GPS / EquipmentFirst impressionLand survey

GPS Comparison - Leica, Magellan, Trimble and Topcon

It is common, when buying a surveying equipment, it is required to make a comparison of GPS, total stations, software, etc. Geo-matching.com is designed for just that.

Geo-matching is a site of Geomares, the same company that publishes the magazine GIM International. If we remember, a great priority of this magazine is to make exhaustive reviews of different technologies for use in the field of geomatics. Geo-matching is nothing more than taking these revisions to equivalent tables so that a decision can be made under more or less uniform criteria.

The system is very well developed, with a list so far of 19 categories, more than 170 suppliers and more than 500 products. Categories include:

  • Satellite imagery
  • Image Processing Remote Sensing Software
  • Workstations for photogrammetry
  • Total Stations
  • Marine navigation systems
  • Marine and aerial autonomous navigation vehicles
  • Sonar scanning systems
  • Images sonar
  • Aerial digital camera
  • Laser scanning systems
  • Mobile GIS Systems, Hardware and Software
  • Inertial navigation systems
  • GNSS receivers

To show how it works we will do a test with four GPS equipment:

Comparison of GPS

This is the case if we include the GPS comparison:

  • Magellan / Spectra MobileMapper 100
  • Leica Geosystems Zeno 15
  • Topcon GRS-1
  • Trimble Juno

The category is selected, then the brands and finally the teams. On the left the chosen team is marked.

Comparative gps

The selection only supports 4 options, but they can be removed and put to taste, keeping the selection by category. And in our example this is the chosen GPS share.

Comparative gps

The information is provided by the manufacturers of the equipment, so if fault is their fault.

Interesting facts, in this GPS comparison:

  • The team's launch year: The Trimble Juno was in 2008, The Topcon GRS-1 in 2009 and the Leica and Magellan in 2010. It won't be a great reference but it's been a long time ago and against which team the comparison should be made. In this case, we have included older Trimble equipment so you can see how new functionality has been added each year, making it easy to compare neutral. There is also a field that indicates if it is still in production.
  • All except the Trimble Juno have software included: The Magellan comes with Mobile Mapper Field / Mobile Mapper Office although it also supports ArcPad, The Leica Zeno 5 comes with Zeno Field / Zeno Office and Topcon eGIS. Of the three it can be seen that the most limited is the Zeno as it does not allow editing of attributes.
  • All except the Trimble Juno support GLONASS
  • As for the cold capture time of the first point, the shortest time is the Trimble Juno (30 seconds), while the maximum is the Leica Zeno 5 (120 seconds). The other two are in 60 seconds.
  • Regarding the operating system, they all use Windows Mobile 6, except the Zeno 5, which remains archaic using Windows CE. It also does not support uploading data to a remote server.
  • The weakness in battery life is the Topcon, with only 5 hours while the others offer 8 hours. Decisive if we consider that an intense work day is between 6 and 8 hours, taking into account the complications of distance and transport in areas with irregular access.
  • As for connectivity is better equipped with the Zeno 5, which supports both archaic cables and a GSM card for Internet connection.
  • And in terms of precision, the best guarantee is in the MobileMapper, which offers submeter without post-processing, centimeter with post-processing and RTK for millimeter. Although the Topcon supports more channels, it is not clear as to its accuracy.

So, if you should choose from this group of 4 computers, the options are between the Spectra MobileMapper 100 and the Topcon GRS-1.

What is not in this gps comparison are the prices. So we will make use of Google Shopping For these purposes:

  • MobileMapper 100   3.295,00 US $, including post-processing software
  • Trimble Juno T41  US $ 1.218 with Windows and US $ 1.605 with Android
  • Topcon GRS-1    5.290,00 US $
  • Leica Zeno 5 ... there is no price on Google Shopping but walks for US $ 4.200

In conclusion, we find an interesting service of Geo-matching, especially because it is geared to selecting the best option of resources that are needed in the geomatics field.

It is even educational because beyond comparative for GPS you can see for example, total stations, autonomous navigation devices, comparisons between satellite images from different providers, differences between the ArcPad for iPad, Windows and the new Android trend.

Time, user voting, opinions and integration of more suppliers can lead Geo-matching to be an interesting point of opinion.

Ir a Geo-matching.com

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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2 Comments

  1. Hello, good morning from Spain.
    For my part, praise the initiative to make a comparison of the different GPS systems and equipment, as well as total stations.
    It can be a good frame of reference for people who are interested in acquiring a computer and have the previous work done, from studying the commercial data sheets to features.
    The downside is that unfortunately disqualified equipment is detailed and new ones on the market are not included.
    As for the article, perhaps in the year 2013, had not had a great diffusion, but let's say that the Trimble team that most resembles those of the other brands that compares is the Trimble Geoexplorer GEO5.
    Trimble t41, is also known in other divisions of geolocation like JUNO5, existing several modalities, with port 3G or not, Android or Windows Mobile. The 2014 year extended the range with improved SBAS to 1 meter.
    A greeting.

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