Finding a good GPS antenna for your surveying projects can be difficult and time consuming. With more and more brands coming onto the market, it doesn’t get any easier.
Normally you would go to your local dealer and he would tell you that he has the best receiver for you, but is this really true? Most local dealers only have 1 or 2 brands and will probably just offer you what they want to sell you, not which receiver is best and most cost-effective for you.
As a surveyor, you and your receiver face some difficult conditions. Your GPS antenna must be able to cope with these environments. Does this mean you need a €10,000 GNSS antenna? No. Today you can get high-quality RTK GNSS receivers for around €4000 to €5000. Yes, you can get them cheaper, but then you really have to ask yourself, do you want to be in a situation where you are in a difficult location and your GNSS antenna is not able to get a centimeter accurate fix?
Sometimes spending that little bit of extra money on the GNSS receiver will save you working hours in the long run.
Performance and price
Two main things when finding a good receiver are performance and price. Of course you can choose the cheapest receiver you see and think “well, it’s cheap, for now it’s fine”.
Of course, it’s nice when the receiver you buy isn’t hazardous for the budget you’re working with. However, it is necessary to investigate whether the performance is not just as low as the price.
The good news is that there are quite a few receivers out there nowadays that are great for the budget and also offer very good performance. Sometimes these can be brands that you don’t know much about at first, so you’ll have to read the datasheet first, to discover what it can deliver.
However, there are other things that are important besides performance and price. Below is our evaluation process when judging a receiver.
• Performance
• Price
• Connectivity
• Compatibility
• Features
And if, after checking everything, you are still in doubt about what you need. Then it’s best to email or call us and explain to us where your doubts lie. Then we will find a solution together!