is ESRI's want, they updated their software regularly and because of the licensing, Topcon was forced to charge users $100 for the update. They quickly split the software into a product you bought once from Topcon.
