Well, I was able to get a good demonstration of the SX10, and I have to say it met or exceeded my expectations in every way. If you take the rime to run a scan from each setup it's pretty amazing what you can do with the data back in the office. Their are four options for scan density; the high density option is very slow and only makes sense for small areas where you need a lot of detail. The beauty of it is that you can run an integrated survey and go collect RTK points while the scan is running, so that doesn't have to be wasted time.
We took reflectorless shots at well over 900' with no problem, and the gun performs beautifully as a robot. The plummet camera is awesome; here's a picture of what it stores when you perform a station setup:
It's a little hard to make out here, but if you look closely you can see the purple crosshairs on the nail. The unit was of course a salesman's demo unit and his pressure units were in millibars but that's easy enough to change.
I know a lot of people are going to have a hard time with the absence of optics, but sighting with the cameras really isn't a problem at all, and I'm sure will be even less so when the next generation of data collector hardware finally arrives. We were using a Yuma II and it was fine; the problems I had were due mostly to the fact that I'm blind as a bat, even with bifocals.
S series users who, like me, love the Mutitrack prism will be disappointed that active tracking isn't supported, but it wasn't in the first generation S6 either, I would expect it to be implemented at some point.
I would recommend getting a demo on this thing if you're curious; if you have a competent sales rep who knows how to run it and takes the time to collect a good data set and show you all of the tools I think you'll be impressed.
Can't wait to get my hands on one of those!
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I'd agree with Lee. I went to a full day demo back in November and the abilities are impressive, once you get used to pointing on a screen and remember to review everything in the scan before moving to the next set-up. (We had a problem with trucks stopping on a road within the scan area and leaving blank spaces). It did a great job on a comms. tower about 1000 ft. away.
Whether it is viable depends on a regular flow of the right kinds of jobs - probably easier for large businesses than small ones. You are effectively paying to have several instruments on site - great when you just have to carry one hefty brute around but expensive if the job doesn't need the scanning side.- you can't split it up and send the bits on several different jobs! At the moment I couldn't justify the expenditure. but in time...
I agree Chis for an everyday workhorse my choice would probably be an S7. However, I don't look at the SX10 as a scanner per se... I look at more like the scanning capability enhances the survey data. I could definitely see where scanning every setup could prevent you a revisit to a site. At that point it starts paying for itself a little more quickly. And if you have Trimble GPS you can be productive while the scan is taking place.
But you're right, I wouldn't want to lug that beast on every job.