What makes a good laser level?I'm seeing things that are prohibitively expensive and things that look like e-waste, with shitty clamps or a tripod that can barely cover any height. I'm a weekend warrior and am taking on some volunteer work helping people with chores.
The main differences I've noticed between cheap and expensive laser levels are visibility and accuracy. Cheaper ones tend not not be visible in daylight beyond 10 feet or so, and lose about 1/8" accuracy beyond that point as well.You get what you pay for, typically. I've used a DeWalt to install 30'x28' rolling steel doors, and it's a lifesaver. A coworker uses his $50 Amazon special laser level and can't seem to install a residential garage door straight.
i bought an 80 dollar kobalt one when doing my septic system.use a flat sheet to spot the line.in the middle of a sunny day they are useless over 15 or 20 feet. having worked with ones prior to this purchase, i pounded in ~10 grade stakes, made marks at sunrise with no issue, and ran stringlines. work with em they are good. creativity and a woodworkin clamp, you probably dont need a puny useless tripod
What others said about daylight visibility and accuracy, plus that very cheap ones don't tend to have the pulse function that enables the use of detectors for longer range. Though my $150 chink one is fairly accurate for what it is, used it with a detector over 10-15m distances to adjust heights of wall insulation starting layer, and it didn't cause any issues.
i didnt really read the other guy's thingthe idea that the cheap ones arent accurate over long periods is pretty dumb. they are pendulum's, if gravity is working they will read level. dont trust it? bump it.
I get a lot of use out of a cheap + laser. I can attach it to a door, ladder, or just a board. A dedicated tripod with course and fine adjustment would be much better. My laser doesn't always cast the full width of view. It gets a lot from range, but it's not shooting a ring around the room. It can be fussy about tilt. It doesn't take many degrees in any direction to take it out of plumb. The little lever arm makes it hard to correct the tilt and keep the height I want.
>>2954418I have a basic husky laser level. But it has a crummy clamp and no way to fine adjust height. Just a ball joint that I'd loosen, bump a little, wait until the laser wobbles back to level, tighten, then repeat. It was enough to get the job done but I hate using it to be perfectly honest.Next job I do I'm going to buy a more expensive laser level with plumb dots and figure out a way to get fine adjust.
