TOPCON PS103 ROBOTIC

I can not count the times that I have had to stop everything and spend whatever time it took holed up in my office and back yard to sit down with Manual and New Gadget to either figure out how to use it or bust.

Hayes Surveying Equipment is 200?ñ miles away, give them a call.

good luck

I have a Topcon PS103 as my daily driver. I use it with SP Survey Pro. I dislike it, to put it mildly.?ÿ My advise is to prepare to be very patient. Give it a lot of time to connect up. You have to learn to wait for it to be ready to act.?ÿ

I assume that since it was working for this employee that it is all set up correctly. I further assume that you have the RC-5 device. That is critical to the communication. Turn on the instrument and level it up. Then and only then turn on the RC-5. Give the RC-5 several seconds to link to the instrument. Then, and only then, power up your dc and attempt to commence Survey Setup.?ÿ

There are 2 search modes. One is a local search where it gropes around a small area trying to find the glass. Use that when the instrument is already looking at you. Slow.?ÿ Then there is global search. That will search a 360?ø circle looking for the red window on the RC-5. Then it search up and down for the glass.?ÿ Fairly effective, but slow.

The lock is quite effective at distance. But if you are under 50' from the gun it will have real trouble turning fast enough to keep up with you and remain locked on.?ÿ ?ÿ

The instrument is OK once you come to grips with it but slow.?ÿ It would be OK for someone who does most of their work with RTK and just needs the TS once in a while. Quite reliable and Topcon rugged. It will have to be when I finally loose it and throw the F'ing thing over the bank.?ÿ?ÿ

Why in the world would Topcon make a robot that is so poor. I guess PS 103 should be listed as POS 103. I have never used a Topcon Robot but if I had to put up with all that, it would be sold off day one. Robots cost way too much to deal with BS like you described.

Thanks for the reply. I have gone through about everything from the late 50's up to this topocon robot - transit, dumpy level, overjoyed when I got my hands on a ziess level in the early 60's, next was the theodolite, then came the 3800 followed by total stations and data collectors - even autocad. All pretty much fun. But this thing has defeated me - almost. I will follow your advice and be more patient. I am too old to just give up now so maybe I can hang on until I finally figure it out. Once again, Thanks.

It is not a Topcon problem. It is Carlson software. I use a PS103 every day with Topcon Magnet Tools, it is flawless.

Perhaps it does work better with Magnet. But that doesn't make it a Carlson problem. I'm using Survey Pro. Which is what the local Topcon dealer sold the instrument with.?ÿ

Sorry, I read the OP was using Carlson. It is just a fact today with Technology, that you will get the most out of your hardware when using the vendors' specific software.

Like trying to put a chevy engine in a jeep. Just because it fits, doesn't mean everything will work correctly.

I have not used the PS103 but have used the GT series running magnet, my assessment is that the product line is a turd.?ÿ

Every cloud has a silver lining however, maybe the frustration of using it will push you into retirement in order to get some relief.?ÿ

I've seen the same connection issues as Norman, but I use Magnet on a Tesla.  The system is very persnickety about the bluetooth connections.  I've often needed to reboot the collector just to get everything communicating again.

As to the search and tracking speed, I haven't used other robotics, so I can't comment on how the PS compares to others.