Laser levels

Old fashioned levels do not need batteries though. Brian

The B & D self leveling laser levels are excellent and not too expensive. I have 2, one horizontal line and one vertical line. About $35 IIRC. Say £30 in the UK. Limited in bright sunlight however. We don't normally get much of that!

I got a Bosch Quigo (£40ish from eBay, dented tin packaging but never unpacked "second") a month or so ago, and it's proved very very useful for t'n'g boarding a ceiling and getting the boards matched either side of a long roof window. The line struggles to be seen when it's particularly bright, but apart from that - no-brainer in my book.

You've got to rig something up to get it sat at the level you want the line, of course, it won't project it up or down.

The projections are what sorts the cheapos out from the pros I imagine. But the spread of the beam is something you can't resolve until you have paid for it. Which is why I posted on here. The holder/adjuster on one bubble in my 6 foot level has cracked so I am on borrowed time with that.

Plus leaving a dayglow yellow stick in your car when not using it is an inv ite to a tool thief. Not so noticeable if it is a small box in the boot.

I don't know how much they cost these days but there isn't a lot between th e price I paid for it new a decade ago and the price of the lower end of th e laser spectrum now.

I hadn't considered the piece of cake it would transform boarding jobs into -Featherboard in particular. I hate to think what my first efforts with th at looked like in my obviously misspent youth. (Thank goodness I have a bad memory, I have enough regrets without all that coming back to haunt me.)

This advert for the Quigo looks like it was thought out by a fool:

Still, the idea of setting and forgetting something like that to do stair r ails and the like, makes me wonder why I never got one half a lifetime ago. S*IT!

Is the Bosch a toy? I like that it does perps and levels simultaneously. What does the team thi nk?

on 29/07/2014, Weatherlawyer supposed :

I don't know how useful it might be for stair rails and things deliberately not level - I have never thought of that sort of use(?)

I have a much older self setting cross level and it is brilliant - spot on for as far a distance it can project a useful line, in both vert and horizontal. I managed to lay my workshop floor outside with it, with a deliberate 1/2" slope. Set wallpaper and do the horizontal wood strips halfway up the walls (name?) so the met up perfectly.

Cheap laser levels are just attached to a spirit level - so no better, and often worse as level is much shorter than 6' level.

Also many cheaper levels are difficult to use in bright/daylight conditions.

I have 'borrowed' a self levelling professional Leica rotating level, and that was a great product but cost almost £1000

So on a personal note - never bothered to buy one ... for close work I use one of the spirit levels (300, 1200, or 1800mm) ... and I have a Surveyors Theodolite for any long runs.

I have a rotating laser level from Spectra Precision - s/h bargain on ebay some years ago. It is superb. Not used it for yonks until this morning when I wanted to work out the infill volume to level some ground for a tractor shed. (50 cu M) - worked right out of the case, easy to set up and use in bright sunlight.

I also have one of the cheap Chinese ones - it works but not too good in bright sunlight. Anyone willing to collect it (TN33) is welcome to it FOC as I never use it now.

Andrew