I was dead set against GPS load indicators until last Tuesday

Been running cranes for 12 years and always thought those GPS add-ons were just extra junk to break. Then I had a job at a tight site in Tampa where my regular spotter was out sick, and the rental yard threw one on for free. That little screen saved me from clipping a power line by about 2 feet, so does anyone else actually trust these things now or is it still a scam?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alice1mo ago

Ha, did it pick up the line itself or just show you a bad spot on the map?

wesleyb201mo ago

nah man i see it the opposite way honestly. those systems give you a false sense of security and people zone out way too much. i've seen guys trust the tablet over their own eyes and nearly drop a load on a transformer because the map was wrong but they just kept swinging. the real trick is having two spotters and actually looking up instead of staring at a screen. plus if the site guys don't update the map every time a line gets moved or a temp pole goes in you're basically playing roulette with your insurance claim.

the_claire1mo ago

Wait, are you asking if the map itself showed the line? No, it just showed the boom position relative to the overhead lines that were already mapped in the system, but the alert popped up way before I would have seen them myself on a bad angle. @the_alice, you gotta understand, the real trick is the live load radius and height data against the site plan they loaded in beforehand. That saved me because the spotter was out, but even with a good spotter, sometimes you just can't see the top of the boom from the ground when you're working close to power lines. I used to think those add-ons were just a way for rental yards to charge more, but now I figure anything that gives you an extra set of eyes is worth the hassle. The key is having the map data updated regular, because if the lines are old or not on the file, then you're still guessing.