Seeking a used TS for use with building and forestry at our farm in Central VA. ?ÿSomehow I thought I had posted this but since I cannot find it now, maybe I failed to hit "post".... ?ÿPlease advise if you have something which works, for which parts are available and that can do EDM without a prism to a reasonable distance (building corners, etc). ?ÿThanks for any suggestions. ?ÿI'm not a prof surveyor but I did take the class at VTech back in 1970, when our instruments were George Washington vintage.
I'm curious as to why you want/need a robotic total station to take reflector less shots.?ÿ
I think that you could pick up a Trimble 5603 for something in the $3000 range, but it would be 20+ years old and needs quite a bit a wires and other paraphernalia to work.?ÿ?ÿ
Practically every outfit that has been in business for awhile has some old instrument gathering dust in a closet somewhere. You might just phone around your local area and see what you can scare up.?ÿ
For reflectorless I would recommend the Leica 1200 series (the one I have is a 1203+). I just got upgraded to a new Trimble s5 and I knew refoectorless was going to be a weak point on the Trimble but it's honestly night and day. Meaning you can see the Trimble laser at night and you can see the Leica laser in the daytime.?ÿ
Not sure what software to recommend with it. Fieldgenius is what I run on the Leica. It's probably one of the financially cheapest options but it does have a lot of bugs and crashes a lot. If you're not doing a ton of setups a day and laying out a hundred points a day it should be pretty decent. It's also pretty user friendly compared to something like Trimble access (which on the tsc5 will actually run the Leica 1203+).?ÿ
These robots are over 12 years old and cost something like $12,000 used last I checked on ebay. I've used it for a couple years now, the Trimble s5 this past month or two and previously a Sokkia ix-503, topcon gt-503 (when the Sokkia was broken) and in my earlier days a Sokkia SRX. Definitely the Leica is my favorite of all of them. It shoots the fastest, holds calibration forever it seems, tightest distance measurements and angles between faces and the reflectorless is the best of all of them. It can also predict for up to 5 seconds meaning you can walk past a shipping container or large vehicle etc and often it regains lock when you become visible on the other side.?ÿ
I have tried checking with a few folks and all seem very slow about following through after "yeah we've got some stuff...". ?ÿDepreciation recapture blues, maybe.
There is a lot of stuff on Ebay and various store sites. ?ÿThe hard part is figuring out how old and serviceable and what features they--many sellers simply attached the PDF from the mfr, which helps but what are the options, for example. ?ÿAnd with my slim knowledge of the TS in general, sorting through the many models and variances over time for each brand is daunting.
Sometimes I feel like Ogden Nash's dragon, Custard, and cry out for a "nice safe..." glass transit. ?ÿBut I have such a memory of how annoying those things are and I really want the most capable "helper" I can afford.
?ÿDepreciation recapture blues, maybe.
It can be more of a PIA to deal with the accounting involved than the sale price is worth.?ÿ
My next suggestion is to contact local dealers - the salesmen, not the sales managers - of survey equipment and tell them your tale. Maybe they can get you a trade-in as part of their next sale. The dealers and factories rarely do official trade ins, but the individual salesmen are often the Ebay-ers selling used equipment they have come up with.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
@350rocketmike?ÿ
Thanks for the full notes! ?ÿHelps a lot. ?ÿI have been admiring the Leica 1205s on here and other places, and since I already have an R680 level that seems well done, Leica might be my best choice. ?ÿI will have a hard time convincing my wife to go along with the upper 4 figure prices.
Seems like Trimble gets a lot of knocks and given what they did to Sketchup, maybe not my fav. ?ÿBut definitely less money.
One guy from last year selling his almost new Spectra/Trimble setup got me going with his price reductions, but I cannot get him to respond as to whether it is sold.
What do you think about Nikon? ?ÿConfusing model variety (all the "racehorse weird" names and numerous letters) but like Leica, they have a good optics rep from their other line; my SLR is a Nikon, soon I hope, to be upped to a mirror less model. ?ÿI have also picked up on what sounds like a more user friendly battery configuration, and a few other positive aspects. But I have mainly noted manual Nikons for sale used.
The one thing that seems to be fairly consistent across brands' model designation is the angle accuracy, 1 second to 5 seconds (or more, on a construction TS). ?ÿLMAO seeing one vendor stating his machine was accurate to > 5 inches <. ?ÿNot making that up, and it was by a major seller of used equipment!
