Survey Instruments

[kwilson]

I have been with Trimble robotic total stations for many years. S5, S6 and S7. What equipment do you like?

Here are some problems
S5 has the green and red LCD's you can see when you are trying to find yourself. Great tool.
S7 they took this away and gave us a Mickey Mouse video where you need to find yourself in the TV set.
The GPS locate feature only works after 10 or so shots. So its useless for the first few control points.
The antenna keeps breaking. We need to have an extra one in the case just in case. Ridiculous design.
We work in the trees and hills quite a bit so need equipment that works in that environment.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Ken Wilson

[btaylor]

I prefer Leica, but I suspect what I use (TS 16) is at some point going to be quasi "old tech" since I would assume the data collector/interface will change. My collector is not the newer tablet type I think people are using (or it may be the only option in the next generation, but not sure). That being said I think Trimble and Leica seem similar in their ability to lock on and track effectively. I am dubious on Topcon's based on what I hear from others but again their latest tech may be fine.

But locking/tracking aside, the interface with the data collection is almost as important, so you can only go with having them demonstrate that. I can say I am satisfied with Leica's for the most part but as mentioned I wonder what the next generation of this will entail. Some aspects to the data collection/software with the Leica I find not user-friendly and easy to adapt like TDS was. I think the scale/rotate and other things are cumbersome and should be done easier. I suspect things like that will be different with a newer tablet-oriented interface.

In terms of antenna breaks I don't find I have issues with durability of Leica equipment.

[Jay Wright]

I can't speak about the tracklight feature going away, sounds like a horrible idea. Those red and green lights are awesome.
My antenna last for years but I don't take them off. I swivel the one on the gun under the handle and I have a cutout on the Pelican box for my TSC7.
My first S6 and TSC I took them off every time and they didn't last long. The only time I take my antenna off now are when I send it in for calibration.