Laser Level

[Jeff C]

I’m looking at laser levels and can’t decide between a cross line level and a three plane 360 degree level. Obviously there is a decent price difference in them. For those of you who have and use one which brand and type did you get? Why? What do you use it for?

 

[alinc100]

You'll have to ask yourself what do you intend to do with the laser. Indoor? Outdoor? Grading? Metal studs and Drywall? Cabinetry? Interior finish work?
I install dry-erase boards,pushpin boards,acoustical panels at a large automotive mfg tech center in Warren MI. We use lasers every single day. Currently I am rocking the Dewalt 360 . I have a new co-worker that has the Milwaukee 360, but I honestly have not had any serious time to compare the 2. I do know the Milwaukee has a fine adjust built-in for vertical lines, a horizontal fine adjust is available with a 2nd(optional) bracket. Most of us, all started with the Dewalt crossbeam, 3 AA battery ,under $200 lasers. In two years I have moved to the cross beam 12volt and/or the 12V 360. For some of the layouts we do it just made more sense. Some of the lower priced lasers,(like the $150 Bosch) we experienced accuracy problems over 12 to 15 feet. I do not recommend those. We also have 4 guys now using the Heupar 503CG laser. They have been reliable,as accurate as the DWs or Milwaukees. They have a proprietary battery,which is not as big or long lasting as the DW/Milwaukee but the Heupar can be charged/plugged into the wall via a USB-C cable .It can also be powered with a portable power bank ,and likely run for days. Heupar also has a couple different brackets/tripods that are handy based upon your needs. I have not ran any of the lasers outdoors with an(optional) receiver ,so I cannot comment on that aspect of any of the lasers. Also have crew members using Spectra and Hilti PM-30 and a Hilti PM-40. Those have a $ignificant increase in price. Also new to the market,a co-worker is looking at this,seems to have a very slight accuracy advantage over some of the others Leica Green Laser

 

[tarbellb]

Similar experiences to alinc100, no hands on with Dewalt or Milwaukee yet. But my cheap Bosch was... cheap. Fat lines, occasional errors.

We have a Huepar 3 plane, its been excellent so far, outdoor use has been good, and works with their (and likely others) receivers.
Highly recommend the 3 planes, but cross LINE is a good substitute. Do not get a dot laser, still dong understand the benefit of those?

If you want to drop some cash look into PLS, Spectra, Hilti, and Johnson.

 

[rlitman]

...Highly recommend the 3 planes, but cross LINE is a good substitute...

How so. I used my 3-plane many times to mark plumb. Can't do that with a cross line.

Unfortunately, my 3-plane drifted badly recently. Probably been dropped too many times, and I'm not sure how to re-balance the pendulum, so I've got a 4-plane coming tomorrow. Spent $50 on Amazon for it (3 and 4 plane lasers have really dropped in price lately). I'll let you know how good or cvrappy it is when I have a chance to check it out.

What I'll do with any horizontal plane laser is place it at one end of a hallway, and pencil mark it's line on a piece of tape at the other end. Then turn it 180 degrees and see it the pencil still splits the beam. Then rotate 90 degrees, and 180 again.

So what's with the 4-plane I mentioned above? It's got two horizontal beams. One on top and one at the bottom. The (tiny) advantage (I suppose) is that you've got two height options for when you're using a book under the laser to set the height of our picture frames. I wouldn't have spent extra dough on the feature, but at $50, I figured I'd pick the one with an extra beam. But now that I think about it, my 3-plane had the magnetic damper in that bottom location. I wonder where it is in this one.

 

[Rc_Guy]

Similar experiences to alinc100, no hands on with Dewalt or Milwaukee yet. But my cheap Bosch was... cheap. Fat lines, occasional errors.

We have a Huepar 3 plane, its been excellent so far, outdoor use has been good, and works with their (and likely others) receivers.
Highly recommend the 3 planes, but cross LINE is a good substitute. Do not get a dot laser, still dong understand the benefit of those?

If you want to drop some cash look into PLS, Spectra, Hilti, and Johnson.

When I was still working hanging fire sprinkler pipe, when we had dry systems such as in huge warehouse is that were not heated we could hang the first piece of pipe and get pitch on it and put a dot laser torpedo level on top of the pipe And drive along with the scissor lift and cut all the hangar rods for the next hundred feet or so of pipe because the dot gave you something to measure to

 

[mike93lx]

I have a cheap cross line Johnson that works well for most of my indoor uses. The tripod is a steaming pile, but it has been good enough. I've been looking for a 360 degree 3 plane for a bit and have seen tbe huepar recommended here a couple times.

I recently bought an awesome spectra rotary and grade stick for outdoor use. It is absolutely absurd and overkill for anything I will ever use, but it's an absolute beast. I expect to be giving it to one of my kids at some point

 

[carmantl]

I leveled a heck of a lot of concrete forms, both for walls and decks with Spectra Precision rotary levels back when they cost about $3,000 dollars apiece. Outdoor receivers were $500. I currently depend on a PLS 360 with target for out to 150 feet and it's only off a 1/4 inch at 100 feet. Mine was built in 2008 and it's really priceless! Got it for $100 at a pawn shop, but you can still get the real deal for less than $500.

