Wisetime Theodolite Model

This is a great conceptual model for showing students of surveying what a theodolite or total station is actually doing, physically. For the price, it is hard to beat. It has levelling screws, vertical and horizontal circle scales, and a sighting tube. The sighting tube is probably the weakest aspect - maybe it would be better without the lens all together.I have a minor technical quibble - the placing of the vertical circle means that the "horizontal" is read as 0° or 180°, but all of the theodolites with which I am familiar would have straight up as 0°, so horizontal as 90° or 270°. It is straight forward to cheat this, by loosening the vertical circle pointer and rotating it relative to the sighting tube, but it would be better for the printed circle to be put on in a more conventional way. Maybe the convention is different in different countries.

The whole thing is plastic, about 10 inches tall. Conceptually it's a great way to understand the mechanics of a theodolite. But functionally, it's like a kid's toy. I ended up using a Boy Scout compass for more accuracy. You get what you pay for.

Dad said it works great