March 28, 2019 / by Danny Mavis

When talking about Radiodetection’s array of tools and equipment for underground operations, the 8100 series is the one that’s going to be mentioned the most. That’s thanks to the amount of high-tech parts and features these tools have, which probably makes them some of the most technologically advanced devices in their line of products. A lot of their features are also present in some other similar devices, but the RD8100 series also has some unique features exclusively available to its set of devices.

Strike Alert

This feature is important for a lot of you folks out there as it is able to detect shallow utilities beforehand. It is very useful as it can greatly reduce the chances for an accident – it is available both in the passive and active mode. The way it works is that every time an RD8100 locator detects such a utility, it will notify the user by flashing an asterisk on the screen, an audible alarm, and a fast warbling sound all at the same time. You can disable or enable this feature as you like.

Dynamic Overload Protection

When there are high levels of electromagnetic interference or high-voltage transmission lines, it’s time for the DOP (Dynamic Overload Protection) to shine. With this feature, the device is able to locate accurately every utility without any of the interference getting in the way of it. It works by disregarding spikes of signals as they are usually the suspects here. This feature comes integrated with the device without the option to disable it.

iLOC

This is a standard feature in the RD8100 locator series which lets you have control over the frequency and output power of a Bluetooth enabled transmitter directly from the locator. With this, you are able to change the transmitter’s settings from quite the distance, which will save you time as you won’t have to take small trips to the transmitter every time you need to make a change. The range goes up to 450m.

SideStep (auto)

You get two benefits from SideStep – the first one is longer battery life, and the second is improving the locating accuracy of the device. We are going to talk about the latter feature as the former is pretty self-explanatory. The improvement of the locating accuracy is possible by determining the best signal by measuring the impedance of the targeted cable or other utility.

CALSafe

The CALSafe feature is essentially a way to notify you when the device needs to be brought in for calibration/service. This is nothing to be concerned about as it is needed in order for your device to function at its best. Although this feature is disabled by default, it is very important to enable it as soon as you start using the device as you may end up forgetting about it further down the line.