I LOVE MY INSTRUMENTS!
Started pulling Dreadnaught Band Chain in 87. We had Top mount EDM but sometimes it wasn't practical. We got a Nikon NTD 4 right at that time. I remember the "OLD MAN" paid 8 grand for it and I was amazed. It still works, turns me on every time I look at it. 6 sec. Gun, but you could interpolate! I got a Topcon GTS 3 for MY first Gun, got that Licence and man she was a buut, amazed me as she Shot through the brush! I got into Sokkia after that, a Set 4, awesome Gun, I think Topcon may have had a better EDM but the optics on the Sokkia were incredible. I don't know that they can say that today! I feed my family with a Sokkia Set 500, although I wonder sometimes if GPS wouldn't be taking the lead in that category. I started out with Promark 2 units. The Stop and Go was nice, but not anything like being rich enough to own the RTK, it would have been the Big Antennae stuff back then. Doesn't that seem ancient? I still have 7 of those Promark 2 units and like to use them for Recon (I think I'm getting better precision anyway with the antennae then with a regular handheld) and I still set them up on Quarter Corners and Sections Corner that may not be too critical and accept a float, hoping a little knowledge is better than none. Now I have gotten into Spectra Precision, I have the EPOCH 25, the 35 and two 50s. They tell me these are comparable to the Trimble 6 and 8. I guess the SP 90 is the Trimble 10. Would anyone like to Weigh in on what kind of significance to assign to the difference between the (talking in Trimble now) the Trimble 8 and the 10 unit. I would like to move up to the I0 but don't know if it would be cost effective. There is a lot of people out there that don't use Trimble and I would be glad for you to attempt to educate an old man on what exactly makes one better than the other. For fun right now I'm attempting to switch the mother boards from 2 Topcon GTS 300 units. One was working but the EDM was bad and the other one just won't turn on. I can always use the Tribrach! I have a Cousin over in the Ozarks that has Guns. Lots and Lots of guns that he takes out and admires and that's great to! But for me AS A PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYORI LOVE MY INSTRUMENTS!