I am an irrigation contractor in SC and have zero experience in surveying or GPS mapping. I have watched youtube videos and reading up on the subject and understand the general concept. I am currently using a android tablet with SWmaps to map the location of irrigation control valves on properties by picking points on the map. This works ok for me as I can usually get within a couple of feet on the map. The reason I do this is because valve boxes get lost by getting grown over with grass or covered by mulch and provide the general location on a map. I only map new locations of valve boxes on new properties once or twice a year.
My questions are and I know this will be dependent on surrounding and canopy but would the Torch set up as a rover only straight out of the box without a Ntrip correction service get me within about 10āā-12ā of a mapped gps coordinates on my tablet, as I would only need generally close coordinates since most valve boxes are 10ā round and 12āx17ā rectangles.
Second question is regarding a low cost Ntrip service like PointPerfect Flex starting at $5.90-$8 a month. Will this service work with the Torch ? or does it required the $600 annual renewal fee?
I really donāt need a $50 a month service since I am only doing 1-2 projects a year and if the torch can get me close, then I would probably go as a rover non Ntrip correction since I donāt need cm or mm accuracy .
Thanks for helping this ditch digger with helpful input.
Not reliably without a correction source. However, the HAS/E6 is a free correction service that the Torch can easily use. Using HAS, you could realistically expect real-time positions within a couple of feet. The free HAS service might be a good fit for your application, as you donāt need cellular/internet. HAS is received over-the-air via specific gnss satellites.
Yes, PP Flex RTCM works great with the Torch and all Sparkfun RTK devices that I own/tested.
[Edit] Iām referring to RTCM format, not SPARTN
Update your Torch to the latest Firmware and give HAS a try. There are several threads on the forum. Post if you get stuck or need help.
@rftop Did you register & setup PP Flex 100H on ThingStream directly, or did you go thru another reseller?
Iām under the impression that PointPerfect Renewal - SparkFun Electronics ($600/yr) is Sparkfunās single reseller offering. Itās great if you need the hours & L-band, but Iām a retired hobbiest developer - PP FLEX 100H (IP only) is all I need.
Iām going thru a discussion right now with their customer service re. losing my account since my use is not B2B. IMO, the T&Cs (see below) seem a bit at odds with how their marketing collateral presents PP Flex.
The customer service tech pointed me to what the Thingstream Service T&C says: āā¦ PLEASE NOTE THAT U-BLOX PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE NOT INTENDED FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSUMER USE. BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS THE CUSTOMER REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS THAT IT IS ACTING FOR PURPOSES RELATING ONLY TO THE CUSTOMERāS TRADE, BUSINESS, CRAFT OR PROFESSION (āB2B CUSTOMERā) ā¦ā
I canāt find the correct SparkFun webpage either.
Hereās a post thatās related
I have multiple accounts with ThingStream. I enter the NTRIP credentials into the various Apps I use. It appears (from the linked post above) that isnāt the case when you purchase through SparkFun - for the added value of ZTP, or Zero-Touch-Provisioning.
I was not aware of that, and some of my NTRIP recommendations might not make sense w/ the SparkFun service.
Commercial developer / property manager here. I bought the torch specifically for landscape and grounds maintenance. Irrigation boxes and sprinkler heads were right at the top of my mind when I bought it, and I have gone through all of this.
Youāll get close, but youāre going to very quickly realize you want more than 12ā precision. I have more than a few sunken sprinkler heads at home that get grown over like the valve boxes do. I turn the system on, flag them all, then come back with a rover on a surveyors pole and shoot the tops of the sprinkler heads. In doing so, I not only have the valve boxes, but a complete system map by zone. I use the heads to generate a path which gives me a really good idea of where the irrigation lines and LV electrical could be in my property when Iām thinking about running something else.
This also makes a great map to send a lazy employee when you do a service call. Just sayingā¦.
Where do you live? You can probably use point perfect, but since youāre running SWMaps itās pretty easy to get yourself a free login to RTK2go and go from there. Thereās a few other free RTK services around. I think I use one from the federal government, but I have to go look at my notes. Iām glad to hear theyāve EOLād the MQTT service. Good idea but it didnāt work. I tested their NTRIP and itās fine.
That being said, if theyāve raised the price to $15/mo, Iāll probably buy an RTK postcard and set up a base station locally. Last time I used NTRIP I hit a government base station about 160 miles away. That wonāt get you 14mm accuracy, but Itāll get you darn close enough for what you and I are doing.
