Is anyone using the new Leica Viva CS15 Data Collector?
So far it has been a good DC. It does have a learning curve though.
We started using the Viva about a year ago this time last year. We actually may have been the second company to buy in the whole US. We got them before any Leica dealers had done training on them.
We made the switch from Carlson to the CS15 smartworx with one day of training and next day crews were up and running with the Viva. Of course we had been using Leica GPS for the last 15 years.
The funny thing is that it is esentially smartworx that has been on every Leica unit for the last 10 years but they made it user friendly.
After a year of using it we have been extremely happy, Leica finally got a data collection package that anyone with TDS, Carlson, etc. could use pretty much immediately with little coaching.
There are still a few special techinical things that we would like to see implemented that we have asked for, but with 3.0 out now, most everyday surveying tasks are more than adquately addressed.
One other cool thing that I like about the data collector especially with 3.0 is tha ability to take a picture of a corner and link it to a specific point that has been shot in and you can even sketch on the picture. LGO then automatically links that picture to the point on the office side, so you can see pics of every shot taken if you wanted.
The other thing that I like is that the same batteries that run the collector, run the GPS unit and total station. This alone has saved us in the past year on very long days.
I've been using one since they came out and have been disappointed. I have not however done any of the firmware updates that have apparently improved the unit. Mine's buggy and prone to crashes. I also have not been happy with the RTK reception on the Viva antenna and they are top-heavy and slightly awkward.
I took to the menus right away-if you are familiar with past Leica menu structure it's not difficult to get used to. It has been dumbed down a bit to be like the Trimble stuff. I find myself using the 1200s much of the time and setting up the Viva as a base or static unit.
That's great to hear about the photos. In my version there is no easy way to correlate photos with point numbers. I better get that update!
Thanks