Top Leica LiDAR Scanners, Compared

LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging. A scanner fires a laser at a surface, measures how long the light takes to return, and turns that into a precise distance. Do that a million or more times a second while the instrument rotates, and you get a point cloud: an accurate three dimensional record of a real space.

Leica makes several LiDAR scanners and they are not interchangeable. The right one depends almost entirely on what you are capturing and how you need to move through it. Here is the honest comparison, from a dealer that rents, sells and services all of them.

Start with the question that actually decides it

Not "which scanner is best," but how do you need to move?

• Standing still, setting up on a tripod. Highest accuracy. Tripod scanners: BLK360 and the RTC series.
• Walking through a space. Speed over precision. Handheld: BLK2GO.

Answer that first and the list shortens to two or three instruments.

Leica BLK360 G2: the entry point

The BLK360 G2 is the smallest and lightest imaging scanner Leica makes, at 0.85kg and 80 x 80 x 155mm. It runs from a single button or a tablet, reaches 45 metres, captures 680,000 points per second at 4mm accuracy at 10 metres, and takes HDR imagery through a 13 megapixel four camera system in about 20 seconds.

It captures full color panoramic imagery over the point cloud, and it works directly with Autodesk ReCap Pro, which matters if your deliverable is a Revit model.

Who it suits: architects, interior as-builts, renovation work, small to medium buildings, and anyone scanning a few times a month rather than every day. It is also the scanner most people learn on. Most operators are productive inside an hour.

Where it runs out: range and speed. On a large industrial site you will be setting up many more times than you would with an RTC series scanner, and the day gets long.

Leica BLK360 details

Leica RTC300, RTC500 and RTC700: the newer family

Leica has extended the RTC line into three tiers. They share a body, a 12 megapixel six camera imaging system and the same 1.5mm at 10 metres accuracy. What separates them is range, scan rate and, on the RTC700, full survey functionality.

How to read that table. The jump from BLK360 to RTC300 buys you accuracy and weather tolerance. The jump from RTC300 to RTC500 buys you range and speed. The jump to RTC700 buys you range again, finer resolution settings, and survey functionality: the RTC700 can set up over a known point, resect, traverse and measure targets to 75 metres, which none of the others can.

All three of the RTC models add automatic self-calibration, GNSS, and real-time interconnectivity between field and office that the BLK360 does not have.

Which to choose. If you are scanning building interiors and want something you can carry all day, the BLK360 at 0.85kg against 5.6kg is a serious argument on its own. If you need accuracy under 2mm, start at the RTC300. If your sites are large or open, range is what you are buying, so go to the RTC500 or RTC700. And if you want the scanner to do survey work rather than needing a total station alongside it, the RTC700 is the only one in this group that does it.

If you are looking for the RTC360, it has been succeeded by these three. It is no longer in production, though it remains a capable instrument, we still carry them in our rental fleet, and we continue to service them. If you own one, nothing changes. If you are buying, buy from the range above.

Rent an RTC scanner  |  Ask us which RTC fits your work

Leica BLK2GO: capture while walking

The BLK2GO is handheld and roughly the shape of a flashlight. It builds a point cloud while you walk, using SLAM, which stands for simultaneous localization and mapping. The scanner works out where it is by tracking what it sees, so it does not need a tripod or a fixed reference.

This is the right tool for spaces that are awkward to set up in: stairwells, corridors, plant rooms, anywhere you would otherwise be moving a tripod every few meters. You can scan over, under and around objects simply by walking there.

Who it suits: facility documentation, space planning, quick as-builts across a large floor plate, and progress capture where speed matters more than millimeter accuracy.

Where it runs out: it is a mobile scanner, and mobile scanning is less accurate than a tripod setup. If your deliverable feeds fabrication, use a tripod instrument or use the BLK2GO with tripod scans for control.

Leica BLK2GO details

Leica ScanStation P-series: now succeeded by the RTC range

The ScanStation P30, P40 and P50 were Leica's long range terrestrial scanners, reaching close to one kilometer at 34 percent reflectivity with three dimensional positional accuracy of roughly 3mm at 50 meters. Leica has now consolidated them, along with the RTC360, into the single RTC range above.

If you own one, it keeps working and we still service it. If you are buying for long range work, the RTC700 is the top of the current range at 270 metres, which covers most civil and infrastructure jobs comfortably. If you genuinely need measurement beyond 270 metres, talk to us first rather than assuming a like-for-like swap exists.

What survey grade accuracy actually means  |  Ask us about long range scanning

Quick comparison

Rent before you buy

Specifications tell you less than a day on your own site does. Renting the scanner you are considering, on a real project, is the cheapest way to find out whether it fits how your team works. We rent all of the instruments above and ship nationwide. If you buy afterward, ask us about applying rental spend toward the purchase.

See rental equipment  |  Read the buying guide

Not sure which one you need?

Tell us what you are scanning, what tolerance the deliverable has to meet, and how often you expect to do it. We will tell you which instrument fits, including when the cheaper one is the right answer. We are an authorized Leica Geosystems dealer, we service what we sell, and we would rather rent you the right thing twice than sell you the wrong thing once.

Talk to our team