 

[haveissues]

I leveled a heck of a lot of concrete forms, both for walls and decks with Spectra Precision rotary levels back when they cost about $3,000 dollars apiece. Outdoor receivers were $500. I currently depend on a PLS 360 with target for out to 150 feet and it's only off a 1/4 inch at 100 feet. Mine was built in 2008 and it's really priceless! Got it for $100 at a pawn shop, but you can still get the real deal for less than $500.

I love my PLS green rotary. I bought it on ebay 10 or years ago for $100 also. It was brand new, just missing batteries. It's one of those tools that once you have one it would be hard not to own it.

 

[tarbellb]

How so. I used my 3-plane many times to mark plumb. Can't do that with a cross line.

Unfortunately, my 3-plane drifted badly recently. Probably been dropped too many times, and I'm not sure how to re-balance the pendulum, so I've got a 4-plane coming tomorrow. Spent $50 on Amazon for it (3 and 4 plane lasers have really dropped in price lately). I'll let you know how good or cvrappy it is when I have a chance to check it out.

What I'll do with any horizontal plane laser is place it at one end of a hallway, and pencil mark it's line on a piece of tape at the other end. Then turn it 180 degrees and see it the pencil still splits the beam. Then rotate 90 degrees, and 180 again.

So what's with the 4-plane I mentioned above? It's got two horizontal beams. One on top and one at the bottom. The (tiny) advantage (I suppose) is that you've got two height options for when you're using a book under the laser to set the height of our picture frames. I wouldn't have spent extra dough on the feature, but at $50, I figured I'd pick the one with an extra beam. But now that I think about it, my 3-plane had the magnetic damper in that bottom location. I wonder where it is in this one.

I suppose "substitute" was incorrect for replacing a 3 plane, I meant compromise.

Also, where are you finding $50 3/4 plane lasers! Please do share, I wouldnt mind beating one of those up on sites.

When I was still working hanging fire sprinkler pipe, when we had dry systems such as in huge warehouse is that were not heated we could hang the first piece of pipe and get pitch on it and put a dot laser torpedo level on top of the pipe And drive along with the scissor lift and cut all the hangar rods for the next hundred feet or so of pipe because the dot gave you something to measure to

A dot is better then nothing, but the same could have been accomplished with a crossline

 

[rlitman]

...Also, where are you finding $50 3/4 plane lasers! Please do share, I wouldnt mind beating one of those up on sites...

I know, right? What have I got to lose? This one had a $20 coupon when I bought it, but went up a little afterwards. It's arriving later today:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09933Y2YK/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I liked the fact that it came with both the elevator platform as well as the magnetic hanging mount. The fourth plane plus those accessories was what made me pick it over the other $50 options I saw that day (note that many of these have chargers with plugs that aren't good in the US, but should work with a travel adapter):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092ZWZW98/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G7FLDYC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09F9R1L8Y/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[zendriver]

I have a Huepar green beam

good inside useless Outside, never did purchase the receiver.

 

[alinc100]

I know, right? What have I got to lose? This one had a $20 coupon when I bought it, but went up a little afterwards. It's arriving later today:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09933Y2YK/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I liked the fact that it came with both the elevator platform as well as the magnetic hanging mount. The fourth plane plus those accessories was what made me pick it over the other $50 options I saw that day (note that many of these have chargers with plugs that aren't good in the US, but should work with a travel adapter):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092ZWZW98/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G7FLDYC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09F9R1L8Y/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I am interested in the accuracy. If I have converted it correctly it is +/- 3/16" at 16 feet. That is almost double of most others +/- 1/8" at 33ft.

 

[mike93lx]

I am interested in the accuracy. If I have converted it correctly it is +/- 3/16" at 16 feet. That is almost double of most others +/- 1/8" at 33ft.

0.2mm/m is a little over 1/16 at 30'. 1/8" at 50'

 

[rlitman]

0.2mm/m is a little over 1/16 at 30'. 1/8" at 50'

And it's not meeting those goals. Nigh time makes this easier. I placed it on a platform on my kids' swingset, with the two horizontal planes reaching my shed ~70' away (and some strategically placed stuff to keep from illuminating the neighbors). I marked the upper and lower extents of both lines in pencil onto a scrap of wood leaning on the shed, with one mark for each orientation of the laser (arbitrarily named N W S E).

The good news is that the worst variance is smaller than the beam width (which suits my indoor needs just fine). The bad news is that I measured 1/2" from highest to lowest, which makes it +/- 1/4" at 70', which works out to +/- 0.3mm/m, or 50% worse than advertised. Oddly enough, the lower plane was significantly better than the upper, and might have exceeded the spec. And, so long as I use the East and West planes, I now know I'll be well within the limits of a pencil mark when used inside.

On another note, I now also remember why I picked this specific one. It uses 18650 cells that I can easily swap out. No proprietary ****.

The elevator platform is super cheezy (I frequently used a nice heavy duty laboratory elevator jack with my last level), but still adequate. The magnetic hanger has a plastic lead screw. The remote conveniently works. Oh, and it came with a US plug! I'm happy.