Trimble scanners

Not sure what kind of work you are doing, but having used Z+F and the comparable Trimble scanner I can say that Z+F is as accurate and much more user friendly. They are expensive, but you get metrology grade accuracy with both. The FARO's are nice compact units too and if you are not doing Metrology grade scanning then that is definitely the way to go (60K). I used one of those on an oil rig last summer and was really impressed with its simplicity and ease of data transfer.

But whichever way you go I recommend something that transfers data with either a thumb drive or SD card. Trimble got stupid with their functionality having to download your scans with their PC/DC controller. I just think that is so stupid, unnecessary and outright proprietary BS.

Whichever you buy keep us updated. I noticed you use real works which is really cool, but I don't think you can import .ZFS files straight from Z+F, you would have to convert to ptx, which does dilute the data a bit. I have only messed with it really and we don't use realworks so I can't say for sure.

Happy shopping.

It's fairly easy to get a laptop configured with Windows XP isn't it? Seems like any computer shop would be able to do that.

It does not matter if it is Scanners, Total Stations or GPS receivers. The major manufacturers have forgotten that we are the ones buying their products and not the other way around. Going forward, I will try my best to find manufacturers that are listening to the survey community. This tends to be the more recent entries into the market. This mindset that they can dictate to us needs to go. Now, I understand that AutoDesk has a new policy that you can not upgrade their software to the latest version unless you are on subscription. In a few years, we may see more Champion Receivers, Fargo Scanners, Carlson Total Stations and Carlson with Intellicad software packages because of the direction the Majors are going.

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but have you tried running it on a win7 machine, but in XP compatibility mode? Find the executable, right-click and open its properties. Select the Compatibility tab.

Melita

I don't always drink beer but when I do I drink at least 6. If I were to own a scanner it would be Leica even though I use Trimble for GPS and Total Stations.

Leica has that market.

$0.02

I did download the XP compatability mode install last night, haven't had a chance to try that yet.

I am not POSITIVE that it won't work, I can get pointscape to run on the windows 7 machine without any error, but it never "finds" the scanner. Yes, I did turn off the firewall and all antivirus. When I went to the latest release notes, it only says XP.

I am a programmer and I would love to be able to write a program to interface with the S6, and be able to read the new GNSS data formats, but they treat that info as proprietary. I can read .dat files and I wrote a program many years ago to log data from a CORS and create rinex and .dat files, but now I cannot "decode" any of the new formats like .T01, .T02, etc.

One thing in their favor is that I found out at Dimensions that you can get an SDK (software Development Kit) for Trimble Access to develop customs Apps. I may try that.

>
> One thing in their favor is that I found out at Dimensions that you can get an SDK (software Development Kit) for Trimble Access to develop customs Apps. I may try that.

Let me know how you get on with this, I have tried this twice and given up each time.
My abilities in C++ are too limited and they don't really give you much to work with as far as I can tell. If you had the source code for their system it would be a lot easier but obviously they are not going to release that!

I think you should be able to keep your scanner software (and hardware) going with an XP laptop or the emulator. Seems a shame to upgrade if you are happy with it.

I just decided to go to SPAR for a day and just look around the exhibits to see all of the offerings and talk to the various manufacturers. So I bought an exhibit ticket ($75) and a plane ticket down and back for April 1.

SPAR International

We anticipate a lot more scanning this year, and the GX is just to slow and ancient (relatively) technology. I really like the idea of the TX8, but I am not sure what is going on with their production. Hopefully I can make an informed decision after going to SPAR.

Please post your decision and rationale after you make it.

I was just talking to my employee who actually does all of the scanning and processing. He says we could still use realworks (and not lose all that training and experience) with other scanner data.

I am going into it with an open mind as far as hardware is concerned. My fear is that I will spend $75-$80K and then in a few years they will come out with a new scanner and stop supporting this one (TX8). No matter what they say, that is basically what they did.

I have used the GX quite a bit in the past, and it's my understanding that Trimble's lack of support for the unit is because a manufacturer of a very specific part was wiped out in the 2011 Japanese tsunami. This is why they cant offer maintenance warranties or repairs.

That being said, we now use a Faro Focus3D x-330. We also register and process the data with realworks. If you look at the Trimble TX5 and the Focus3D you will notice they look exactly the same... that's because they are (besides the onboard software). Trimble bought the rights to this design in a o-sh*t moment after the tsunami. The bonus to that is Faro's .fls format is easily supported in realworks. You still need to convert to .tzf scans but that takes about 2 minutes per scan.

Leica was mentioned above, and the c-5 and c-10 are awesome machines, but you will end up buying Cyclone and relearning software.

> I have used Trimble since 1986. I have gone through quite a few GPS receivers, and also have an S6 and a Dini12. All great stuff. I don't mind paying extra for quality. But some of their policies really suck. Like their proprietary data formats for GPS (.T01, .T02, etc)

Use this: http://www.trimble.com/support_trl.aspx?Nav=Collection-40773&pt=Trimble%20RINEX

It supports T01 and T02 files.

> I bought a GX scanner in 2006. It still works, but is slow compared to the newer models. So, I want to get a new TX8. But I am hesitant due to what they have done with the GX.

Get a TX5 (aka FARO Focus3D X 330). It's phase based, but half the cost of a TX8, and 100000000000 times faster than your GX. More setups, but they are short. Keep everything within 200' and you should be fine.

> For those who don't know, the GX requires an external computer (or TSC2, with limited funtionality). Pointscape runs on a laptop and controls the unit as well as collects the data. However, it only runs (as far as I can tell) in Windows XP. Now the laptop we were using for the scanner is dying, and I can't just buy a new laptop because they all come with Windows 7 or 8 now. So that sucks. Stupid policy of not making pointscape compatible with newer OS's. And, the recent versions of Realworks no longer have the ability to import pointscape files. You have to export an ascii file from pointscape and then import that.

Install Windows XP on a cheap laptop. It's not that hard. Lot's of nerds can do this.

> I don't believe it would have been a lot of work to continue support for the GX and pointscape. Considering the price of the GX scanner and software (100K+), I think it is a disservice to early adopters of TLS.

It's not a matter of work, it's a matter of money. The money needed to support the GX and CX goes into R&D and supporting the new scanners.

> As I said, I want to buy a new scanner, but this all makes me hesitant to go with trimble. And, they aren't delivering any right now anyways, they apparently have prodcution problems.

I'd look into a high-end phase based (TX5, Z&F, FARO) scanner if I was in your position. Extremely portable, FAST, 60-70% of the cost, and a little less range than the new time-of-flight systems. They have cameras built in, and are better at close range. A little more fuzz, but that can be cleaned.

I would go with the Faro X330, it's lightweight, can be set up on a carbon fiber tripod, very fast, doesn't have to be shutdown between setups, etc etc. it will rock your world compared to the battleship sized hunk of metal you're using now.

I'm a Leica C10/Cyclone user now. It's a wonderful machine but a bit slower. Still way better than SS2 generation scanners.