Leica TS16 w/ Captivate

I can't speak for the data collector but the TS16 is great. We use a surveyor 2 with ours. We did play around with the on board software which I am assuming is the same as captivate. It was totally different than Carlson or Survey Pro.

TS16 is a great gun. Captivate is certainly different than Carlson or TDS but like most things Leica once you get it configured you'll like it. The screen size is just about right on the CS20 and it's bright and clear even with polarized sunglasses. Captivate has a few bugs but for us they have fairly easy to work around without impacts to productivity. Drawing the linework on topo's as you go makes it really easy to see holes in your work. Overall I'm happy with it but it does take some getting used to. I'm also looking forward to v2.0 which is supposed to be released sometime this month.

Haven't used a robot much but it seems to track and find real well. I'm used to using survey SurveyPro but concerned with how it might integrate with the TS16, wondering how much of a issue it may be to mismatch equipment. We have the Leica I-rover already and I'd like to have everything work seamlessly together. And it has some features like importing DTM and the camera which may not be useful for what I'm doing.

The camera on the CS is a great feature. A picture is worth a 1000 words and they can be tied to a specific point.

Bought one. It comes with all kinds of whiz-bang stuff, but leans toward being unnecessarily complicated, while offering no real advantage over the competition.

Unless you need photos and 3D screen rotations with animated robots.

Example with Leica infinity:

Salesman: so you bring in your points and see, you can rotate around in 3 dimensions.
Me: great, can it do ground to grid conversions?
Salesman......
Salesman: let's rotate around again

We have just purchased the TS16 and Captivate and are struggling with the Leica linework importing back
into Carlson. Has anyone created a code tablein Leica Infinity that works with Carlson?

sbye, post: 375752, member: 6409 wrote: We have just purchased the TS16 and Captivate and are struggling with the Leica linework importing back
into Carlson. Has anyone created a code tablein Leica Infinity that works with Carlson?

Can Carlson import an xml file? If it can that's probably the work flow you should check out.

Linework can easily be brought into with XML data. Here is a link on how to import XML's into Carlson http://update.carlsonsw.com/manuals/CField_2007/online/source/General/File/ImportExport_LandXML_Files/ImportExport_LandXML_Files.htm

summerprophet, post: 375747, member: 8874 wrote: Bought one. It comes with all kinds of whiz-bang stuff, but leans toward being unnecessarily complicated, while offering no real advantage over the competition.

Unless you need photos and 3D screen rotations with animated robots.

Example with Leica infinity:

Salesman: so you bring in your points and see, you can rotate around in 3 dimensions.
Me: great, can it do ground to grid conversions?
Salesman......
Salesman: let's rotate around again

Summeprophet, did you want to go ground to grid or grid to ground. To go ground to grid you just have to attached a coordinate system.

The other way is easy as well. However there are a couple of ways to do it. A grid to ground button is very dangerous, as you know as soon as you go to ground your coordinates are no longer state plane, they are now local system. If you want to adjust all your coordinates to ground you have to do a one step. This can be quickly done. If you just want to see a ground distance between two points this can be done in inverse and selecting FN and then F2 configure.

Eric,
I was talking about Leica infinity. You are talking about Leica captivate. The idea was to keep all the data original in the DC, yet still send ground distances into autocad for design.

It has to be able to be done in Infinity but I don't get my license for infinity until later this week. I don't do much in SPC grid unless forced to by a jurisdiction but if you natively work in grid couldn't you switch the DC to a ground localization before exporting the points or xml linework? Just a thought.

summerprophet, post: 375929, member: 8874 wrote: Eric,
I was talking about Leica infinity. You are talking about Leica captivate. The idea was to keep all the data original in the DC, yet still send ground distances into autocad for design.

I have been told that compute combined scale factor is in the next release of infinity. I'm expecting the new version any day

I should add that I don't work for Leica so I don't know for certain if it will be in the next version. However I did hear a little birdie talk about it.

