Topcon QS Robot

My dealer said that TDS has the drivers for the Ranger and QS..however, he's not sure how well they work together yet.

I bought about a month ago with the FC 2500 w/Topsurv. I already have a Leica 1203, so I have it to compare to.

Likes:

Records shots the instant you hit the record button. No delay whatsoever.
Provides stakeout data very fast.
Both of these benefits appear to be a result of the machine is continuously shooting distances.

Dislikes:

Eats batteries big time.
Topsurv is really too simple. Does not have many of the options I'm used to.
Hard time obtaining lock when rodperson is at a significantly different elevation than the instrument.
Changing speeds for joystick control is laborous. You have to change the search speed and that involves going through all the configuration settings. The default speed is way too fast to control by joystick. Once you slow it down in the config settings, then the search speed is too slow for normal re-lock.

Overall, good gun. But I would buy a Leica again if the quotes were similar. Would have to be a real good price difference to take the Topcon over the Leica.

Perhaps if different controller software was used, the Topcon would shine. However the short battery life gives it a thumbs down that Topcon needs to work on for future upgrade.

clearcut

I have never used a joystick controller? that sounds like it would be pretty cool if you worked it out. I use the RC2 quick Lock on my Topcon 8203. Did you get the RC3 or RC4 with your QS? I know I have heard that they made major improvements to the RC. With my RC2 and TDS I hit the Qlock button on the ranger, then hit a button on top of the RC2, and the robot turns to me almost every time.

It's a pain, but I've found that when I'm more than 10-15 deg above or below the instrument that it is helpful to tilt the rod so that the rc beam is pointed directly at the instrument when using the qlock routine.

Topcon 9003 w/RC3 and FC-2500

clearcut

Steve,
I got the RC4. Works pretty quick.

I use the joystick controller on my Leica all the time to get close to me before I hit search. Works great on the Leica as it has variable speed control. Helps get lock quicker when I'm up or downslope or half hidden in the brush. With the Topcon, though, I haven't had the same sort of success with the Topsurv joystick. Like I said before, the default speed is too fast to control and there is no way to quickly slow the speed down without going through config settings.

I do like the machine though, it is really fast at stake out and topo gathering. Its speed of data capture is really quick.

I can't comment on its accuracy yet though. Everything I've done so far is low order topo and rough stake out and haven't really had need to do anything precise yet.

I do like that the Topcon has a better 350 prism now. The older Topcon 360 was a bunch of individual prisms, whereas the new 360 is a single prism more like what Leica has been using.

Stephen,
yeah, we tried tilting the prism and RC unit so it was pointed more square to the instrument, but didn't help at all.
Seems to track fine down or up a slope, but if we lose lock we have a heck of a time getting re-lock.

Our rep says we should have better luck by changing the search limits settings but I haven't had opportunity to try yet.

I feel your pain, it took me 2-3 months to get really proficient at reacquiring lock in cover or tough terrain. The beam on the RC3 only has a 10deg spread. That makes it tough to get the instrument's attention sometimes. It would be nice if the RC had a visible red laser that could be used to help target the instrument.

I thought the new QS came with the RC4? I am using an RC2 with an 8203A and have no problems with vertical height differences. I can't believe the newer RC3 and especially the RC4 would have reduced that performance from the RC2? That is a big issue for me! You would think that the newer stuff would be getting better?

Well, if all the above is true, how does the topcon 9000 compare to the QS and the older 8200 series? Would I be better off looking at the 9000? I would really like to stay with topcon since I already have a set of HiperLites and my controller working with both my robot and GPS using the same file. I just hit a button to go from robot to GPS. I really don't want two controllers and especially two files to merge at the end of the day!
I guess the other thing I have to think about is weather or not I stay with TDS and the Ranger, or go to Topsurv? I do like the Leica Robot, but I just hate to mix and match equipment. Not sure if TDS is gonna keep supporting Topcon and Leica? I do know that I am very comfortable with my current setup and may hold off on upgrading until we see what this proprietary software/hardware/communication war is going to look like in the end!
Thanks for the input, was sure hoping more surveyors would chime in!

I was new to robots when I got my 9003 w/RC3, so I had a steep learning curve across the board. My guess is that if you are already familiar with the older RC you will not have any issues with the newer stuff. Get your dealer to let you test drive one on a real world job before making a decision. Your familiarity with the older topcon should give you instant appreciation for what works and what doesn't with the newer models.

Steve,
I did get the RC-4 with the QS I just bought.

I wouldn't judge the performance of the RC-4 & QS just on my experience.
I'm rating it based on only one day in the field doing topo, and one day doing a stake out.
I'm also a Leica robot user and so when things don't work quite as smoothly as my Leica setup, then it comes across to me as being a problem.
I need to go back out and try changing some of the configuration settings to see if I can't get improvement in obtaining lock when downslope of the instrument. I was just using the quick lock feature. The dealer's rep told me to try the search function instead, and to also mess with the search configuration settings. I just haven't had a chance.

Of course, this is using the Topsurv controller. Another controller such as your TDS setup may have different results than what I'm doing.

Also, I cannot compare it to the older RC units. Perhaps with different config settings it will perform better on steep slopes, I don't know yet.

I will say it is a great setup other than my experience on slopes and with its battery life. (Definetly get at least 3 batteries or more for the gun, you only get a couple of hours out of one).

I will say it is faster at stakeout and topo than my Leica, primarily because it captures the data much faster. I'm guessing its because it is constantly shooting distances