Comparative table of 60 total stations

In the case of surveying equipment, very often appears the need to make a comparison between two models, either from the same brand or from competition. Each company includes a breakdown of their products, but make comparative tables is a difficult task.

On this, the Point of Beginning Magazine; specialized in the geo-engineering area and which digital version is free, has done a great job for over 5 years. Just select the teams, which can be models of the same or different manufacturer, and then pressing the “compare” button shows a table comparing the characteristics of what we have selected.

This magazine in each issue contains reviews of different equipments, and for each year brings an update that includes the new models. For the case, this is the review of the 2009’s year, which includes 11 manufacturers and 60 different models of total station, which I summarize to you in the following table:

Manufacturer	Equipment included
Trimble	Trimble 5600 Trimble 3600 Trimble M3 Trimble S8 Trimble S6
SOKKIA	SRX Series 30R Series 20 Series SET X Series 30RK SCT6
Leica Geosystems Inc.	TPS1200+ Professional Series FlexLine Series Leica Builder System 2000
Topcon	GPT 9000 Series GTS 230W Series GTS-750 Series GPT-3000LW Series CTS 3000 series GPT-3100W Series GTS 100N series GPT 7500 series IS GPT-7000i GTS-900 series
Nikon/Tripod Data Systems	NPL-502 Series NPR-302 Series DTM-302 Series DTM-502 Series DTM-602 Series NPL-602 Series
SOUTH	NTS-960R WINDOWS SERIES NTS-660R SERIES NTS-360R SERIES NTS-660 SERIES NTS-350 SERIES NTS-320 SERIES NTS-960L WIN SERIES
Pentax / Western Latitudes	R-300NX Series R-800EX Series V-200 Series R-300EX Series R-800NX Series
CST/berger	CST 200 Series CST300R Series CST 200 Series
Laser Technology, Inc.	MapStar AE LPS TruPulse 360 MapStar CM LPS TruPulse AE LPS
Spectra Precision/Tripod Data Systems	Focus 10 Servo & Robotic Focus 4 Focus 4W
Suzhou FOIF Co., Ltd,	OTS6800 RTS6800 OTS680 OTS702/703/705 RTS702/703/705 RTS810

I think it’s an excellent job of Points of Beginning, here you can see the table, although it’s not the only type of comparisons they have. I also recommend subscribing to the magazine, which specialty is geo-engineering (established since 1975). Print version only exists in the United States, it is free to companies in the same industry area, and worldwide digital version exists, and of course, is free.