Seektech

[Dave72]

thanks for answering my question (lol yahoo)

Thats a cool idea making the clarity of the line relate to the confidence of the signal.. I suppose they could have color coded it etc too.

I dont mind the 4000, but im only doin telephone. I always work in peak, spin the antenna 90 for a check of direction, and if Im not sure of confidence Ill flip it to null mode.. if they agree then you're bang on (well, except for at a bend, peak is one way off and null is the other (( but I always forget which way is which.. lol)))

I wouldnt mind checking out a new unit, but we just bought a new 4000 (started using it 3 days ago).. so it might be a while for the subject to come around for budget again.

Keep us posted on what cool things you find tho.

[Metroman]

[QUOTE=AULupstate;6643]I have used it on a locate. Still trying to justify buying one though. (They don't have a demo program which totally sucks) if they did they may sell alot more than they do.[/QUO



Did you have a chance to use it over a joint trench area?How did the bleedoff warning respond?

I would love to try one out,always love new tech.

[Oldschoollocator]

God I really am Old school give me a 810 and a pipe horn and off I go and dammit if its got any matalic value at all I am gonna find it by direct connect or not.

[testtech]

I used the Seektech in my neighborhood. I followed the waterline all over the place on a direct connect at 33khz. I set up the instrument so it receives all frequencies transmitted by the RD 4000 T10. You can program all the frequencies you need in a couple of minutes. I brought the RD 4000 along for comparison.

Sensitivity comparison at 33 khz. At the margins, the RD may be a bit more sensitive. However, at such an extreme, the RD4000 indicators pulse rapidly so it is difficult to actually locate with the RD 4000.

Line tracing speed--Much faster for the seektech. You simply follow the line trace and continuously adjust your position. The adjustment is made by simultaneously watching the line trace and the left/right guidance arrows. Basically, you do not have to keep making sidewards passes to find the center line. Even better, when the line turns, the line trace turns. You instantly know the heading and do not have to search. At one point, I crossed a lateral service with good field strength. The line trace pivoted 90 degrees as I crossed over and then rotated 270 degrees more as I continued following the main line.

Interference--The instrument provides numerous indications of field distortion. The signal from the top and bottom antennas are constantly compared. When they disagree, the trace line becomes fuzzy. The greater the disagreement, the greater the fuzz. Also, as distortion occurs, the trace line will be offset from the right/left position arrows. To help resolve the location of the primary field where distortion occurs there are several indicators to compare. Signal strength and something called proximity are displaced simultaneously, as is depth and current. According to the documentation, each indicator is independently derived. According to the documentation, you find the spot where the greatest number of indicators agree. For example, you might find maximum signal strength, minimum depth and maximum proximity where the the right/left arrows show the center line. In fact, this typically happened where distortion was indicated.

Nice features--

Passive--There are four passive frequencies. There is a mode to use all together. When elevated signal is detected, the instrument indicates which frequency is responding. All signal tracking indicators, including depth, operate in passive mode.

Sound--Sound is completely descriptive of where the line is, which way you must move and when field distortion increases. As distortion increases, the instrument produces a high level of static noise. It produces tones and clicks that tells you to more right or left. The sound level increases with signal strength. The instrument produces a distinctive double click when you pass over the line. I have not tried these, but it comes with little speakers that you pin to each side of your safety vest. The sound comes out of the appropriate speaker to guide to you left or right.

Instrument Orientation--Does not matter (except for vertical). The antennas are omni-directional. This means the signal display remains the same as you rotate the instrument. You don't have to worry about missing a line because (as with typical instruments) the antennas are not parallel or perpendicular with the field.

Documentation-Very good. Comes with a DVD that explains all of the basics. A CD contains a more comprehensive manual as well as some articles on specific aspects of locating. There is not much technical information on how the instrument processes signals. I have not found much on line. It would be nice to know this to appreciate the degree of reliability of the various signal indicators.

Drawbacks--1) It is lighter than the RD4000 but no light weight. 5.6 lbs for the Seektech and 6.3 for the RD4000. 2) Processing speed--When it looses the signal and you must search, if you move to fast, you can miss the object. It takes a couple seconds for all the digital processing to provide a screen image when a signal is acquired. This will be an issue with weak, hard to follow signals or when conducting a general sweep. In these conditions you must control your speed.

Those more my first impressions. I this point, I would say that the instrument provides a significant gain in productivity over the 4000. Actual accuracy cannot be known until some holes are dug.

I have not covered different frequencies here or induction. I will check these areas of operation shortly. If you have specific performance questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.

[testtech]

In case you were wondering--Three orthogonal antennas. Each ball senses in all directions, all the time. You get height, width and depth. This is what is used to construct the line. As I understand, the line is constructed from the lower ball. The upper ball compares signals with the lower to produce depth and distortion.

[yahoo]

who are you talking to????

[ifinditunderground]

Test: Seems like they have done some fixing since we looked at the model from 2 years ago. But we need DETAILS MAN! LOL! That is some of the old CableVine creeping in here! Real information! Hooray!

[Metroman]

Looking forward to your follow up.It sounds like this will be my next locating purchase.

[USMCSS]

Testtech,

It has been a while since you last posted about the Seektech and I was wonder how it is working out for you?

Semper Fi

[sprayandpray]

I wonder if using an instrument wher you have to watch the return signal instead of listen actually ends up slowing you down in the long run? Also, I'm not so sure we weren't getting all of this info straight from the manufacturer.

[testtech]

Sorry, I haven't been checking here regularly.

I am using the seektech for months now. I guess the bottom line is this--the instrument provides abundant indication of interference/distortion. However, once you know you have a questionable signal, it is just as tough as ever to determine what signal is real. When signal is good, it is a fast and effective tool.

Regarding the sound vs visual question: The instrument does both. You get audible cues for signal distortion, left/right signal orientation and center line location.

[GPGrasshopper]

If you get a hold of the right rep they will let you demo one, but they don't let that be widely known. I got to play with an SR-20 for about a week. They have both a 5 and 10 watt transmitter. I demo-ed the 10. It worked great on the deaper conduits runs that my 810 had trouble with. I personally thought the omnidirectional antenna feature was really cool. It also runs a pretty good gambit of output signals and has passive and radio sweep modes, and as mentioned earlier, a distortion level display. I had a lot of trouble with it in high congestion areas, even with the multiple frequencies, and it did not work well trying to isolate old transite runs. All in all, it was a pretty neat machine, but it definately has a few improvements that can be made. We did not buy any, largely because of the price tag, but I know some guys that have and they seem to like them.