Thanks to Ted Miller and David Lutz I am now the proud owner of Leica’s new GS 14 and the new CS15 controller. I had been having some difficulties with some of my GPS equipment and thanks to Ted, David and surveythemark I am now back in the saddle again. I am blown away with the direction Leica has went with their new equipment. Besides being the most rock solid stuff to take in the field it is extremely quick to respond and has enough options to enable me to configure it around my work style. I have gone from being negative about Leica due to their former proprietary nature and kind of clunky software to totally sold on their new way. I have even decided to give up my Carlson after 10 years to go with Smartworx. There are so many possibilities with this stuff it has actually given me a more positive outlook on the field part of surveying. The bluetooth works like a dream, the CS15 drives my TCRP 1205 so fast I can’t believe it, and I even got an Odom Hydrotrac II to talk with the CS15 first try (Thanks Ted). I am replacing two Allegros and two CS09 controllers with this one CS15! If anyone has any review questions about this equipment I would be happy to try and answer them from a surveyors, perspective.
I am not selling any equipment or receiving anything from Leica for this. I just use the stuff and appreciate the right tool for the job.
I am quite happy for you. Is Leica using and supporting Terramodel?
What is the field software like?
I have felt for a long time, that the weak link in surveying is the field software.
It lacks versatility, and speed.
N
They always have put out the best hardware; it's gratifying to hear that the field software is now improving to the level you state.
I don’t know about Terramodel. I am not familiar with that software. I am just getting into this version of Smartworx. I used SurvCE in the field and Carlson civil, survey, hydro, gis, embedded in AutoCAD in the office. I do a variety of work but my biggest worry was getting centerlines and profiles into Smartworx to stake in the field. I have had no problems so far converting these from Carlson to Smartworx to use in field. I haven’t tried it yet but I am expecting to be able to bring surfaces into Smartworx as XML.
The new Smartworx is nothing like the old stuff. Many features that allow me to customize workflow for myself and then give the equipment to another crew and they can instantly convert to their style. I have struggled with Leica software in the past because it didn’t really flow to me. When I tried to do something new it was anybody’s guess as to how to do it. Sort of like LDD. I originally went to SurvCE because of its intuitiveness. Over the last several years SurvCE has been a little disappointing on how it worked with Leica equipment. Latency, lock ups, poor robot interactions. This new Smartworx is very intuitive and really brings out the best of the leica gear. I am not sold on LGO for office comps but I can use it to do any conversions I need to work in Carlson or vice versa. I was an allegro fan due to its toughness and buttons. I thought Leica’s older controllers RX1200, CS09 were ok but the touch screens drove me crazy when it rained which it does always here, I have used the Carlson surveyor and it didn’t last long. I used several versions of the Recon and they lasted a couple years. I love the CS15 as a controller, when I saw ads for it I thought it was a weird design for a controller. I thought it would be uncomfortable to use. When I got it, I changed my mind. Camera, screen, buttons, on and off procedure and favorites are great. And no more socket type holders for the rod.
I am not selling any equipment or receiving anything from Leica for this. I just use the stuff and appreciate the right tool for the job.
I hope you at least got a hat and a coffee cup 😀
I think he got more than that
We have 3 of those GS14 receivers and 3 CS15 controllers. It's pretty nice stuff. Getting the training helped. I still think they can do better with the software, but it's definitely useable. (I wish site localization were simpler and didn't require two jobs)
> (I wish site localization were simpler and didn't require two jobs)
Not required, although at first take it appears that it is. There was some discussion on this specifically some time ago on this site actually, where I first learned about that very same thing [msg=205204]here[/msg] see the last post in that thread
Same setup here GS14/CS15 since the spring, very happy with it so far, some smallish learning curve surprises but nothing major.