Laser Measure - which one to buy?

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Meant to add. Add a Chartered Building Surveyor I never leave home without mine.
The smallest cheapest Leica works for me. In particular, its ability to take maximum and minimum measurements across a room is invaluable for catching those wonky rooms. (Which is all of them)
You won't regret buying a quality one.
I suppose that's the difference between a Chartered Building Surveyor and a Chartered Structural Engineer, laser measuring is accurate enough for one, but not the other.
 
Hi

If you think of the laser measure as a fancy tape measure and use it only where you would use a tape measure then it is accurate but not as accurate as a steel rule. Lasers are far more useful when they project lines onto walls and ceilings, so much better than the water level.
 
This is probably an incredibly dense question, but how do you measure external corners ? Do you have to stick a little marker on or something ?

Ollie
 
Got a used (but hardly used at all) Leica Disto D2 off the bay for just over £100. It has a handy thing where it takes constant measurements. You can take a lot of guess work out of getting accurate readings where you can't be sure you're spot on level - you just use the shortest measurement. Makes a great cat toy too!
 
I suppose that's the difference between a Chartered Building Surveyor and a Chartered Structural Engineer, laser measuring is accurate enough for one, but not the other.
Exactly, British Standard tolerances are very different for both.
You make an excellent point worthy of genuine consideration by OP.
What tolerance is he trying to achieve as the Leica may be unnecessary. (Or not good enough and have to go up the range or elsewhere)
 
This is probably an incredibly dense question, but how do you measure external corners ? Do you have to stick a little marker on or something ?

Ollie
The Lecia has a minimum & maximum setting. It shoots the laser out taking constant readings and depending on the setting you choose gives the longest or shortest reading. You merely sweep the corner slowly with the laser.
 
I see, I was imagining that you would measure while right next to the wall as with a tape measure, so the laser would be firing off to infinity.
So, you sort of step away a bit and it does the maths? Its cleverer than I thought.

Ollie
 
I use the Stanley TLM99, which was a reasonable price and has done the job well. Not only does it do the usual measurements but it can also work out areas and volume.

As to accuracy it gives +/- 2mm, which for me was more than enough.
 
Over what distance is that +/- 2mm? have you checked it or is that the manufacturers claim?
 
Be careful if you by a cheapie from Amazon. A lot of those that are advertised as ‘laser’ are actually ultrasonic measurement with a laser spot guide for aiming. That’s not to say that they’re bad, but if you specifically want a laser measurement device you are unlikely to find it in a £20 Amazon cheapie.
It's this one (actually the older 40m range version).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MTB1N81/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_qKtMFbN62YXPDSo far as I can tell its laser, but I'm not sure if there's any obvious way to check.

To add, I tried taking a measure with the laser covered but the main window exposed and it failed, which suggests it's more than just a laser pointer.
 
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Well thanks for all the advice, I bought a Leica Disto in the end, it’s fantastic. I am doing a framing project inside a number of shipping containers and the accuracy of the Disto is great, the only fault I can find is that the button to fire the laser is completely smooth and so you can’t tell without looking if your thumb is on it or not ( when you’re balanced on a ladder looking at a red dot 5m away in the opposite direction!) a really minor niggle but I would have thought easy for Leica to fix, I haven’t used the clever functions yet and my next job will be the fit out of the containers so using its ability to transfer measurements onto the supplied software on my iPad to let me draw dimensioned plans will be the next learning point
Thanks for all the input
 
This is probably an incredibly dense question, but how do you measure external corners ? Do you have to stick a little marker on or something ?

Ollie
Yes, a piece of card or wood laid on the corner.

My only beef is laser visibility in daylight. Accuracy is good for me.
 

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