RD's ...Which one do you like?

**Bad Robot** · April 3rd, 2011, 09:15 AM

I am in love with the new 8000. Yeah, it eats batteries. Yeah, the 4000 is a little more intuitive. But man, this receiver. It's so light I have had it fly out of my hand a few times swinging it!

**ifinditunderground** · April 3rd, 2011, 10:29 AM

I like my RD 500. Only RD I have ever used. I am a Metrotech guy to the bone.

**mikeinnella** · April 3rd, 2011, 01:11 PM

start with a 4000 i LOVE my 4000 have used a 8000 but got so use to the 4000

**FailedSafetyAudit** · April 3rd, 2011, 01:21 PM

How do you guys like the compass and dual peak/null mode on the RD8000? Is there any reason to get excited over it or is it slow, obnoxious, or just plain pointless? Tell me.

**mikeinnella** · April 3rd, 2011, 09:23 PM

its good because it does peak and null together but I still like to verify myself

**FailedSafetyAudit** · April 10th, 2011, 09:10 PM

When you say verify yourself, you mean dig the line up with a shovel? Haha, I have seen guys do this when they don't trust the depth on the machine. If it says it's very shallow lik 4", they say WTF and they dig on it just to see if it's really what they are supposed to be tracing.

**Wingfoot** · April 10th, 2011, 10:24 PM

I like the light weight of the 8000. I like the sensitivity of the 8000. I like the power mode option of the 8000. I have not used the BlueTooth function as yet.

If I accidently bump the 8000 receiver against my foot or a rock, my receiver automatically recycles itself "off" back to "on." On my receiver, when I walk away from the transmitter, my signal is 8+" to the right of my target. When I walk towards my transmitter, my signal is "right-on" my target. I've learned to make appropriate adjustments to leave accurate paint in my wake.

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**Lead^Tech** · April 11th, 2011, 03:44 PM

8000 is a top notch locator. Took a little bit to get used to it coming from a 4000. Different gain sensitivity on the 8000. I have the PDL with the bluetooth and use it all the time, works great.

Personally.. I have the peak/null function turned off. I do not like it. I prefer manually switching.

My 8000 also will reset when bumped too hard.

Current direction mode is great too, it has proved to work great at electrical substations.

**Paint'n & Flag'n** · April 11th, 2011, 06:54 PM

Wouldnt do with out my 8000 either. Much lighter, locates better than 4000, and has found cables that 4000 would not. The power mode is 10x better than the 4000. Havent used the blue tooth function but its available to me. Dont fill like popeye at the end of the day. If you would lower your gain output on the transmitter to only the second bar then your batteries would last longer on the transmitter. I dont pay the battery meter on the receiver any attention as it will say the batteries are weak when they actually have several days left on them. I change the receiver batteries when the receiver starts to shutoff and blinks battery on the display. I'm getting about a weeks worth of locating out of my batteries now that its warm.

Told my super and DM that they need to buy these for every locator in our office and get rid of the 4000.

**FailedSafetyAudit** · April 17th, 2011, 01:14 PM

I noticed in one of the official .pdf documents for the rd8000 that it mentions something called 'inductive field strength' for the tx1, tx3, and tx10 transmitters.

the tx1 has an 'inductive field strength' of 0.7
the tx3 has 0.8
the tx10 has 1

is this just a side effect of the maximum power output? tx1 is 1 watt, tx3 is 3 watts, and tx10 is 10 watts. or is this 'inductive field strength' an intentional hampering of inductive ability to make people want to buy the tx10?

current direction sounds like a nice idea but it only works with 5 very low frequencies according to the .pdf, all of which are lower than 512 hz and the special current direction clamp only comes in a 2" version which makes it unsuitable for larger cables.