J-Pod / Monopod Issues

Greg Flowe

Active Member
Are there any suggestions for an alternative to the JPOD Rover Rod. I have broken another clamp on the monopole. Rod simply slid off the tailgate of the truck and hit the ground. Luckily the LS was not on it. Just the weight of the rod, no legs attached and it snapped the top clamp. I am purchasing another clamp, but this is the 2nd one I have broken. I love the design & weight, the durability needs to be worked on.
 

Greg Flowe

Active Member
Yes, that was my suggestion to Michael G. to see if SECO could come up with something like the monopod. For sure it would not break then.
 

Shawn Billings

Shawn Billings
5PLS
SECO makes a 5', three section pole that is pretty durable. It's heavier than the monopole, but is similar in size. You can even get a short bipod to put on it.
 

Matt Johnson

Well-Known Member
5PLS
Benro also has similar monopods with twist locks instead of flip locks. Back when the current monopole was chosen, both types of locks were considered but the durability issue with the flip locks wasn’t known. I suspect the twist locks would be more durable and not break.
 

Joe Paulin

Well-Known Member
The SECO rod that Shawn mentioned seems like the way to go if you still want a fully collapsible pole. I don't think there is a way around it: you substitute weight for durability. I'd rather have the durability, but that's just me. I myself use the SECO 2m snap lock rover rod. It's kind of the best of both worlds, fully extended it's 2m and it has detents at 1.6m and 1.8m. The 1.6m height is perfect for me, putting the LS right at head level for easy viewing. It will collapse to about 4.5 feet for transportation.
 

Greg Flowe

Active Member
Matt & Joe, Thanks for your recommendations. As always the J team has helped me resolve my issues. Michael G. has me a part on the way to get my rod fixed. I will check into both of these options an have me an alternative on hand the next time this happens. Thanks Again
 

Adam Davis

Member
https://www.surveying.com/en/15-ft-ultralite-pole-with-tlv-lock.html

Is this the pole some of you are speaking of? We are having the same reliability issues with our rover rod. We got the replacement but none of the black or white plastic parts came with. Ours broke in the middle of high grass while doing simple topo and we couldn't find the plastic pieces. So we are looking for a replacement until/if the Benro product fixes this issue. Thanks for any/all recommendations. We're also looking to replace our aging topcon robotic total station pole so something that could be a multi-tasker would be great.
 

Joe Paulin

Well-Known Member

Joe Paulin

Well-Known Member
Here's my snap lock rover rod on a BM. It is at the 1.6m height detent. This setup is a bit heavy for topo, if I have a lot of topo to do I will take the bipod off or use the Javad monopod. Note - I don't have the newer monopod, I have the older one that uses the twist collets to tighten.
 

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