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Vent: I dropped $600 on a fancy laser level and it's been more trouble than it's worth on rough framing.
Everyone on the crew was hyping these up, saying it would save hours. Got the DeWalt one with the green beam. On a perfectly flat interior wall, sure, it's great. But on the kind of ground-up framing we do, with uneven ground and lumber that's not perfectly straight? Constantly fighting to get a clear line, the tripod legs sink in dirt, and if the sun's out good luck seeing it. For setting plates and rough layout, my old string line and a 4-foot level is faster and way less fiddly. I feel like I bought a solution for a problem I didn't really have. Anyone else find these tools better in theory than on a real, messy job site?
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the_wendy1mo ago
Isn't it just the way that the fancier the tool gets, the more it seems to need perfect conditions to even work? You see it everywhere now, not just on a job site. It's like buying a gadget that promises to make life easier but just adds more steps and things to go wrong. Sometimes the old, simple way is just more solid because it deals with the real world, not a perfect one. That laser level sounds like it needs a lab, not a construction site.
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valc911mo ago
Oh man, gotta ask though - did you try it with the detector? Or is it just the whole setup that's the headache regardless?
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