Kern DKM2AE with RED2
ScanLook Snoopy
I just scanned 2.8 miles of road in different locations in less than an hour.
My favorite was a Wild T1000/DI1000 I used when I was working in Atlanta. I don't know why, but I just liked the instrument. I also like my little Topcon CTS-3 10 second instrument. It's light, easy to use, and is a great little underbrush instrument. If you can find a crack in the brush, it will shoot the prism. I don't get to use it much now that I'm solo with a robot.
Dale Yawn
Savannah, Ga.
1) everyday work : Wild T1-A
2) traverse : Wild T2
3) 1st order control : Wild T3
Drain spade.
metal detector..beats the heck out of a dip needle or just digging around in the dark and hoping to find something w/ a shovel
the most important is the shovel
Cotton spindle. Useful in more ways than just about anything else. Always have one in my back pocket.
> Cotton spindle.....Always have one in my back pocket.
Have you ever had the pleasure of leaving one in your britches pocket and have it make it all the way to the dryer?
There would be less noise if you put an entire silverware drawer in there...:pinch:
For the "favorite instrument" record:
All of them. Each and every instrument has its own good and bad points and some are a little less cumbersome than others. But I've never used an instrument for which I didn't have a good deal of admiration and respect.
My LEAST favorites are autolevels that were apparently designed to be used indoors. Some of them are just flat unreadable unless the outside air is dead calm.
Our 0.5" Leica TCRP1205+ 😉
> “What is your all time favorite surveying instrument” ?
Well, in my opinion, there are different categories.
In the optical theodolite category, the Zeiss Th2 is the easy winner.
In the category of early-generation electronic total stations, the Zeiss Elta46R was a marvel.
In the category of everyday workhorse total stations made twenty years ago, the Zeiss Elta50 wins for portability and rational design.
As far as a working instrument goes, I like the S6 operated by Access on a TSC2 or TCU best. It's the most productive setup I have used.
The current project is traversing along several miles along dirt forest road, getting the centerline of the road about every 40' and in some segments the ridge top along the road is the boundary so we are locating that too. I'm doing all the rounds, monument ties and topo by myself and my partner, Dan, is setting up control, setting targets. I only needed his help once today because I couldn't see the instrument so he had to get me into a hole for one ridge shot to the target at 8.5'. I've gotten pretty good at getting it to lock through a tiny hole in the brush by having the target at eye level and using the guide lights and the joystick. We don't have an active prism.
I put it on track then I can get a shot in less than a second, it's very fast.
The old Wild instruments are masterpieces of industrial art but I wouldn't want to use one every day now.
I have a 4" K+E Foresters compass that is great for running fast and surprisingly accurate line. I've even ran line with a pocket mirror compass, 20' of falling by myself running from tree to tree or hanging pink flagging on limbs just to get roughly close for traversing close to line.
Wild T-16.
I'm selling a heap of stuff, now that I'm out of the game (to some degree), but I'm hanging onto my 1203 TCRP. 😀
I haven't noticed that anyone mentioned the Topcon 3B. It was (is) a great, durable instrument that was ahead of its time and became the standard that others aspired to for quite a few years when it came to the everyday surveyor. It was over-built and simply would not wear out if taken proper care of.
Dave, I used one for several years and It produced nothing but well-closed traverses and precise, repeatable setouts.
How about a favorite tool I always wanted?
A Brunton clinometer/compass(After Brunton).
Anyway, I saw my first one in a K & E store ... when there "really", were K & E "stores".
Real stores ... just like an S. S. Kresgy's(sp), except no soda fountain ... and a lot more fun to browse in.
Anyway ... I'm getting an itch to get one of these ... yep, I think this just might make it to my bucket-list...
I have a lot of favorites from the day, but I have to say my Topcon Hiper I bought in 2004 is still just working hard as ever so I don't have to.
Oh, and throw my Leica 1105 robot right up there.
Randy
I like my Topcon GTS-3B.
I swear it's built like a tank and just plain keeps on working. It's the first Total Station I used with a data collector. Only complaint is the edm is slow in fine mode. But, I can pull it off the shelf today and go to work.
I'm with you. First really dependable accurate instrument I owned. Bulletproof.
Charging up my GTS-3B now. It's 26 years old but for the time being, still working. Use is rather than robot for cross country woods traversing.