At Surveytech, we believe in always staying up to date with the latest innovations in survey technology (hence our name...) and if we can learn about these things whilst on a beautiful island in the Mediterranean, all the better! So that’s what brought us to Palermo in September and what follows is all the things we learnt about – apart from that the Sicilian speciality dish of a spleen sandwich is not as disgusting as it sounds…

Zenius8 field controller

The Zenius8 field controller is Geomax’s latest addition to its range for use with both the Zoom90 robotic or any of the GPS receivers. There are a number of features to the Zenius8 that make it a really useful piece of kit for any surveyor. First of all, though its native to Windows, it can easily be changed across to Android easily if you prefer that platform. It has a great, clear screen and takes a long-range Bluetooth cap that will give it a superb range of 600 metres. The batteries last 7-8 hours, and are hot-swappable, saving you loads of time in the field. It’s IP67 for those rainy days, has 56 channel GNSS, an 8MP camera and 12-month warranty for peace of mind.

ZHM1 – UHF antenna arm

Geomax always try to listen to feedback from customers because no site is the same and the creation of the ZHM1 antenna arm is an example of that feedback being turned directly into a solution for the field user. We needed a simple way to measure the height of antenna, and the ZHM1 antenna delivers this.

Zoom3D improvement

We’ve had great feedback from customers who have used the Zoom3D, our easy-to-use little reflectorless robot, so were pleased to hear that Geomax have made it even better. They’ve increased the working range to 50m, improved connectivity and stability and made new models compatible with android. There are also new features: export closed shapes is especially designed for the kitchen-fitting market and it means that all closed shapes can get exported as a dxf (you find it in the export dxf part of the menu), this just makes all of those smaller shapes much more manageable. The second extra feature is called ‘check planes’ and is really useful for anyone who wants to check the verticality of something they’re installing. Simply measure 2 points at the base then two at the top and use the arrow keys to check between the two.

X-PAD 3.5 News

Two great new features in X-Pad 3.5 (remember if you’ve got X-Pad, all the updates are free, so just download it!) are the Auto Free Station and Search by Controller GPS.

Auto Free Station is for sites where you have fixed a minimum of two prisms around the site. When you set up again, the Zoom90 recognises the prisms and consequently works out its own location.

Search by Controller GPS does exactly what it says on the tin: X-Pad 3.5 allows you to search for the prism using the internal GPS of the controller. The instrument uses the rough position and then Aim to find exactly. Just remember, the TPS must be orientated according to a cartographic system.

X-Do Programmable Bluetooth button

The X-Do is a programmable Bluetooth button that you can set responses for either double-click, click or hold. It can be mounted on pole or stuck on back of controller or put in your pocket for those cold days when you want to just measure at the click of a button without taking your hand out of your fleece-lined pocket.

X-Pad Fusion

It was great to learn about all those new bits and pieces, but X-Pad Fusion was the real reason we had flown to Palermo. So why all the fuss about Fusion? Well, Fusion is genuinely innovative because it integrates all the functions you need in one platform. Competitors generally split between GPS/TPS and laser scanning, but with X-Pad Fusion, it’s all in one place. But that isn’t all that’s good about Fusion, and over the course of the two-day training we were able to really get under the skin of the software.

Our favourite features include the direct link that means that if you draw in x-Pad it will appear in AutoCAD when you have the two programmes open the fact that X-Topo includes the levelling module, which many competitors expect you to pay extra for and the compatibility with non-Geomax instruments even for direct transfer. Obviously, we’d rather you only had Geomax equipment, but out in the field that’s not always going to be the case…

So, if X-Pad Fusion seems like something that might interest you, get in touch. As the only UK dealers trained in X-Pad Fusion support we hope that we’ll be able to answer any questions you might have. In the meantime, why not download the 30-day demo version here.