Is there a good reference on line somewhere for a sort of more detailed primer on the progression over the years on TS products so I can sort out the features that have been added and what they are, what I should hold out for?
Thanks for taking the time,
Jim
Right, good idea. ?ÿMy local guy who just retired bought from Hayes, which does offer some used stuff. ?ÿBut they are distant so I can't work on that angle. ?ÿI think I will keep calling around and try to scare up a few others.
This was still current as of a few days ago.?ÿ You don't need 3 data collectors (or really a data collector at all, you could use the on board), but having a data collector with SurvCE would be very useful for any type of surveying. All your calcs can happen there.
It didnt appear to be moving at 8500, and you don't need all the stuff, so it might get to your price range at some point.
Believe this is local to WA as well.
?ÿ
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/marketplace-for-sale/leica-tcp-1205-robotic-setup/#post-584737
?ÿ
Edit...and when they work 1200 series are great...but getting parts is harder and harder.
Oh, and welcome to the site!
There are a few amateur surveyors here. Use the search function, if there is a survey topic we probably talked it to death. Also, if you ask a question, keep a thick skin, some will assume you are professional that doesn't know something they should or are trying to survey without a license.?ÿ
For instance I do not believe that @bill93 is a PLS, but he adds to almost every discussion and is a huge part of this forum.?ÿ
Anyway, welcome!
@dmyhill?ÿ
Right.?ÿ As are a few others, like Math Teacher.
I have lots of opinions on lots of subjects, but specialize in math and bench marks.
I've only used one Nikon, no idea on model number but an entry level looking conventional they bought for a newer employee to be able to use Trimble (that's all he knew) as we didn't own any Trimble TS's yet. All I really know about it is it was extremely awkward to use manually (but so is the Trimble s series) and if you got more than a few feet away from it with the tsc3 then you were taking a break for a while as it would not reconnect.
The Leica I've been using is a TCRP1203+ so other than being 3" instead of 1" and an R400 instead of R1000 (maximum reflectorless range) it was close to top of the line when new. The reflectorless still shoots way farther than anything I've used and gives more consistent results.?ÿ
Also it looks like my new s5 either needs field adjustments done already or it just isn't as accurate as the Leica (both 3" instruments). The Leica always gets about 2-3" or less between faces on a long shot (say over 100m) and the s5 keeps getting like 13" which seems a lot over that distance. First I thought it was the mt1000 multi track prism as they aren't capable of the same accuracy, so I tried it with the Leica prism and got the same results.?ÿ
I calibrated the Leica every 6 months or so and it always showed negligible changes. The s5 is about a month old now.?ÿ
they are distant so I can't work on that angle
Sure, you can. ?ÿI work in Indiana. ?ÿMy next robot purchase will be from Utah.
they are distant so I can't work on that angle
Sure, you can. ?ÿI work in Indiana. ?ÿMy next robot purchase will be from Utah.
I??m in North Carolina and bought a used Leica Robot from a guy in Alaska about a year ago.?ÿ
I'm not afraid of buying on line but with my limited knowledge, I just need help differentiating between the brand & models within each brand. ?ÿBuying something like this I'd rather do face to face but that may not be possible. ?ÿKeeping an open mind.
I did ask a question on another part of this forum, about Asian dealers, getting a mainly thumbs down from the members here. ?ÿPrices on many Asian sites seem good and the claims rosy, though. ?ÿBut I noted a similarity among the sites' look and feel, and their terms--a uniform insistence on SWIFT type bank transfers instead of credit cards was a big negative factor. ?ÿI've had to turn to AMEX a couple of times over the years to get something "attended to" in the absence of fair vendor action.
Keeping an open mind.
Excellent.
Great, Bill. ?ÿI dated a math teacher years ago. ?ÿThere were a number of problems integral to our relationship, that kept us from deriving infinite satisfaction....
Great, Bill. ?ÿI dated a math teacher years ago. ?ÿThere were a number of problems integral to our relationship, that kept us from deriving infinite satisfaction....
Was she irrational??ÿ Something else you couldn't transcend??ÿ Imaginary ideas?
There were a number of problems integral to our relationship, that kept us from deriving infinite satisfaction....
It's plane to see you had manifold problems in a complex situation that you couldn't get to the root of and solve, and don't want to iterate that experience where you feel you are behind the curve, but that's normal.