To busy laying out to use auto layout..lol

I purchased a 200HS auto layout 4 months ago and have yet to have the time to try and figure it out or calibrate the machine.. I'm running all over the place and the majority of my work is new layout, but I just feel like it's going to take a bunch of time to figure out so I haven't even tried yet. I just figured I would play with it once things slowed down a bit. Is it really pretty easy to figure out? If so, I may have to go ahead and make the time to do it.. Does it allow for single person layout? wouldn't I still have to chalk lines from dot to dot, or do you guys just eyeball it.. I don't mind eyeballing a shorter head in line but I can't see running all the way across a lot and 6-8 rows of stalls and not having a line on the ground..

It is easy to calibrate but does have a learning curve. It's a great tool and asset once your learn to use it and well worth the investment if you do a lot of layout. We have used them for six or seven years now and I wouldn't be without one. We do not snap lines on head ins but will pull a string on double head ins at times. We are in the mountains so we do a lot of sloped lots that can cause a machine to run of to the side. Most of the time we took the advice from Jpanz and use a laser and a cone with reflective tape on it for a target. We have learned to make head dot along a string line and on the curb end dot about 5 or six feet out from the curb. Once you have painted to the inner dot just let the machine go and it will stay straight for that short of distance. That's if you are using a driver, walking may be a different story as the machine can be pushed of with every step. We use green weed eater line rolled on a good fence roller from tractor supply. We weight them with 7 lb bar bell lifting weights from wally world. we have around 500 feet on a roll. On tip if you are spraying over new sealer, dot the starts and pick up line before painting. The sealer can make the wheels sticky enough to lift the line as you drive across.

I do about 90% new layout... I have the 200 with a driver, a 3900 with a driver and a 3400 for stencils and boxes. I'll have to spend some time messing with it as soon as I get a chance.. Just measuring and marking the stall ends would save quite a bit of time over pulling tapes. It seems that i'm always making slight adjustments in order to get the lines to run end to end across the parking lot, so I also worry that if I just go island to island up and down each row, that the stalls may not carry straight from one row to another... I guess it's all part of the learning process

It takes under 5 min to calibrate. We check one stall on every job but it stays calibrated almost all summer. I would say it takes 15 min to figure out. You do learn different tricks over time with it. We either laser or snap every line. The laser and auto layout make a good team. once we mark our 18s i put the target at one end and dot every 9ft or what ever it is. It puts a dot right at the 18 mark. If I have multiple rows to line up off an island I string line the first row then use the auto layout based off that string line.

any videos of you guys using the auto lay out, we have one but we only use it for mark the skip dash on the streets, never use it for parking lots

TT@RNS, Where are you located? Maybe I can send someone your way If you have an hour to spare! Tere is NO one set way to use it and it doesn't do everything, but it does do a lot, and well.

Take an hour, it will save you 100 or more down the road.

sounds like I need to make the time...