Which Trimble Data Collector what type of work and why is it your choice.

So I just bought the TDC600. I came from the tsc3. The 7 is of no interest to me. I only do cadastral/boundary work so small light and easy. I really like my TDC, far cheaper, very easy to use. Battery lasts almost 2 days. The OS is android so it is much more stable than the old Microsoft mobile we had we tsc2s and 3s. I only do GNSS so I can't speak on the external radio. If you do a lot of?ÿ big topos and construction staking, the 7 will be a great choice.?ÿ

@jon-collins Thank you. ?ÿWe do some construction staking but currently I am about the only one who prepares surfaces and dxf where larger map is useful. The others just want points to stake. ?ÿBut I am mostly doing the boundary and establishing control for sites . I will most definitely have to get one in my hands to see if i can read the screen. Today I humped in a mile dragging that darn TSC7 briar catcher through hills and hollers with r12 doing some rough clearing limits stakes.?ÿ

The TSC7 (aka rubber-coated sledgehammer) is brilliant - huge computing power and a good screen. But the ergonomics aren't great - heavy and a bit too big for my small hands. And the battery life is not great. But all that computing power also allows it to do some things the other collectors cant.?ÿ

The TSC5 is light and easy - and the android touch interface is slick and the battery life is good. But it is not hugely powerful, some things like sorting and displaying big point lists can be painfully slow. While lighter than the 7, the form factor is not much different.

The TDC600 is slower again, and does not have the keyboard. But they are cheap and cheerful. The radio datalink to the total stations works well. Plus it saves you carrying a phone - even if it is just a bit too big to fit in a pocket.

if all you are doing is cadastral, and can live without the keyboard, I think the TDC600 would be the way to go

I can see advantages and disadvantages to all three - and I really can't decide which I prefer. I think if I had bigger hands I'd probably go for the 7, but as they say 'your mileage may vary'

@jimcox nice information. Great details thank you. ?ÿ

I use and like the TSC7. Screen real estate is great. Access has been recently unstable for me, but I like that the map screen is central. Also great for pdfs. I used and liked the TSC3 for many years and have one as a backup. I wish the TSC7 rested well on the ground while attached to the rod - ?ÿmust not have been tested by a solo person who does construction cause after doing it one day itƒ??s a noticeable flaw.?ÿ

It's hard to go wrong with Access in any form, but I'm a fan of the 7 due to screen size and Windows OS.

If you hold them up next to each other, the size difference is not much - not enough for me to give up that extra 2 inches of screen - but the lighter TSC5 weight is noticeable.

The 5 is finally starting to get the bugs worked out, so if you want lighter and better battery life, it's probably OK. Personally I don't like the Android OS compared to Windows, but to each their own. I like the "mini laptop" feel of Windows and the interoperability with the office.

The power users at our firm tend to lean toward the 7, but not by much.

Used a TSC7 for about a year and I really didn't like it.?ÿ Way too heavy and just a colossal pain in the ass to drag through brush and get near fences with.?ÿ I really didn't like how I couldn't even leave the rod with a bipod on a point for 2-3 minute shot without the rod tipping over due to the weight.?ÿ That alone would make me not use it.

The argument for these things used to be "Well, you need one to run the scanning robots" but I talked with the local dealer last week and they said Trimble revamped the file format to compress the data and now the TSC 5s will run the scanning robots, so yeah... I'd avoid the TSC7 like the plague.

TSC7 here, and we prefer Win10 above Android/TSC5.

Posted by: @olemanriver

The others just want points to stake.

Hard to believe, we even connect our utilty markerstones with a line so we can stake to the startpoint of the line instead of staking solitaire points. Walking from one point to the other along the line makes it far easier for us to orientate on site.