I have been using the TS16 & CS20 since last September. It had several bugs in the software at first, but they were fixed with the 1.30 release of the software last Dec. As stated above, you have to adjust your thinking to their software, but once you do & you get your setup in the collector, it works really well. Get the Function keys set to your shortcuts & arrange the apps in the order you want, delete the unwanted ones & you are good to go.. Its also a lot quicker to use the arrow keys to scroll thru point numbers than entering them each time. Looking forward to installing version 2.0 that was just released, added several new features that I can use. As for the TS16, the tracking speed is insane! I can walk within 5' of the gun at a normal pace and it does not lose track. Sure beats the Topcon's I had previously. This is my first Leica, always had Topcon's before, but I am impressed so far. Looking for a used Leica GPS unit now to use with the collector since it comes with the software to run it also. Most of my work is in Boundary, Topo & stakeout work.

Leica software? Be prepared for blood pressure spikes.

The Swiss: Vee vill tell you how to survey.

You vant to zeero in face2? Zat ist nawt allowed!

Their hardware is wonderful. Their scanners are the best so we are stuck with their goofy workflow but conventional and GNSS we insisted on Trimble.

I don't really understand the claims that Leica software is unfriendly to users, sure there are some things that could be improved but it's the same with all softwares - one is better than others in one aspect and vice versa. Our needs are not universal, they differ by users and countries and it's not possible to make a software that will satisfy all people - for example for our country's workflow we need to be able to export the 2Face measurements as seperate measurements instead of averaging them to one single shot, i've been waiting for this option for years and years but i know i'll not get it anytime soon. I know there's a reason for that and that apparently my wish is not needed by many others.

There's a ton of other settings and options that i can set according to my needs to make the instrument as easy and convenient as i want if only i'm willing to spend a day or so learn them. Not all instruments fulfill this criteria. In my eyes, it's much better to be able to make the adjustments even if they haven't been needed so far than to not be able to make them at all.

I completely agree with Dave. They have very good hardware (used only Leica at my previous company). Their software was all I knew and got comfortable and learnt it. Then moved company and worked only Trimble. Was so much simpler. Considered buying TS12 6 months ago and tested it versus S5. Went S5 as Leica didn't fit our workflow and was a pain to use even though I understood what it wanted to do and how to do it. Scanners we have used ZF, Faro, Topcon,Reigl and Leica. Just go Leica and stick to it. Reigl is good for long range stuff (used the 400VZ). Faro is nice becayse of the weight but registering is a pain. Scene crashes (no its not the computer) and registering faro clouds in Cyclone is irritating but managable. The faro scans create a dome at the range limit on each scan if its brought into cyclone so you have to fix that first. Leica did have one feature that I want and thats on the GPS units,being able to stakeout based on sun. Wish Trimble would have such an option

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dirkie2710, post: 379530, member: 10950 wrote: Leica did have one feature that I want and thats on the GPS units,being able to stakeout based on sun. Wish Trimble would have such an option

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I have used this on Trimble Access. It's definitely there (unless you are using SCS900 or older version of Access/Survey Controller?)
Have to be able to see the sun to use this feature so not much use here 😉

Wel in south Africa we have alot of that so should be fine. Not sure which version we're using but will check and ask when I get chance

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squowse, post: 379535, member: 7109 wrote: I have used this on Trimble Access. It's definitely there (unless you are using SCS900 or older version of Access/Survey Controller?)
Have to be able to see the sun to use this feature so not much use here 😉

It's for GNSS surveys only I think, you want to use it with a Total Station?

GNSS surveys

To configure the display:
1. From the Trimble Access menu, tap Settings / Survey styles / / Stakeout.

4. Choose a setting in the Display orientation field. The options are:

Direction of travel - the screen will orientate so that the top of the screen points in the
direction of travel.

North / Sun - the small orientation arrow shows the location of North or the sun. The
screen will orientate so that the top of the screen points toward North or the sun. When
using the display, tap the North/Sun softkey to toggle the orientation between north and
the sun.

No just for GNSS. The settung out on the GNSS is so irritating the way its setup now that I just always use total station for setting out. So much quicker. But sometimes needs to be done by GNSS so wil fiddle with the styles tomorrow. Have some UAV data to process now first. Thanks alot for your help. I've phoned our local dealer twice and got a response of "trimble dc can't do it and why do you want to do it. Why dont you just use north?" so gave up on them.

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