Laser level owners willing to share experiences

[lostinthelight]

Hi, I am in the process of researching laser levels and wondered if owners/users of them would care to share their experiences of their particular model/models.
It would be good to know how they have found them in brighter conditions including outside.
Lots of reviews online are given by dealers/bloggers etc, who are not unbiased so wanted some real life feed back.
I have searched the forum and found lots of threads, many of them are from quite a while ago so for those who replied then and decide to reply to my post, how have their levels stood the test of time ,would they buy the same again etc?
Thanks
litl

 

[SammyInnit]

Used dewalt and Hilti lasers for the last 10 years. This year I bought two dewalt green lasers. They're not cheap but if you use them a lot they're worth the money.

It comes down to what your budget is and what you're doing. Where you're working, indoors or outdoors?

I've attached pictures of the two green lasers I have and they're excellent. I've still got a couple of the older DeWalt red line that run off AAs and I've got a 5 spot plumb laser.

If you let me know where you're using them and budget I can give more info.

 

[lostinthelight]

Thanks for the reply.
I intend using mainly indoors but living on a smallholding Im occasionally extending barns/sheds, bulding retaining walls and grading ground so visible outside would be an advantage but one tool will not do all?
Im also doing some stud partitions,re tilting,floors and walls.
I have been lookin at the Bosch 360 plane laser ..gll3-80 as well as Dewalt 360 dce089 green and Leica L360
so my budget is around up to there as they seem to have good IP and drop ratings...which is why I bought a Leica disto x310 laser measure.
litl

 

[SammyInnit]

Well I have the DCE089 and love it for how quick and easy it is to set up a pair of lines at right angles but I wouldn't say it's going to be amazing outdoors without the detector.

The DCE088 is definitely the brighter of the two flagship models offered by DeWalt.

I did see the Bosch green lasers at the DM tool show earlier this year and while the app features to control them from your phone are nice, at the price they fall well short of the dewalt for me.

Truth be told though, for grading and a lot of outdoor use you may want to consider a proper rotary spot laser.

 

[EddieM]

I have a dumb question about laser levels. Why is the line they project so thick? I would have thought it should be pin sharp (when I say thick I mean sort 1.5mm) sorry probably a stupid question.

 

[lostinthelight]

I have a dumb question about laser levels. Why is the line they project so thick? I would have thought it should be pin sharp (when I say thick I mean sort 1.5mm) sorry probably a stupid question.

I will be extremely happy if the line on the one I eventually purchase is only 1.5mm wide, they look much wider on most of the vids I've seen online.
litl

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I intend using mainly indoors but living on a smallholding Im occasionally extending barns/sheds, bulding retaining walls and grading ground so visible outside would be an advantage but one tool will not do all?

I'm afraid there really isn't really a one-size fits all solution to this. For interior work I use a Bosch GLL3-80P - the original 3-axis small laser. I have the BM-1 base and the clip-on sub-base for use on ceilings (suspended and false) and for me it pretty much replaced the need for a large rotary laser. I wrote a review on the GLL3-80P here some time ago and I stand by what I wrote back in 2011. But times change and there are newer bits of kit which have caught-up with and passed the Bosch by, mainly in the form of the deWalt DCE089D1G 3-axis green laser which has two major advances over my Bosch - firstly it has a rechargeable battery and secondly the green laser line is far easier to read in higher light levels due to the sensitivity of the human eye. I've tried a colleagues DCE089 green laser recently and the green line really does make it a better laser to use. Side-by-side, though, there isn't much difference in accuracy as far as I could see. The Bosch equivalent is currently a lot more expensive and when people start talking in terms of £650 to £700 (the last figure I had quoted for the Bosch) for a small self-levelling laser I really baulk a bit. So in the immediate future I'll be keeping the GLL3-80P as it is still a far better laser than most of the compact lasers out there

The problem of lasers when you move outside and start to work on levels on buildings is that the small pocket-size lasers simply don't have enough projection power to cover the distances. OK, they'll work for a shed or a car port, but a barn or a 20m car showroom? No way as a rule. For these bigger jobs the heavy rotary models with remote controls and remote line/position sensors really come into their own. They have far greater range and the remote sensors you can get for them mean that you can happily work in daylight. the downsides are that they are eye-wateringly expensive, very large and just too cumbersome for a lot of interior work. I have an old Leica rotary which is now about 12 or 13 years old and when I need a big laser out it comes - but that isn't very often and TBH if it died tomorrow I'd simply hire one for a day or two next time I needed an outdoors laser because I use it so rarely. Were I to be a groundworks contractor doing concrete levels, grading land, etc I'd want to replace it, but I'm a joiner and I don't really need it.

 

[bobsuerita]

think most has been covered one thing worth looking at if using out doors to is pulsating mode ive been using http://imextools.co.uk/ levels
for a couple of years now
most of there cross line laser can be used for up to 50m outside with a detecter

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I have a dumb question about laser levels. Why is the line they project so thick? I would have thought it should be pin sharp (when I say thick I mean sort 1.5mm) sorry probably a stupid question.

If you think about it the line cannot be truly parallel because it is focused through a lens (and is subject to the laws of optics), so there will be a point of focus where the line is at its' narrowest but either side of that (nearer and further away from the laser light source) it gets gradually wider. In fact the most surprising thing to me is how narrow a laser line is at 30 metres from the laser. Of course if you use lasers regularly it becomes second nature to judge the middle of the line and mark that point (and not the edge as some people mistakenly seem to do)

 

[lostinthelight]

Thanks for the replies guys, I ended up buying a DCE089G online from these people, very helpfull on the phone and listed spare batteries after I spoke to them...not only were they amongst the cheapest, they were not too far away if I have any problems
https://www.cnspowertools.co.uk/n?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrr3X5qC82AIVpLDtCh1UGArREAQYBCABEgKgcfD_BwE
litl
Edit: I had read reviews about the not being able to get the bits back in the case but this one had quite a roomy Tstack container so no problem to put them back in

 

[Notch7]

Thanks for the replies guys, I ended up buying a DCE089G online from these people, very helpfull on the phone and listed spare batteries after I spoke to them...not only were they amongst the cheapest, they were not too far away if I have any problems
https://www.cnspowertools.co.uk/n?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrr3X5qC82AIVpLDtCh1UGArREAQYBCABEgKgcfD_BwE
litl
Edit: I had read reviews about the not being able to get the bits back in the case but this one had quite a roomy Tstack container so no problem to put them back in

Thats a very good price for a green level.

What do you think of the level -are you pleased with it?

 

[lostinthelight]

Thats a very good price for a green level.

What do you think of the level -are you pleased with it?

Only had it a few hours but have done a few marking out jobs I've been putting off till I had bought one, well thats been my excuse for not doing it sooner.
If I had a criticism, it would be of the L mounting bracket which could do with having vertical micro adjustment.
litl