Also, take a moment and learn to set your datum in SWMaps so you have local elevation data saved to everything you record. Itās pretty easy.
I am located in South Carolina and the closest free RTK2go base station is about 100 miles away in Ga. I will try that route first and then try Pointperfect flex if not happy with results.
I have been testing the $15 month PointPerfect RTCM/NTRIP and is way better than the $8 PointPerfect service which is going end of life fall of 2026. I have not upgraded my Torch to the 2.3v firmware to compare the E6 Galileo Corrections which are free but that is advertised as 20cm accuracy if I recall correctly so 8 inches? I am in a similar position, love the better accuracy but not sure I can justify 2cm $15/month vs 20cm FREE for my farm. However I am still experimenting and cannot compare how E6 might be way worse under deep tree canopy compared to New PointPerfect RTCM/NTRIP Service. I can say I have had previous problems with the PointPerfect MQTT corrections under or even near trees.
@H2o4u - Excellent handle. Youāve got some great feedback here. To reiterate: if you can get free corrections from a state network, or a local base through RTK2Go, do it. If youāll be traveling across large distances where free base stations may not exist, the $15/month covers all 48 states without holes in the coverage map.
@rftop recommended the free HAS service which the Torch is capable of and does a great job of getting ~100mm (25 inch) accuracy, but I will note that HAS takes multiple minutes (sometimes 10) to get really accurate (itās called convergence times). Whereas the $15/month service takes a few seconds (free corrections also converge in seconds). So if you donāt want to be standing around, or if youāre sending someone out, consider that theyāll need to be aware of the deviceās fix type.
Please keep the questions coming! Otherās learn as you do.
Thanks for the input. I ordered a new torch today and I am excited for it to arrive. Iāll probably just sign up for the $15 pointperfect service and just build the cost into jobs.
I received the new torch on Friday and I have been testing it out in my backyard . With a free ntrip service from rtk2go which is about 100 miles away, I am getting rtkfix within a few minutes and the horizontal correction accuracy is around 2.3-2.4 cm, so it is close to 1ā inch accuracy. I am very happy with the results so far. My android tablet works better than my iPhone.
Probably sign up for the pointperfect $15 a month and see how that goes.
A hundred miles away?? WOW, I may need to test that myself!!! In theory at 100 miles away that NTRIP data should not be that good. Are you Running Everywhere version 2.3 or 2.2? And do you have E6 (HAS) corrections on or off? Test on some different days to the exact same two points and see how it does over a week or two, sunny vs. cloudy etcā¦ Curious to hear your outcomes!!
My new torch is running 2.1 software and I believe that E6 (HAS) is turned on automatically on 2.1
I tried again with rtk2go ntrip and today it was cloudy and I was still getting 2.4cm at my house today. Tomorrow I am going to a property about 20miles away and doing some testing on both rtk2go and pointperfect flex and see what the results are
I signed up for the free 40hrs trial of pointperfect flex today and the correction accuracy was 1.2-1.3 cm. I will probably do the 100hrs pointperfect flex for $9 a month.
The PointPerfect FLEX I am now using/testing is FLEX RTCM/NTRIP and was told $15/month for that. The legacy PointPerfect MQTT service was $8/month and is end of life fall of 2026. Post the results, and a picture of the horizon. I was working in deeper valleys today and under some larger trees and was losing RTK FIX occasionally, but it did usually come back, but after 5-6minutes.
You can get pointperfect flex directly from u-blox thingstream for $9 a month with 100 hrs
I did some testing today on a property 20 miles away from my house . Pointperfect reached rtkfix in a couple of minutes and rtk2go free ntrip which is 120miles away reached rtkfix in about 15 minutes.
Time is money ,so I will be signing up for pointperfect $9 100hr plan and getting 1.2-1.3 cm horizontal accuracy, after my free 30day 40 hrs trial ends.
I started out wanting a 1ft or so accuracy but once I realized I could get less than 2cm, that made it a no brainer.
Thanks again for all that helped me with answering my questions.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, u-blox is terminating my Thingstream account/domain in March 2026 (support request #9725) stating that their T&Cs only allow B2B (business-to-business) accounts, not end-user accounts.
Thanks for pointing out these old and broken links! Weāve updated the product page and added registration pages to our PointPerfect page. For now, we offer the $15/month tier of PP Flex NTRIP/RTCM service. If and when u-blox has a global L-Band service, weāll analyze it and it is worth it, weāll support it too, but there is no indication if or when this will be available on Inmarsat, and via ZED-X20P firmware support.