@jimcox?ÿ

Yeah if I was doing small jobs especially going through the bush with GPS, I would want the tdc600. The tsc5 was a decent design other than the lack of processing power as you and I discussed before.?ÿ

The tsc7 has decent power and a nice screen, but overall ergonomics suck for my work.?ÿ

Took a look at the TSC7, didn't like it at all, nor did the crews. They would rather use the TSC3. I got a TDC600 for 1/2 the cost of the others and I really like it. Battery is no longer an issue. Not sure why it's considered slow, it's not for what I do which is boundary. Paired with an R10 or R12 it's so light and quick that I don't want anything else.?ÿ

As Jim Cox related the drawback is it's terrible in heavy rain, light rain it's ok, but when it dumps on you, you may as well pack it in.?ÿ

The TSC7 is quite a load and does eat batteries. If you are doing a lot of construction and/or are likely to take advantage of the various lesser used functions of the program it may be worth having. If you just collect points or stake out points that have been computed in the office you will wish for the smaller unit.?ÿ ?ÿ

I haven't used a Trimble tablet, but I have used Topcon's FC-5000. I find it frustrating to type things in on a touch screen.?ÿ?ÿ

I let the TSC7 sit for a long time.?ÿ Then I remembered I used a steel prism pole with a data collector and a Satel radio hanging on the side 15 years ago.?ÿ All of a sudden the TSC7 seemed lighter.?ÿ The screen size and ability to use it in bright light has it's advantage over a TSC3.

i also carried a stake bag and hub bag with stakes staged every 500 feet. Didn't return to the truck until I was done.?ÿ Ah, to be 55 again.

@norman-oklahoma I used the Topcon 5000 a couple days. It had the topcon software for robot i loved how the text size was larger while I was staking out some points. I could read in out left right without using my glasses and no glare so it didnƒ??t matter which way sun hit it it was easily readable. It also had Trimble Access on it for R12 and R12i. ?ÿAnd i had to put the glasses back on. Lol. Access is great But they cram so many options the text size and such gets smaller. ?ÿ

We are a Survey Pro shop Trimble robots and Spectra SP 85's. We are currently using Ranger 3's with Survey Pro. We are looking into the Ranger 5 has anyone used the Origin Max software yet?

@smarbe2 I have not. Last time I ran survey pro was on a tsce. And a reckon. Also still have my TDS survey pro card for my hp48gx. Lol. I remember Trimble bought them out are they doing away with survey pro now. ?ÿOr morphing it into something else.?ÿ

Really like the Juniper Allegro series running Carlson SurvCE. I know that's not part of the conversation, they are every bit as intuitive as Trimble's Access.?ÿ

Posted by: @smarbe2

We are a Survey Pro shop Trimble robots and Spectra SP 85's. We are currently using Ranger 3's with Survey Pro. We are looking into the Ranger 5 has anyone used the Origin Max software yet?

@smarbe2 Origin is Access configured to only connect to SP instruments and with a few features disabled and a different splash screen

@jimcox If purchased from a Trimble dealer, you can purchase the Trimble drivers for Origin, but once you purchase the drivers and Origin Max, you are over the cost of Trimble Access which runs all of the equipment out of the box.

I did get to hold a TSC5 yesterday side by side with a TSC7. ?ÿI could see the TSC5 much better than the TSC3. I have loved the TSC3 its my eyeballs donƒ??t work with it anymore and I canƒ??t justify the cost to try and get it in working shape as the touchscreen has to be recalibrated several times a day and I have to re boot it to get the tough screen to even work. The number 7 key is kicking my arse as it either has to be pressed and held to work or all of a sudden it works and i have several 77777777 that are not needed lol. I will be checking out the TDC6000 one next week. The company is contemplating having two dcƒ??s so on some jobs and he robot could be ran and gps. So I figured maybe the TSC5 and TRC6000. Might be a good combo. Use the phone TDC600 with gps. And TSC5 with robot. ?ÿ Or TSC7 with robot. I still want to check out those no keyboard tablets things as well. That way if I ever get a sx10/12 i will have the big screen.?ÿ