Surveying Equipment, NOAA Certificated SMA26 GNSS IMU RTK GPS Rover Base Handheld Collector with Survey Software, Max10km and 0.5cm Accuracy,32G Storage (Exclude Tripod&Pole)

After getting some rather shocking pricing from surveyor for stakeout services for the new house I am in the process of building, I began looking for a better way. I have some background in "lite" surveying tasks, and I own a theodolite, but that's a two-person tool and while very reliable and precise, not exactly a modern survey solution. I knew a robotic total station was way out of my budget and I was pleasantly surprised to find GNSS/GPS systems are available at a relatively reasonable price. While I considered one of the more "professional" name brands, two manufacturers available on amazon seemed like they had sufficient features and at least claimed the accuracy that I was looking for. I settled on this SMA26 Plus kit after debating back and for with the other available brand. I have been very pleased with the operation of this system. As noted by others, there is definitely a bit of a learning curve, even if you are familiar with traditional surveying techniques. There is initial setup getting the base and rover synchronized and also connected to the data collector. Getting localized seemed like a straight forward task based on youtube videos of other brands. But that brings me to the only slight disappointment with this kit, the data collector software. Most of the terminology is standardized, but some of it is not. I did a lot of googling to figure out what various available setting did, and what common recommendations are for those settings. Smajay's videos are pretty bad. They do not delve into enough detail and they are way too fast. I highly suggest finding other how videos on GNNS surveying and watch those before bothering to watch the Smajay ones. I already owned a tripod, but I needed to pick up a tribrach to mount the base unit, a prism pole for the rover and a bipod (for the rover). After a couple evenings of playing around with the kit around my yard, I uploaded my CAD file and set off to do some actual work with it. I have become more and more impressed with it and the accuracy for localized surveying. My satellite connections have been really good. I have localized my site based on existing property corner pins. After localizing to the first two, I found every other pin with and inch of is location on the plat. I was also able to localize my vertical control from a survey monument about 2,000-feet away from my property. Vertical shots were spot on to the topo's from our locally available GIS data. The most critical test came with building stakeout. I gave the concrete sub two lines and two points to work from. The foundation layout is not a simple one, including a 45-degree wing. I worked parallel to the crew who were calculating manually and measuring out and squaring up every corner point manually. Each corner we were within 1/8-inch of each other, until we weren't because they made an error in calculation. I don't know what the anticipated useful life is for this Samjay GNNS kit, but I have a high level of confidence that it can provide accurate AND precise surveying and stakeout results. You do need to be patient with it to get the most accurate results, letting "normal" points "cook" for 15-30 seconds, and any hubs or benchmarks 60-seconds for the best possible readings, but it has been much faster than I could have every done with a theodolite and a second person. It has also saved me from having to pay a surveyor 4x what this cost to come in and do my stakeout for me. I would absolutely recommend this kit to anyone with a bit of surveying knowledge that wants to try out GNNS RTK surveying.

I'd like to start by saying though I've used and tested various brands of GPS equipment. I purchased this one and immediately was not disappointed. After about a month of tests, I've found this product to be reliable and consistently accurate. The GPS receivers will definitely run for more than a day with just one charge. The USB-C charging cables provided are great, especially compared to working with other major brands that require a special charging base for charging the batteries. As a test I went almost 5 miles away from my base and still had reception. The IMU is accurate as well. The data collector and software has been great as well. The software is pre-installed and runs pretty smooth. It allows you to plug in a SIM card for those that enjoy using NTRIP services for their surveys. Long story short, the unit and software is a great value for your money. Their customer service is amazing. Just send them an email and they will respond in under 24 hours with the correct and detailed information. I don't normally write reviews for anything, but this equipment is definitely worth purchasing and trying out, because you will not be disappointed.

Very good Gnss receiver. It gets fix very fast at startup and it has a very rugged case. I got to compare obtained data between coordinates obtained with other different popular brands and they were perfect. Less than a CM difference. The software is user friendly and has a lot of good functions in it. The support team are great and they reply almost immediately. Have had a great experience so far.

I had to return this equipment due to a significant discrepancy in elevation measurements, showing a vertical difference of approximately 100 feet. Although the technical support team has been in contact with me, their response was that I need at least 3 known points to obtain an accurate elevation. However, if that’s the case, I don’t see the advantage of using GPS, as I could achieve the same result with a total station, which would also be lighter since I would be using a prism on the pole instead of a rover. I have reviewed comments from other users who report similar issues, while some mention that the equipment has worked perfectly for them horizontal and vertical. This leads me to believe that the unit I received might have some defect or configuration issue. He tenido que devolver este equipo debido a una discrepancia significativa en las mediciones de elevación, mostrando una diferencia vertical de aproximadamente 100 pies. Aunque el soporte técnico ha estado en contacto conmigo, su respuesta fue que necesito tener al menos 3 puntos conocidos para obtener una elevación exacta. Sin embargo, si ese es el caso, no veo la ventaja de utilizar un GPS, ya que podría lograr el mismo resultado con una estación total, que además sería más ligera, ya que en la vara no llevaría un rover, sino un prisma. He revisado comentarios de otros usuarios que reportan problemas similares, mientras que algunos mencionan que el equipo les ha funcionado perfectamente. Esto me hace pensar que la unidad que recibí podría tener algún defecto de fabricación o configuración.

The learning curve on this was long, but it works like advertised. There are cons - no instruction manual; the data collector screen is difficult to see in bright sunlight; the available YouTube videos are not all that helpful - but the pros outweigh them. The units work well and provide real-time centimeter accuracy. The range is advertised as up to 1km, and I realize that is in the best of circumstances, but we are having no problem up to one mile in the hills and heavy foliage of the Ozarks. I suspect we can get even better range. The couple of times I have contacted the sellers, they have responded quickly. This is a good product at a fantastic price.