Thanks roddyo, thats exactly what I was thinking about! How did it work? how did you like it? This may be a really dumb question, but you can use these set-ups for level digs also correct?:beatsme What does that reciever set-up cost?
With all things it depends.
I think the stick is about $250.00 and the 3+ is around a $1,000.00 it is pretty simple.
As far as how it works. I took off about an $8,000.00 Ocala System with a Apache 5+ and got the job done faster and simpler with a $1,250.00 system. As a matter of fact you can see my mounting brackets in the picture for my 5+.
That is nothing against the 5+ BTW. I borrowed the stick on stick from a friend of mine and his 3+ was already on it so I used it.
The 6+ is the sure enough excavator reciever though. But it is about $2,100.00 though but I think the stick on stick is included in the price.
If you have other equipment look at the tornado box. It might make a difference which laser reciever you decide to go with.
Here is some links:
http://www.apache-laser.com/product/machine.htm
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Laser-Grade__W0QQ_armrsZ1
These recievers will indicate where you beam is. Flat, Slope, or Cross Slope.
I'm not sure if that's clear.
If you have any more qeustions just ask.
So the 3+ is the most basic and cheapest? That would work fine for us, I find that any time I go big and buy the ultra fancy model of something I only end up using the basic features:Banghead If the 3+ is $1000, and the kit at engineer supply is $900, that means I could get a nice set up that would be suffiecient for me for about the price of a 5+ reciever. I think thats the route I would go for starters, then if things change and I could justify it, go bigger, fancier!
I see that this thread gets active right AFTER I buy a laser setup!:Banghead
I wouldn't change my purchase though. I bought a CST/Berger horizontal-only auto-level laser with a single slope function. After consistently over-digging for a foundation and getting tired of climbing on and off the hoe (no employee to hold the grade rod), I bought an Apache Bullseye 6.
The Bullseye 6 is an excellent piece of technology. It not only gives you grade indication when the stick is plumb, but will monitor grade with the stick 30 degrees out from plumb. This feature is important to me, an inexperienced operator, because my point of reference is larger.
With the magnetic mount supplied by Apache I can use the Bullseye on various tasks or machines. I have $2,500 in the whole setup, and can work alone, faster, without the frustration of guessing if I'm on grade or not. Money well spent in my opinion.