Electronnic Spirit Level (Lidl)

[jim]

Lidl Crowborough is selling electronic spirit levels @=A325 (lartge box full seen on Saturday). They appear to be robust and have the 2 normal vials at 90deg. Tucked in at one end is an electronic unit with LED screen powered by 9v battery. No instructions, of course.

Strongly suspect wise counsel would whisper 'leave on shelf', even so several Qs arise:

1=2E How do the levels work?

2=2E The electronics has a 'calibrate' button - how does that work? Guessing - is the electronic section calibrated by setting the level on a flat surface as shown by the vials and then pressing calibrate? Or is it something more sophisticated than that.

3=2E After calibration does the electronic unit have its own level detector which takes over independant of the vials?

4=2E Box shows supplier to Lidl is Paget Trading Ltd of Woodrow London. Searched web to try to discover more info about the levels but drew a blank. Internet searches reveal other people trying to contact this firm! Is it bust? Where are these levels manufactured?

5=2E What are its pukka competitors?

It looks stout, so it could be a reasonable purchase provided the vials can be reset and the electronic unit calibrated / validated, but.....any knowledge or opinions out there?

TIA

[David in Normandy]

I don't know about the Lidl one, but I bought a Black and Decker=20 "LaserPlus" and was very disappointed with it. I forget what tolerance=20 it was supposed to have in terms of vertical tilt error per horizontal=20 metre, but mine was several millimetres out and with no means of=20 adjustment. Trouble was I bought it in the UK to use here in France, so taking it=20 back is not an option.

The error came to light after fixing a batten supposedly level by the=20 B&D, but when I put the machine on the other side of the timber, the=20 level was showing way out - they could not both be correct.

I subsequently tested it by first holding it one way around then the=20 other. The tilt is quite clear. Great if you want wonky shelves. It=20 turns out my old trusty bubble spirit level is more accurate. At least=20 you can turn it around and it still shows the same level.

--=20 David in Normandy. (The free MicroPlanet Gravity newsreader is great for eliminating=20 rubbish and cross-posts)

[Adrian C]

Found via TÜV Rheinland certificates...

Paget Trading Ltd. 1 Raffles Place No. 21-01 OUB Centre Singapore 048616 Tel [phone] Fax [phone] Mr. Willy Clev [e-mail]

Paget Services

UK address is at Woodrow Business Centre - a warehouse.

Paget Trading Ltd. c/o Paget Services

65-66 Woodrow UK London SE18 5DH Tel.: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Above numbers are a mail/contact forwarding service.

-- Adrian C

[Tony Bryer]

At a quick look on

I couldn't find a company of this name. It might just mean it's a company registered outside the UK

[Harry Bloomfield]

David in Normandy expressed precisely :

That is the standard method of checking any level, to turn it round on the same surface to check for errors. It doesn't give any clues to its basic accuracy - to check for that, you can place a bit of thick card under one end and see how far the bubble moves.

[Andy Hall]

Next to the bananas?

Any reasonable counsel would shout that since everything else in the store is cheap crap why would that be any different?

OK, so this is a firm that unpacks containers arriving from Shanghai.

Those are big "ifs" and it depends on whether you want something vaguely decent or to waste £25 on goodness knows what.

If you are looking for a worthwhile product then there are a selection from manufacturers such as Leica, Stabila, Bosch etc.

Here's a selection.

[Frank Erskine]

[Andy Hall]

It barely works at all but they will send a catalogue. They are in rural Yorkshire, after all, so one can't have high expectations.

[Frank Erskine]

Well that's more or less what I was thinking. I'm surprised they have electric light, never mind computers.

[Andy Hall]

Exactly, and th'only running water is what goes down 't' walls.

[Andy Dingley]

So's the British Library !

[clot]

I can race round it at speed! :)

[Andy Dingley]

IMHE, these things are OK so long as you don't need something to be accurately level.

If you want a consistent incline, such as for setting out drainage, then they're quick and convenient at delivering an acceptable accuracy.

If you want "level", then you typically need better accuracy. They're not up to this.

IMHE, there are lots of methods in detail, but they all use a swinging pendulum to establish a local datum. There's then a sensor to read the offset of this from the level's body. Older high-accuracy models used an optical scale, cheaper ones use a non-contact inductive or capacitive sensor. These have linearity problems on larger angles.

[Andy Hall]

Presumably to avoid any risk of theft........ :-)

[Owain]

A paper catalogue, by post? How old fashioned.

Owain

[Andy Hall]

Well it is Yorkshire. It's commendable that they can manage to produce one.

[Frank Erskine]

Post? What's that?

[Clive George]

It's what holds fences up round here. And no, not robbing pawn-shops either.

cheers, clive

[Owain]

Something Mr Hall professes not to use

Owain

[Andy Hall]

Not quite. It's used (normally) once a month to deliver documents to my accountant. This week it went by courier firm and will do in future, so that's another `£60 per annum of lost business to RM. I don't have time to waste on these people. They either need to wise up to commercial reality or they'll all be on the street. I don't mind which.