My excavator GPS went dark at the worst possible time in Tulsa
Was laying out a 300 foot sewer run and the screen froze mid-grad, showing us a foot high when we were actually a foot low, so we dug up a brand new water main. Had to call the rental company and wait 4 hours for a replacement unit, and now I'm wondering if anyone keeps a manual total station on site just as backup for these smart machines.
How often does that GPS actually drift on you though? We ran into something similar last month where the screen said we were dead on but the laser caught a 6 inch difference over a 200 foot run. Turned out the base station had moved just slightly after a truck clipped the tripod. Do you set your control points fresh every morning or are you trusting what was shot the day before? Curious if the freeze was a software thing or if the unit was just getting bad corrections all along.