Does anybody have any experience with these? I am considering a base/rover pair with a Carlson data collector. When I need to switch to conventional I want to be able to simply unplug the data collector and plug it into my Topcon 8203 and continue working without any hassle.
My concern is that I would be mixing three brands and vendors and they might not play well together, or if there is a problem it might be difficult to get fixed. I've used the 8203 with Carlson before so I'm not too worried about that. Adding the GPS is a new experience though.
It seems the CHC X900 is a good value, provided it works okay.
I too am considering the purchase of an x900+ network rover.
My question is Will the x900+ process static sessions easily like the x90 OPUS, for those times when I might have issues with the RTK network?
Contact mark Silver. He has been most helpful when I had questions about my OPUSX90 receiver.
That's supposed to be the point of Carlson. They seem to want to support every brand and model of GPS and Total Stations so you can mix and match.
My experience with a Carlson Demo was not positive. It seemed very buggy and it felt like not a lot of thought was put into the Carlson as far as making things easy and minimizing the number of buttons and taps it takes to get simple things done. It's sort of like Carlson seems to spend a lot of time and resources trying to build something that works OK with many different units, but the cost is that they have a product that doesn't work flawlessly with any units.
My advice is get the Carlson Demo and try it on your Robot, and get a CHC demo on Carlson and see how you like that. I actually demo'ed a CHC network rover on Carlson and I thought it worked fine, but Carlson crashed several times while testing it on my Geo600.
On Carlson Demo: Exactly. Put the demo (V3.03) on a data collector and try it out with your gun. You will probably need a DC with a physical serial port.
I have found that the Bluetooth to Serial adapters are so much trouble to setup that I try not to recommend them. If I have everything on the table, I can always get them to work, but man it is not a simple process. So if your gun does not have Bluetooth, then stick with the cable.
On SurvCE Complexity: I believe that Carlson is saddled with a lot of historical baggage. Things are the way they are because that is the way they have always been. Since I have used Carlson SurvCE (and it's cousin FAST Survey) for 10+ years I personally don't want anything to change, ever. I am too old to learn any new tricks.
About five years ago the '0. Point In Direction' button disappeared. It took me three months of pissing and moaning before I finally called up support to complain. They had moved it and renamed it to '9. Manual Traverse'; just 1/2" higher.
Every time Carlson changes anything in SurvCE, they loose me. So my vote is to never change any existing feature. Only add new stuff. I guess the complexity may be my fault.
If you get used to SurvCE, you will like it. If you like something else already, you should use it. But if you use a product that won't allow you to mix and match (not always bad) you need to be prepared to pay extra for your tools. Hopefully your tools pay for themselves at least once every six months, so if they cost a little more it won't be that big of a deal.
X900+ and Raw Data: The X90-OPUS download tool will actually work with the X900+ and X91+. The main boards in the X90-OPUS, and the X91+ and X900+ are exactly the same (albeit different firmware). There is an unreleased version of X90-Download that supports these additional CHC receivers and their L1 offsets (required for spoofing.)
Off subject, my pile of Spectra Precision SP-80's was finally delivered today. (For some reason I had expected them 10 days earlier.) After bagels and coffee in the morning I am going to run them through my paces. Come on over in the morning if you want to play with them. Hopefully a full report will be ready soon.
M
Off topic : SP80
I was actually thinking real hard about scrounging up the cash to buy a ProMark800 when I saw the newer version, the SP80, came out last month. There are some pretty good deals on the ProMark800 right now, so I guess they are trying to clear out the inventory for the SP80s. I would like to hear your opinion on the PM800 or SP80 as a network rover (GPS & Glonass) if you're willing to share.
Off topic : SP80
I received my demo SP80 last week. I had a chance to run it for a few hours this week. Overall, I was impressed with the unit. As for selling features:
1. All Constellations, not just GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO.
2. Ashtech's Z-Blade Technology
3. Integrated 2-watt radios.
4. Brighter screen.
5. Dual, hot-swappable batteries.
6. Lightweight
7. Hard and Soft Cases
8. Works with both Spectra and Carlson (Fast Survey)
9. Theft Protection (texts you when batteries are low or position of base has changed).
Overall I was able to check into several points well using VRS. Against a tree line that I test on normally it maintained fairly low residuals while staying fixed. When I forced the unit into a float solution it came back (fixed) a little faster than I am used to seeing on the Epoch 50's or Promark 800's.
I have not tested the radio range or the static ability. I hope to next week. Overall though, I'd say Spectra got it right.
