I've been combing the internet for weeks now in the search of a nicely maintained used instrument. This will be my first instrument, and while a used 1200 series would probably be ideal for service/parts availability, budget crunching shows it out of reach at the moment.
Based on proximity of available service and brand experience, I am definitely going to pull the trigger on a used Leica. I have done a fair bit of brochure reading and feel I have a good grasp on the different model designations TCxxx, auto, ultra, plus, ect...
It seems like the 700/800/1100 are the three series of total stations that constantly pop up in my price range of $3000-$3500, and, reflectorless is an absolute must. I will be using a Carlson Explorer data collector.
Can anyone offer advice or advantages of choosing one series over the other? I'll just be using it for a handful of jobs each year to cover my professional fees, of which my current surveying job does not cover at the moment.
Thanks all.
Kevin
I just bought a 2003 TPS703 Auto and absolutely love it with SurvCE (so far).
It's half way to being a robot in that it has motors, ATR (works brilliantly) and will turn to a known point - it won't track and you can't joystick it (actually you can if you use the 1100 robotic driver in SurvCE - it just wont let you do anything else....obviously Carlson could enable that function and I'd like to beg them to do it, making it a sneaky robot on the cheap)
I can't speak of the 800 or 1100, but I am well chuffed with mine.
Oh yeah - it has extended range reflectorless and that is brilliant and very fast too.
Great info, thank you for your thoughts!
Anyone know the difference between the 700 and 800 series?
Good to know. I think I'm leaning towards a 700 or 800 the more and more I look at things.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Colin, when you are manually using your 703, do you hear a motor noise as you turn the knobs, or, is it completely silent?
I just picked up a 705a (made in 2004) and was wondering if this is something others hear as well with this series of auto instrument.