Our company is getting ready to make an equipment upgrade from TSC2 data collectors and I am interested in opinions from anyone using the Trimble TSC3, Rugged Tablet PC or both for daily field work. The tablet seems like a lot more bang for the buck, but it is heavy and I have no information on the durability, battery life, screen function, etc.
We are also considering purchasing an new S6 robotic total station and getting the "Vision" add on. If you have experience with this as well please elaborate on your experiences. It seems like it could be handy, but we are not sold on whether or not it is just a novelty or a must-have feature.
Thanks in advance.
I hate my TSC3. The operating system is horrible, the screen is too small. I'd go with the full tablet, with full windows and just grow some bigger muscles.
I miss my TSC3. Tablets seem high tech and wonderful but have very little benefits once you get out of the truck. I know they are supposed to be glare reduced, they are not. I use a rugged tablet now that we "upgraded" from the trimble tablet. In my opinion the functionality of the good old TSC is missed. I have not had to worry about durability issues as I have not had to lug these oversized screens through woods yet. I do know we had a memo come to us telling us we needed to be careful with our new tablets because we have had quite a few smashed while going through the woods. I believe that a laptop and a TSC3 is the best combination
I am yet to hear any glowing reviews about the tablets yet, I am sure the vision add on displayed on a TSC3 screen would be difficult to use or see in bright sunshine. An ipad with retina display at full power is unreadable in bright sunshine.
I wonder if any DC will come out with an e ink type screen like the kindle e books, they are really easy to read in bright sunshine.
Ordered a tablet with Access a few months ago. Bought the addon to work with SPS construction stuff, but it would never work. Even got a replacement and that one wouldn't work either. Found an almost new TSC3 and bought it instead. At least it works with everything. Easier to see than the TCU I was using.
I can't speak for the tablet.
The TSC3 is ok. The camera picture quality is disappointing, and the screens fail and need replace if they're used enough. But I wouldn't lose any sleep buying more of them.
I used Trimble Vision on one project a few years back where I rented an instrument that had it equipped. I don't see the utility in it to justify spending any extra money on it.
We have an S8 and a TSC3
Pro: They work very well for us - very user friendly - especially the setout and monitoring functions. The TSC3 is easily held in one hand and driven with the other. Integration with the R8 and R10 gps is easy
Con: The touchscreen is not great, can be hard to read in bright sunlight. The dark grey colour means it can be lost (DAMHIK) - would better in yellow. The camera is pretty much useless.
We dont have the Vision software - but I can't see it working well on such a small screen.
Just my $0.02
Thanks for the feedback everyone. It was extremely helpful. We have decided to go with the Trimble Vision and the TSC3 controller. I'm not exactly sure how much utility we will get out of the Vision, but Trimble is offering some additional trade in for Vision to help offset the cost so we will see in the long run whether it was worth the $$ ($2,000).
Make sure your camera resolution is turned up - there are several possible settings, and the default is only about 800Kp. The camera itself is 5Mp.
Trimble Vision is very useful if you have TBC - the photogrammetric point capture actually works quite well and can come in very handy at times. My only suggestion is that if you're going to capture panoramas at the highest quality setting connect to the gun with a cable - or go to lunch or something; depending on the number of images the transfer can take quite a while.
We have both tablets and TSC3s (and TSC2s as well) - I definitely prefer the TSC3 over the tablet for using with the robot. The radio add-on to the tablet makes it clunky and it's expensive. The tablets are glitchy - seem to need pretty regular reboots - but the screens are fabulous and the comment above about tearing them up must have been referring to the first generation tablet - there's a huge difference between the first and second generations. The second generation tablets have titanium frames and gorilla glass screens. Our biggest complaints from the field crews are about the battery life - inadequate - and the on-screen keyboard.
Right now I feel like there's no clear winner when using with GPS, but I'll stick with the TSC3 for robotics.
my $0.02