While i am an engineer by training, I am not a licensed surveyor nor do I pretend to be one.
I have been reading on here for the last couple of months.
In my second career I have been doing more and more forestry work and have been using an older transit for establishing and then tracking individual forest stands. It was recommended that I might want to consider investing in a total station to speed up the process and make my life a bit easier. I do not need a high end system but don't want to buy problem junk either.
I think that a 5" gun is all I really need for my purposes.
I have, I think, narrowed it down to the Topcon GTS 255, the Nikon DTM-322+, Sokkia SET65W, Northwest Instruments NTS02S, and the Sokkia Cygnus KS 102P.
The NTS02S has a 3 year warranty and a laser plummet but have never really heard of the company that much. Are they reliable and do folks have problems with them?
The Sokkia Cygnus KS 102P while less money only has a 1 year warranty and seems really low end.
The Nikon 5" only has one pad/display and you have to go up to the 2" to get dual. Batteries are more common however.
But then I look at the TopCon GTS 255 and the Sokkia SET65W and say how can you go wrong.
Any comments that you can throw at me?
most of those you mentioned are established brands except for the Northwest. never heard of it until today.
i like both the topcon/sokkia brands. one of my topcon unit is now reaching the 10 year mark and still running. had to change batteries over the years but rarely do they fail on the job.
being based in southeast asia, i get to see a lot of those chinese brew brands.
i would shy away from those because of battery & on board memory problems.
silvic, post: 396278, member: 12213 wrote: While i am an engineer by training, I am not a licensed surveyor nor do I pretend to be one.
I have been reading on here for the last couple of months.In my second career I have been doing more and more forestry work and have been using an older transit for establishing and then tracking individual forest stands. It was recommended that I might want to consider investing in a total station to speed up the process and make my life a bit easier. I do not need a high end system but don't want to buy problem junk either.
I think that a 5" gun is all I really need for my purposes.
I have, I think, narrowed it down to the Topcon GTS 255, the Nikon DTM-322+, Sokkia SET65W, Northwest Instruments NTS02S, and the Sokkia Cygnus KS 102P.
The NTS02S has a 3 year warranty and a laser plummet but have never really heard of the company that much. Are they reliable and do folks have problems with them?
The Sokkia Cygnus KS 102P while less money only has a 1 year warranty and seems really low end.
The Nikon 5" only has one pad/display and you have to go up to the 2" to get dual. Batteries are more common however.
But then I look at the TopCon GTS 255 and the Sokkia SET65W and say how can you go wrong.Any comments that you can throw at me?
I have used a Nikon DTM-322 quite a bit with good results, very reliable, never any issues as far as malfunctions. I just don't like the keyboard on the face of the instrument. Once you get used to a full qwerty keyboard of a handheld data collector, the "flip phone texting" style of input can become annoying when shooting lots of different features. But that is a personal preference and may not be an issue for your application.
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I was talking to a supplier today and they recommended evaluating/looking at the Topcon ES-55 unit as well. It is reflectorless and they spoke highly of it.
I strongly recommend that you get the brand which the dealer is near you and also is responsive to help you. It is a world of difference when you are stuck halfway and you can just ring him for help because of not being sure of some setting.
The Nikon is a good choice for work in the woods, learn the on-board soft to save money on third party soft/data collectors.
What exactly are you measuring?
Will you be using a data collector? Some of the lower end Topcons used to have a data port that actually rotated with the instrument, meaning you had to take the data collector with you when you turned it. I don't think that's an issue with any of the instruments you mentioned, but it would definitely be something to stay away from. Someone else on here can probably tell you what instruments did this, and if any new ones do it.
Samuel Glidden, post: 396450, member: 12201 wrote: What exactly are you measuring?
As I posted initially: "tracking individual forest stands."
What that entails is knowing the location and the boundaries of those stands., Frequently knowing the location of certain seed trees and "leave trees" that have been left, post logging activity . Woodland Asset Surveys and the documentation to support. Fire road and skid road tracking, etc. Basically knowing, tracking, and the documentation to support the management and the planning that is involved in today's forestry operations.
Samuel Glidden, post: 396450, member: 12201 wrote: What exactly are you measuring?
As I posted initially: "tracking individual forest stands."
What that entails as well as many other activities is knowing the location and the boundaries of those stands., Frequently knowing the location of certain seed trees and "leave trees" that have been left, post logging activity . Woodland Asset Surveys and the documentation to support. Fire road and skid road tracking, etc. Basically knowing, tracking, and the documentation to support the management and the planning that is involved in today's forestry operations.
C Billingsley, post: 396452, member: 1965 wrote: Will you be using a data collector? Some of the lower end Topcons used to have a data port that actually rotated with the instrument, meaning you had to take the data collector with you when you turned it. I don't think that's an issue with any of the instruments you mentioned, but it would definitely be something to stay away from. Someone else on here can probably tell you what instruments did this, and if any new ones do it.
No I will not, at least at this point that is not seen as necessary.
Still very interesting issue.
Thanks.
silvic, post: 396278, member: 12213 wrote: While i am an engineer by training, I am not a licensed surveyor nor do I pretend to be one.
I have been reading on here for the last couple of months.In my second career I have been doing more and more forestry work and have been using an older transit for establishing and then tracking individual forest stands. It was recommended that I might want to consider investing in a total station to speed up the process and make my life a bit easier. I do not need a high end system but don't want to buy problem junk either.
I think that a 5" gun is all I really need for my purposes.
I have, I think, narrowed it down to the Topcon GTS 255, the Nikon DTM-322+, Sokkia SET65W, Northwest Instruments NTS02S, and the Sokkia Cygnus KS 102P.
The NTS02S has a 3 year warranty and a laser plummet but have never really heard of the company that much. Are they reliable and do folks have problems with them?
The Sokkia Cygnus KS 102P while less money only has a 1 year warranty and seems really low end.
The Nikon 5" only has one pad/display and you have to go up to the 2" to get dual. Batteries are more common however.
But then I look at the TopCon GTS 255 and the Sokkia SET65W and say how can you go wrong.Any comments that you can throw at me?
The ES50 Series from Topcon is the same as the CX50 Series at Sokkia. The SET60 Series is the same as the Topcon GTS 250 Series. The major differences are the ES/CX is a phase based EDM with a battery that we use across a broad spectrum of instruments and the GTS/SET has a pulse based EDM. The GTS/SET with a W is bluetooth while CX/ES has wireless available at the 100 level but not the 50. - if you have any other questions leave a note here or PM me. I would second the notion of buying local- since support and service is key when buying an instrument.