California Surveyors Forums

In the thread about Ian's relocation there were a couple of mentions of Wild T2000 instruments. I recently bought several of them to fool around with -- one known to work, one suspected of working, and one for parts -- but I haven't had time to really get to know them yet. Aside from the heat issue, are there any interesting tricks or gotchas that you guys would care to pass along?

Thanks!

They're heavy. They're the battleship equivalent in the surveying world. Caltrans had to pry mine out of my fingers - actually, they stole it out of my truck one night after I left the building. Steve Grobber can coroborate that!

In my opinion, in 50 years or less, they will be highly sought "antiques" of the caliber and veneration of the Gurley Mountain Tranist, the T-16 and that ilk.

Nice purchase, Jim!

Ian Wilson wrote:They're heavy. They're the battleship equivalent in the surveying world. Caltrans had to pry mine out of my fingers - actually, they stole it out of my truck one night after I left the building. Steve Grobber can coroborate that!

In my opinion, in 50 years or less, they will be highly sought "antiques" of the caliber and veneration of the Gurley Mountain Tranist, the T-16 and that ilk.

Nice purchase, Jim!

So Ian,
Does that mean you will keep your eyes open for another good instrument to purchase, then graciously donate it to the Mount Diablo Surveyors Historical Society?

Thank you in advance (long advance I have a feeling), heheheee!

One thing I've been told about the T2000 is that there's a lithium battery inside that maintains the instrument axis error correction data. The battery has an approximate life of 10 years, and if it dies the recalibration has to be done by a Leica shop (proprietary software) at considerable expense. So if you plan to keep a T2000 around for 50 years, you'd better maintain those batteries!

Sound like my favorite the Geod. 440. Heavy but fine machine, little maint. except when it rolls 100' down the mountain and thru 3 trees. It also has an interal battery which is around $1500 every 4 years, that and the regular batteries placed it on the shelf.