This looks a little bulky for having to carry on top of the rod all day. I'm curious to know how well it works.
I was kind of turned off with the RC series starting with the RC-2, that I thought was a band aid for the 800 series robot that had terrible tracking and searching capabilities. It was terrible for communication since the robot had to be looking your direction to have communication, had limited range and it was temperamental to activate. This new RC-4 sounds a little fancier, but who knows a robot that is good at tracking and searching doesn't need this stuff. I used the old Topcon APL-1A that had unbelievable tracking speed and could regain lock almost instantly. I don't know what happened to Topcon after this model, maybe the laser was burning everyones retinas out or something and they didn't want to tell anyone. Yeah it would grab signs or tail lights if the sensitivity was on high, but I eliminated most of the sign shots by lowering the sensitivity in parking lots and activating the double shot warning in Survey Pro or just actually looking up at the instrument once in a while.
If the "built in spread spectrum radio" replaces the satel radio, it could mean less weight on the pole. That would be a plus.
James
"a little bulky" understatement of the year!!
Are you telling me that big box with the antenna sits on TOP of a range pole? That is totally dumb. Sorry to be such a Trimble/Geodimeter 'homer', but the active 360 degree prism that they have had for YEARS is still superior to that junk.
I don't get it, Topcon basically copied everything from Trimble, from design to Software, but for some reason they refuse to copy one of the best designed prisms ever. makes no sense to me, at all!
Yes, the newer Trimble set-ups I've seen with the active 360 prism, battery in the pole, and radio built into the Ranger, are amazingly slick. I Still use the original geodimeter 600 (don't even have the cordless prism), it was better in every way than the 8000 series topcon I used for a few years (lighter instrument, lighter pole, tracks WAY better, doesn't need a motocycle battery to get 8 hours of work, and less junk on the pole).
We have the SRX which also looks bulky, but you dont really notice it at all. It is just for horizontal location, then the gun looks vertically for the prism, so I am not sure why they dont incorporate them lower on the rod.
The active search works great and the robot runs on 2 LiIon batteries all day. The RC on the rod lasts for a week on a single charged battery.
I have an SRX also...very similar to the Topcon's prism reacquisition method...the RC-4 goes on top of the rod...I think it weighs less than a pound...you don't even notice it.
I also have a Trimble S6 with the active target ($3000 prism). The Trimble is definitely the better robot, but in my opinion, it would be the perfect gun if it incorporated a true "active search" like the Topcon or Sokkia. I have an R8 GNSS that goes on top of the Trimble prism...that helps a lot, but in the woods, the Sokkia's method is superior...
...just my 2 cents
I don't know why Trimble got rid of the active target. I love mine, works every time, and doesn't track anything but the prism
Trimble did get rid of the active prism for a short while with the introduction of the S6.
They not have the MT 1000 active tracking prism so you have a choice of passive or active.
Works great.
> I was kind of turned off with the RC series starting with the RC-2, that I thought was a band aid for the 800 series robot that had terrible tracking and searching capabilities. It was terrible for communication since the robot had to be looking your direction to have communication, had limited range and it was temperamental to activate. This new RC-4 sounds a little fancier, but who knows a robot that is good at tracking and searching doesn't need this stuff. I used the old Topcon APL-1A that had unbelievable tracking speed and could regain lock almost instantly. I don't know what happened to Topcon after this model, maybe the laser was burning everyones retinas out or something and they didn't want to tell anyone. Yeah it would grab signs or tail lights if the sensitivity was on high, but I eliminated most of the sign shots by lowering the sensitivity in parking lots and activating the double shot warning in Survey Pro or just actually looking up at the instrument once in a while.
I wish I had know that about the 800 when I bought mine... you are dead on and I don't have an RC-2... I was kinda talked out of it. I have the BanTams from Hayes with a Carlson SurvCE unit which is pretty slick, but like you said, it does have terrible tracking and searching... I'm kinda stuck with it right now... but at least it's paid for.
Wait till you Trimble guys see and use the TSC3! they put a compass and a sub meter GPS inside to give the S6 users an advantage when going into search mode. it knows where you are on the jobsite so you don't have to change the search area or add that little GPS unit to the MT1000. There is also a 5meg pixl camera on board and is available with either Access or Survey Pro. There are a bunch of other features as well!
PSS