Karl Olson

Super units! I have been keeping a little journal. Random thoughts, comments, etc. Pretty raw, but thought I would pass it along. Have had numerous contacts with Kelly Bellis and once with Shawn Billings. Great support!

June 23, 2014
Arrives. Nicely packaged.
Fantastic that they were paired and ready to go out of the box. So light and compact compared to my current units ... which are now for sale!
Screen seems pretty decent, so cannot wait to see the new version. When you unpack the LS, Triumph 2 & radio, there are lots of cables spread out. Didn't have instant recognition of some of the ends. Took awhile to figure out how to charge the radio/battery. Hadn't ever seen that type of power connection. Does that cable have another use?
Radio power on button is seemingly too accessible and easy to push. Supposedly takes 5 seconds, but I twice had lights coming on when I was trying to fit it all in the very nice storage bag.
The radio/battery power port has a screwed on cover. Should that be kept in place when its not being charged? If in place, there should be a better cover that doesn't require a screw driver.
A stylus would be nice. Finally found one in my desk, but find I mostly use a standard plastic retractable pen.
Still working thru the on board help files. So far the published PDFs are far superior. They explain terms nicely, but not necessarily what buttons to push to do things. I do understand the idea behind no formal manual, especially at the rate changes are being made. However, you have a broad audience which ranges from highly experienced to having no idea what to expect or do. I watched the video on transferring files by Mr. Bellis several times. The last time I used the pause button frequently as I punched buttons with him. Betting I would still be pushing buttons without that lesson.
It appears that the "6. Point Description" screen in collect is the "Comments" choice when exporting a txt file. Should use common terms throughout the software.
The average surveyor, at least the ones I know, wants a point number, northing, easting, elevation and description. It should be very easy to configure for this data collection. I would say it should be "child's play" but the young are generally much better with electronics than us old fogies. It drives my now grown children that I still want to read the owner's manual before pushing the on button. Note that I have actually printed all the help guides and materials sent to me/us and have them in a three ring binder.
Impressed with all the information other than P#,N,E.EL,D that can be exported. I think the Horizontal Residuals will be part of the file documentation.
What happened to by point descriptions when I upload the txt file? More digging into my settings maybe?
I can turn on the camera on. I can designate where pictures, voice recordings, etc. will be stored. So, why can't I simply take a picture by clicking a button?
Tried creating some various setups. Didn't get the same matching frequency each time. That would be me being careless. Would be cleaner if the base and rover could somehow match themselves. I know nothing about frequencies so do not know why I would pick one over another.
Same comment about some of the other choices. I just the same as the ones in the printed setup guide. Radio power setting - why would I want anything less than the maximum output of whatever radio I have . . . one watt in my case. Grrr. Triumph-2 driver took much too long in time and my temper to install on my Windows 7 system. Windows doesn't make it simple. Should be self installing.
BTW, support is fantastic!

June 29, 2014
Decided if I was going to try it some more I should try to collect useable data. Went slick! Got some shots in 60 foot tall white pine woods that had a significant understory. They all weren't fixed, but seeing the residuals let me decide whether or not to accept based on what it was.

July 1, 2014
External UHF antennae arrives. Used units on an older job.
Used a "Pick from list" base setup. All went smoothly, but only got about half of the points we wanted due to tree cover . . . predominately beech with some hemlock, 25-50' tall trees. Moved to another old control point & then spent two hours trying to figure out why there was no radio link. Probably was a simple wrong setting, but by then I was hot, sweaty & tired. There are way to many choices to make for every setup.Cannot imagine why I would change radio frequency, power levels or many of the other settings. Once initially setup, the LS should say "Hey, detecting a signal on 454.whatever should I establish a connection?"In the evening back at the office, I set up a free station base and easily established a radio link to collect points so it must be a wrong setting, right?

July 3, 2014
Updated software via ethernet. Still no WiFi connectivity.
Kelly Bellis has emailed some suggestions which I will try after I get back from the long July 4th weekend.