T-2 Board Upgrade Offer

Jim Frame

Well-Known Member
I got email notifying me that my T2, which has an old board rev, can be upgraded to the current board for $500. (I assume all registered owners of older T2s got the same email.) The impetus for this contact appears to be the "who moved my base" functionality, which isn't available with the old boards. A couple of other benefits (ability to run the T2 with the Victor-LS and JMT) are mentioned.

Are there any other benefits going forward that might be enabled by this upgrade? I don't have a Victor-LS, I don't need to run my T2 with JMT, and I physically lock my base down so the "who moved" thing isn't a big draw for me. It doesn't look like the upgrade is worth the cost in my situation -- though I appreciate being notified of the offer -- but if there's something I'm overlooking, I'd be interested to learn of it.

Thanks!
 

Adam

Well-Known Member
5PLS
I got email notifying me that my T2, which has an old board rev, can be upgraded to the current board for $500. (I assume all registered owners of older T2s got the same email.) The impetus for this contact appears to be the "who moved my base" functionality, which isn't available with the old boards. A couple of other benefits (ability to run the T2 with the Victor-LS and JMT) are mentioned.

Are there any other benefits going forward that might be enabled by this upgrade? I don't have a Victor-LS, I don't need to run my T2 with JMT, and I physically lock my base down so the "who moved" thing isn't a big draw for me. It doesn't look like the upgrade is worth the cost in my situation -- though I appreciate being notified of the offer -- but if there's something I'm overlooking, I'd be interested to learn of it.

Thanks!
Jim, you are one of handiest guys I know. Your locking mechanism is the cats meow. If someone steals your base they have put their work into it. With that said, I know you use TCP and a couple months ago we were able to track the position of a stolen base in real time with the aid of netview and Google Earth as long as the jetpack and base were together and on. That's pretty cool but there is a warm fuzzy that comes with knowing that your base has moved or hasn't by the values and warnings displayed in JField with the base gaurd feature. In the situation I mentioned the folks had lost corrections and that's when they went to check on it. Which is what you would be relying on without the base gaurd feature.
 

Kelly Bellis

ME PLS 2099
5PLS
@ Jim Frame - I had a similar concern, wrote to Michael Glutting (20171018 05:41), and asked these related questions:

Hi Michael,

Thank you for this consideration and always good to hear from you, even if it's in a news blast.

I'm not sure how soon I'd be able to stop using my Triumph-2, send it to San Jose, and wait for its return, as a number of fall projects are being lined up in the coming weeks.

1) How long will this offer be good for ? and
2) Would it be possible to make the payment and then swap when the upgraded unit arrived ? and
3) Other than the new features related to migrant bases and the T2 as rover, what other reason(s) should be considered in making the upgrade? As I understand it, there are no other reasons presently that will render the T2's v3 hardware compromised, but I harbor uncertainty when the OS switch to Linux happens


Thank you for any reply.

Kind regards,

Kelly

My second question may not have been clear, as you may agree from Michael's response (below), but basically I am still wondering, and to put it in other words, does the offer apply to only repairing the old unit and cannot allow for a trade in - buy up option? Aside from the dubious forfeiture of $500 for a single circuit board, my larger concern is being without a base unit and being unable to work.

Below is Michael's (20171019 18:52) response:

Hey Kelly,


I hope you’ve had an awesome, productive and profitable year.



    • The offer is good for one year.
    • What do you mean make the payment and then swap?
    • Those are the only two known benefits at this time. Your rev 3 T2 will continue to serve you well for many years to come.
      1. At this time, there is no known issue with using the new Linux based TRIUMPH-LS and a rev 3 T2.

Regards,

Michael Glutting

The idea of being able to trade in old equipment for new equipment with significant cost savings as a marketing ploy is well known in many industries, particularly as a reward for brand loyalists wanting to stay in current generation cycles, but seldom structured for surveyors; Schonstedt, notwithstanding.

cropped IMG_20150525_162747.jpg


The question "Who moved my base station?" is (fortunately) hardly ever raised in this part of the country and is even more rarely ever going to be answered, with or without quantified displacement. For example, I still wouldn't know the name of the snot-nosed kid that pushed over my equipment.

@ Adam - Good story in how the newer T2 model proved itself in this regard; hope they press charges. Please post links to further details in new thread.
 

Jim Campi

Active Member
My limited understanding of electronic components is that they either fail very soon or work for a relatively long period. I tend to trust Javad and Michael and in terms of their professional conduct. They develop and sell GNSS equip. We like the best equipment that will work long term, meets our specs and is reliable. Again I am showing my lack of electronic expertise however; The T2 consists of an antenna, battery, frame, case and a few lights and buttons and a main board possibly a daughter board. What we are primarily paying for is the board. It seems that replacing the board for $500 is essentially providing us with a new T2. I am going to take them up on the offer. I do this because 1. It's my way of thanking them for the level of service we can find no where else on the planet, 2. It theoretically increases the functional life of my unit and adds features; 3. Allows me in a very small way to think my upgrade fee assists in new development.

I can't think of any other manufacturer where I would even consider providing this type of feedback. Because I have a tendency to repeat comments in the same general theme over years indicates Javad's business model is soundly consistent.
 

Aaron S

Active Member
I don't expect the base guard feature to be much help in the case of theft, but I do like having it for subtle movements, like if the base tripod shifts to a degree that I might not notice when I take it down for the day. Even if I do notice at the end of the day, there's no telling at what point in the day's work it moved and ruined everything thereafter. If you have severe temperature shifts during the day, it is common to have the legs of your base setup be loose when the ground (that was froze solid when you set up) thaws in the afternoon. Not fun!
 

Donald E Robinson

Active Member
I Just sent in my T2 to have the cover replace a 2nd time, due to cracking. They sent me an email stating that my main board is Rev 3 and asking "Do we need to change Main board Rev. 3 to Rev 7" with no other details.
.I was never notified, by email, of any upgrades. I do remembering seeing the "Who Moved My Base Station ad and assume this is Rev. 7 which I don't think is worth the upgrade cost for that feature, alone. My question is what happened with Rev 4 through 6 and am I entitled to any of those upgrades without cost?
 
Top