DistoX2 - where can I get one?
- Thread starter Duncan S
- Start date
Duncan Price
Active member
I've used a Jeep Z6 just as a PDA though it can take a Sim card. Very tough.
Nowadays I don't use a PDA and store all the data on the DistoX for download on the surface. Doing this I can almost survey as quickly as I can progress through the cave. All of Home Close/Wigmore 10 & 11 was done this way, much of it solo.
Nowadays I don't use a PDA and store all the data on the DistoX for download on the surface. Doing this I can almost survey as quickly as I can progress through the cave. All of Home Close/Wigmore 10 & 11 was done this way, much of it solo.
Tommy
Active member
My ?60 "Jeep" Z6 disintegrated, but then I did use it as my daily phone, and made a point of proving it's toughness by throwing it around, it was even once dunked in a pint of some sort of sugary drink in a Sheffield bar more disgusting than any cave.
It took a lot of abuse until I decided to stop using it...it'd still work okay, just no longer waterproof due to the battery box panel screws being shredded from forced resets. Oh and I think I lost it.
Better than losing a ?900 iPhone though...
It took a lot of abuse until I decided to stop using it...it'd still work okay, just no longer waterproof due to the battery box panel screws being shredded from forced resets. Oh and I think I lost it.
Better than losing a ?900 iPhone though...
2xw
Active member
Yeah we did the whole surveying in the dig then downloading on the surface and Topimo ended up destroying the data like 3 times :/
Plus 1 for a cheap android phone. Axims are getting harder to find and they're crap anyways. A cheap android ~?60 and dropping can take pictures too (of, for example, a survey point.
Plus 1 for a cheap android phone. Axims are getting harder to find and they're crap anyways. A cheap android ~?60 and dropping can take pictures too (of, for example, a survey point.
Swallowneck
Member
Duncan Price said:
I can see how doing this may be a quicker option in a short length of straight forward passage but as we know caves are rarely straight forward. Even if you are only doing a centreline how do you deal with branches and continuations etc and if you are doing a full survey then what about cross sections and other detail.
Secondly Disto's do cock up from time, without the PDA/phone to display the data you almost certainly will miss some of these bad readings which may not be obvious back at base. Surely sketching as you go using your prefered data capture software watching your shots and splays come in must be easier than trying to sort all that information back at base or am I missing something. I would be very interested in how you deal with this.
One of the main advantages of proper paperless surveying is the ability to reduce or even remove errors and blunders which creep in using traditional surveying methods. Alright nothing is perfect mainly because people are involved but the Disto and PDA combo used correctly is a huge improvement and as we have found once you are up to speed it is also very quick.
Duncan Price
Active member
Swallowneck said:
I use the strategy that was developed for underwater surveying using the DistoX in a pressure resistant housing. It wasn't practical to download the data on the fly underwater. Junctions and other points of interest can be marked in memory by doing pairs of shots in the same direction as a flag. I generally carry a waterproof notebook or divers' slate if I need to record more detail. It works for our purposes - except when you face running out of DistoX memory. I'd also add that where we are surveying is frequently not very nice and/or challenging to get to.
lostinacave
New member
As the thread goes, does anyone happen to have one laying around?
Kenilworth
New member
http://forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=18121lostinacave said:
Bob Mehew
Well-known member
Belatedly reading the recent CREG Journal (No. 109 March 2020) I noticed a reference in the "We Hear" round up of news by Mike Bedford to the "Caveatron". The device claims to be "a cave survey tool, recording conventional distance, azimuth and inclination measurements". I have not read into it but Mike reports it is an open-source project. Details can be found at https://github.com/Caveatron/caveatron and also at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/caveatron-discuss. Happy reading.
Hey,
Thought it might be useful to let people know that I have bought some boards off the guy in Kenilworth's link: http://forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=18121
I did a bit of digging and mutual contact finding to attempt to verify him and was satisfied that he is a real person and is producing the boards. I had the boards posted to someone in the US who will bring them back later so I don't actually know if they work yet
but they have been delivered and from photos they look the part and includes all the things that you would expect (the board itself, non-mag screws, non-mag battery etc.). I will update as soon as I've converted a disto with them (hopefully in a month or two).
He is charging $370 for the kit. This includes the non-mag batteries which is some consolation but is still a fair amount more than it cost before, and this is before you get import fees and VAT if they are posted to the UK. I had a sort of grant to purchase them and someone in the US to post them to so it was affordable for me but I imagine this might be too much for a lot of people.
I think he was working off a stockpile of the bluetooth chips but he also seems to think he's found a new supplier so it may be a (pricey) option going into the future.
Thought it might be useful to let people know that I have bought some boards off the guy in Kenilworth's link: http://forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=18121
I did a bit of digging and mutual contact finding to attempt to verify him and was satisfied that he is a real person and is producing the boards. I had the boards posted to someone in the US who will bring them back later so I don't actually know if they work yet
but they have been delivered and from photos they look the part and includes all the things that you would expect (the board itself, non-mag screws, non-mag battery etc.). I will update as soon as I've converted a disto with them (hopefully in a month or two).He is charging $370 for the kit. This includes the non-mag batteries which is some consolation but is still a fair amount more than it cost before, and this is before you get import fees and VAT if they are posted to the UK. I had a sort of grant to purchase them and someone in the US to post them to so it was affordable for me but I imagine this might be too much for a lot of people.
I think he was working off a stockpile of the bluetooth chips but he also seems to think he's found a new supplier so it may be a (pricey) option going into the future.
Bob Mehew
Well-known member
I wonder if one can split the Caveatron so one just uses the laser pointer / magnetic accelerometer or gryo part to replace the DistoX. I am now aware of two people building Caveatrons so perhaps with a bit of experience, we might see a valid alternative to the DistoX, never mind the 3D part. The price should be competative or better given no LIDAR.
