Anyone using this paid service from Topcon? I'm curious whether you like it. Trying to get information about the service seems difficult. What do you get if you subscribe? Does it cover new products only or old ones? Does it cover Sokkia equipment, now part of Topcon? I was just about ready to sign up, and I thought I had read previously that the subscription (annual?) was $100 or $200, but now I see that the minimum subscription is $500 for 3 users, which makes me quite a bit more cautious....
I have Sokkia SRX3 robot, and a pair of Topcon Hiper Pro receivers.
I am having the same issues. My correspondence with Topcon indicates that the only package available to a single user is a $500 annual fee!
I might be willing to pay this fee (which I feel is way to high) if there was some indication of what you get for the money. I have an Image Station and am very happy with the instrument. However the manual is really BAD. The option of $500 annual support to help the user read bad instructions is discouraging.
Does anyone know where I can get good knowledgeable training and support for Topcon equipment?
Well if you guys find out please let me know! I have very recently purchased a Topcon PS robot and am very happy with the instrument and the first traverse we did with it. The biggest issue is there is no explanation in the included documents as to a lot of the settings and/or the methodology for using it, we basically figure it out as we go along.
Things as simple as a list of the icons and what they stand for are not found in the manual. As others have mentioned I dont mind paying for certain things if there is a return on the investment. If I shell out the $500 and it is a compilation of basic settings and routines it is a waste of money and quite frankly should be provided with a new purchase.
OK well you guys are confirming some of my perceptions about this service. At $500, I'm not going to do it unless I can see ROI, which I don't see right now. If I was running multiple crews, maybe, but for a solo outfit it just doesn't seem to make sense.
> Trying to get information about the service seems difficult.
Hmmm....that sounds like the first bad sign.
Where is your dealer in all of this? Why isn't he helping you to understand how to operate the instrument without charging extra for it.
I'm not so sure about y'all but I get a little aggravated knowing that dealers send instruments out the door without proper training or support. I sell a lot of instruments and can't imagine not doing this for My customers.
Honestly the dealer has answered any questions I have asked so far so that wasn't what is really bugging me. I will probably ask him about the Total Care and see what he thinks or can tell me. I did send an e-mail to Topcon today asking them what it is we get in return for the money to join the site - I am curious to see what their response will be. I made sure to mention that there are other people who may in fact join if they knew what they were getting, and the prices didn't keep changing.
Topcon instrument documentation as a whole is terrible. I have been working through the manual for an older digital level and half of the time the "do this and then this" in the step by step instructions in the manual do not echo what the instrument does or displays on it's LCD screen.
I thought Leica docs were bad but Topcon has surpassed them is all levels of "turrible" as Charles would say!
Found this case study from the software company that was used to make the Total Care web site.
http://enterprise.concrete5.com/case-studies/topcon/
Maybe the subscription gets you access for three users to the Totalcare website and whatever is beyond the log in.
How about asking for a time limited free trial access of 10 to 30 days to see what's there? That should tell you if it's worthwhile expenditure.
I, too, thought about asking for a trial run. 30 days would be good.
Topcon's entire business model, at least with respect to its positioning products, seems to be geared around the idea that end users should receive support from their dealer. Topcon Total Care would seem to be somewhat of a departure from that model, that is, giving end users direct access to Topcon staff, not through the dealer network. That could prove very valuable for certain end users.
Prior to June 1st, 2012 the site was called Topcon University and was free (registration required). The site had useful stuff like software and firmware updates, user manuals, and webinars to cover some of the areas glossed over in the manuals. The addition of "Direct Technical Support" seems to be the biggest difference between the old and new sites. For $500 I hope they've really upped their game. When I purchased my robot in 2010 they were insisting that all support be provided through their dealer network and if you found an issue that stumped the dealer then you were probably out of luck.
I inquired about a trial run through Topcon's website. I received the following reply:
"Thank you for your inquiry. I don’t believe we have an evaluation period for the TotalCare program as it goes by user licenses. You can get more information from one of our Authorized dealers below in your area. Let me know if you need anything else. Thank you."