Laser levels.....

[JDLDIY]

I've pretty much decided to invest in a laser level. I have some ceilings to put up which will need levelling out, tiling, shelving etc, etc.
Having had a look at what's out there via the web, I'm coming down to ;

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=121139&MAN=Black-And-Decker-Lzr4-Laser-360-Self-Leveling
or
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.as...elf-Levelling-Cross-Line-Laser-Level-1-77-153

Has anyone used either of these?
I'm trying to get to grips with just how accurate are these levels. The B&D one says it's accurate to 0.6 degrees, which I have figured equates to roughly 1mm in a metre. Anyone any good at maths?!!
So that would make it only half as accurate/good as the Stanley one.

Please help me make my mind up!!

Cheers

JD

 

[hermes]

. The B&D one says it's accurate to 0.6 degrees, which I have figured equates to roughly 1mm in a metre.

my maths may be wrong but I make it about 10.5mm.

 

[simon_t]

10.472mm but who's counting!


Mind I cheated and used AutoCAD

 

[JDLDIY]

Thanks guys, that doesn't strike me as too accurate for a laser level.

 

[JDLDIY]

With the angle being 0.6 degrees and assuming an adjacent side of 1m, or 1000mm;

Tan0.6 x 1000 = 10.47mm opposite side.

This just can't be right, unless B&D are literally selling none of these, to lose 10mm for every metre is way more inaccurate than any of the other levels. In fact to lose 1mm for every metre would be pushing it when compared with the other levels out there.

It's been a couple of decades since I did trigonometry and it shows!

JD

 

[sm1thson]

yep i made it 10.47, then checked on the link and it says 0.06deg so its actually 1.047mm per metre (you got it right the first time)

the stanley one says:
Levelling accuracy - +/- 4mm @ 9 Metres
which i make +-0.025deg so i would actually call that 0.05deg when comparing to the B&D as that didnt say +- !
(or 0.88recurring mm per metre, so a bit better but not double!)

 

[JDLDIY]

Thanks sm1thson, so what's wrong with my maths? How did I get the decimal place wrong? I think I still have my O/A level maths books im the loft so I might dig them out as this is really buggng me!

 

[eggplant]

A difference that doesnt seem to have been noticed - the stanley one isnt a 360 whereas the b&d one is. Obviously something to take into account....

 

[JDLDIY]

A difference that doesnt seem to have been noticed - the stanley one isnt a 360 whereas the b&d one is. Obviously something to take into account....

Absolutely correct eggplant. It would be nice to have the 360 degree capability as well as the plumb line but that doesn't seem available at least at this end of the market..........
I'm leaning towards a cross hair laser at the moment, especially as I'm not convinced of the quality of the B&D unit. The plumb facility would also be very useful to have. It's just that for installing the dropped ceilings I have to do the 360 would have been great............

 

[seaangler]

think you will find that the stanley one is out of date . Seems to have been replaced by one that looks exactly the same , comes with an extendable pole (to go between floor and ceiling which the unit slides up and down on) and costs less than £100

 

[JDLDIY]

think you will find that the stanley one is out of date . Seems to have been replaced by one that looks exactly the same , comes with an extendable pole (to go between floor and ceiling which the unit slides up and down on) and costs less than £100

Yeah you maybe right on that, the CLL is the new one but as far as I can see it isn't quite so accurate, losing 6mm for every 9m.

 

[sm1thson]

Thanks sm1thson, so what's wrong with my maths? How did I get the decimal place wrong? I think I still have my O/A level maths books im the loft so I might dig them out as this is really buggng me!

i dont think theres anything wrong with your maths, you calculated it right in the first post, but you mistyped the error quoting 0.6 instead of 0.06, so everyone calculated using 0.6, and you redid it with 0.6 and got the right answer for 0.6, but this is wrong as the link doesnt quote 0.6 it quotes 0.06 you just mistyped in in the first post!

 

[JDLDIY]

i dont think theres anything wrong with your maths, you calculated it right in the first post, but you mistyped the error quoting 0.6 instead of 0.06, so everyone calculated using 0.6, and you redid it with 0.6 and got the right answer for 0.6, but this is wrong as the link doesnt quote 0.6 it quotes 0.06 you just mistyped in in the first post!

Oh christ!! Thanks this was doing my head in. So this level potentially loses 1mm for every metre which still isn't very good at all.

I just found the Stanley CL90 on eBay for a decent price and am tempted by that as the accuracy is stated as something like 0.3mm per metre.

 

[Scrit]

What surprises me is that nobody has mentioned the obvious antidote to this high tech tomfoolery - the water level. Even that's expensive compared to this. Based on the figures being bandied about I reckon the great pyramid would have been a bit wonky if they's used laser levels.

Scrit

 

[sm1thson]

I just found the Stanley CL90 on eBay for a decent price and am tempted by that as the accuracy is stated as something like 0.3mm per metre.

sure its not +-0.3mm which would be 0.6mm? (admitidly still better).

as for the water level kit -that is a good idea, but a laser is so easy to use i guess it depends what you need!