I have been using Emlid Products in my surveying business for several years, and with the RS2, we’ve been having great success. I originally started with 2 RS2’s, one as a base on a known point, the second as the rover for fieldwork. That was great for starters, but I decided to replace the “base” with an M2. It seemed to make sense since it is permanently mounted. The M2 was installed indoors and has never seen the light of day. I streamed corrections perfectly. 8 months later, after great success, I purchased a second M2. The second was installed at another location, mounted indoors in a clean environment. I now had 2 base stations stream ntrip data to 2 rovers and I was very excited. But 2 days later, my original M2 failed. I realize that these devices can’t have a lifetime warranty, and I realize that a lot of them are flying around on a drone, but this devise was treated like a baby and never exposed extreme temperatures, moisture or shock. I’m disappointed that after only 8 months this device failed, and the warranty is only 60 days. I’m looking for alternatives, but it’s really a shame, as I was really enjoying and had planned on a few more to expand my service area.
Maybe contact support@emlid.com and see what they say?
You’ll have to provide them the details of course including the power supplied to it.
Seems many have had much longer life than 8 months.
Given the nature of the device and how some DIYers may incorrectly use it, i.e. overvoltage it, it’s understandable as to why it has less warranty than a much more expensive RS2/+/3 that is ready to go as-is in a outdoor-grade self contained unit.
The price is also much less being multi-band at that.
You’d be hard pressed to find other solutions at such a reasonable price, best user interface and user ecosystem / support.
But there are other cheaper options you can look at it… but may have the same warranty issue… so basically becomes diposable expense in order to create income versus paying into the 4 digits or more.
Polaris, SparkFun, ArduSimple etc.
I bought two of these about a year ago and have them hooed up to my PC with the antenna on my desk. These are very sensitive receivers, I believe the F9 chip is used by Emlid.
You can use them as a base just like the M2’s by using Ublox’s free u-center desktop software. An antenna is supplied however it’s not NGS calibrated. You’ll have to buy an antenna such as this to use with it
or
I’ve been experimenting with them lately and by reading the associated manual it appears pretty easy to set up an NTRIP self service. The cost is half of Emlid’s M2.
Good luck !
P.S., I also have the M2 models and bought them in early 2020 I think, it’s been so long…
However, they are great receivers . I bought two back then and have used them often as a static baseline for my rover. I’ve since sold one to a geek friend of mine who wanted something to play around with. He’s a budding amateur surveyor.
Hi Chris
What happened to your M2 ? It no longer switch on ?
It turns on, but it receives not signals, and does not latch on to my router, nor does it broadcast its own ssid.
I’ve been playing around with a C099-F9P board, but its fairly confusing. I’ve been able to receive corrections from my existing base station, but I can’t seem to get the other C099 to transmit to ntrip. . .yet.
In the meantime, I may purchase another M2. Wish me luck!!
Hi Bryan,
I picked up 2 C099-F9P boards from Digikey. I’ve managed to get 1 acting as a rover, but only while hooked up to a laptop. I haven’t yet been able to get the base unit to transmit corrections to my ntrip. I’m thinking it can’t do it “stand alone” and must use “Snip Caster” or something like it to send to my emlid ntrip account. I could be wrong, but if that’s the case, it will add to the expense if I need a computer at a remote location to handle that, and if that computer acts up, i’d have to do to that location to restart and login. Still working on it though.
Have you been able to broadcast corrections directly?
I agree 100%. These emlid units are fantastic!! I’ve decided to purchase another M2 to replace the broken unit. I’ve been working with a C099-F9P, but I have to admit, I sure miss the emlid user interface. The F9P has no interface at all, it’s all AT commands and it’s been a LONG time since I tinkered to that level.
I’ll keep plugging away at it as I find time, but will put another M2 back in play to keep my operation up and running.
Thank you for your thoughts!
I think there is a reset button on it using a paper clip or pen? Never had to use it. Maybe check the DOCS before doing so as assume it may factory reset it and lose whatever is saved on it? Email support@emlid.com about it.
Hello Chris,
Your M2 probably suffers of the infamous antenna short detection problem . I never succeeded to know if it is a software or an hardware problem.
The fix is quite easy actually. It is explained here : Helical antenna problem? - #18 by zipang
After the repair, check your antenna and cable before powering your device.
Hi Chris !
I haven’t had the chance to really get involved with the evaluation kit with work and everything else occupying my time.
You can download the user manual here as well as the evaluation software.
Make sure you download u-center, not u-center2.
U-center2 is for the new M10 series chips
I had problems installing u-center on my W11 machine but it installs easily on my older W8 workstation. You can setup for receiving corrections from an RTN service very easily. From what I’ve briefly read in the manual it’s appears fairly easy to setup your own base (NTRIP service) to broadcast corrections through the software. I’m sure you can use through any caster service like Emlid’s. You can also set the configuration of the F9 through the software and save it in the receiver.
I’ve also thought about using as base with a caster using a Windows tablet also using u-center.
There’s so many things I’ve been wanting to do and experiment but work is my first priority. I’m hoping to find some time this weekend to play around with it. I’ll report any findings here if I do.
Hi Chris,
Welcome to our community!
It’s unfortunate this happened to your Reach M2, but maybe its too early to state that the unit is broken. You said that the unit can’t connect to your Wi-Fi network, and it stopped broadcasting its own hotspot. But you also mentioned that the unit can’t receive any satellite signals. Is there any chance you can somehow connect to the unit in Emlid Flow or Reach Panel to see that? If so, please send us its Full System Report to support@emlid.com.
If you can’t connect the unit in the usual ways, there is still an option. If you have a PC with Linux or macOS, you can access Reach Panel via cable. For this, you just need to connect Reach to the PC and enter the following IP address into the address bar of a web browser: 192.168.2.15
Please also send us the invoice of your unit, and we’ll do our best to help you in this situation!
One thing I just thought of @zoltan.biber, his antenna and/or his antenna cable could be bad for receiving the sats. His wifi could also be blocked or changed.
Just a thought. I cherish my remaining M2, they are excellent receivers.
I swapped both. Knowing that everything fails eventually, I keep a spare everything!
Questions, i just bought 2rs3 try to set up base and rover to help my land grading business, but you mentioned m2 is better, can put into the inside house, no need job site? As my understanding, we need put base and rover both at job site, how u can at home to use m2 as base, even house is 40 miles from job site is ok, thank for clarification on this
Hi Mark,
The M2 is not “better”, rather it is smaller and less expensive. I keep mine inside with an antenna outside and it works GREAT! 40 Miles I would say is a bit of a stretch though, that’s why I’ve been trying to install a few of these in the areas that my business covers. I hit some very accurate numbers at 40 miles, but I don’t find it as reliable, or as fast, as if I’m inside the recommended 26km.
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