measuring wheels

[JackOfDiamonds]

I want a measuring wheel for just measuring things in my yard, distance between sprinkler heads, widths and lengths of driveway, that kind of thing.

What I'm not sure about is do I want one that has a big, bicycle-type of wheel, or do I want something with a smaller, like 4-inch wheel? Which one is actually more accurate, the bigger wheel or smaller? Are there any other differences that are important?

 

[Squankum]

I want a measuring wheel for just measuring things in my yard, distance between sprinkler heads, widths and lengths of driveway, that kind of thing.

What I'm not sure about is do I want one that has a big, bicycle-type of wheel, or do I want something with a smaller, like 4-inch wheel? Which one is actually more accurate, the bigger wheel or smaller? Are there any other differences that are important?

My guess is that both are accurate, but intended for different terrain. For out in the yard, I'd go with the bigger wheel.

Surveyor's chain?



(Our Weird Internet: I went looking for pics of football referees with the 10 yard chain and two sticks -- and could not find a picture of both guys and their sticks at once, in action. The focus is always on the last few inches near one stick, for obvious reasons.)

Anyway, 'tis plain, you need an apprentice boy. Or a new tool.

 

[yatg]

I've got one with the small wheel. OK for some things. Not good on asphalt, grass, dirt - low traction = skips.

 

[larry_g]

I had one with a 12" wheel that I used laying out this property. Accuracy is somewhat dependent on the operator and the surface your measuring. Trotting along over a rough surface will give a less accurate measurement than slowly traversing the land making sure that the wheel is in constant contact with the ground and rolling. If going over rough ground then do the path a few times and compare the measurements, average them if necessary. What accuracy do you need? There are other measuring systems that are much more accurate if you need fractions of an inch.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Steve_P]

Bigger is going to typically be more accurate- I never see anyone using anything smaller than a ~12" wheel.

Is a 100' tape measure not enough? This is what I have for property type stuff. yes, I sometimes have to stick a stake in at 100' and then start again from there, but it's easy enough.

 

[Beerhippie]

If it's accuracy you want, get a good set of dividers and step it off six inches at a time!

Or use a total station. Leica or Nikon would be my choices.

Wheels are best for measuring things that aren't straight--roads, trails, etc. For straight lines, a surveyor's tape.

 

[no704]

Briefly played with the measure app on an IPhone. It actually worked well. Didn’t try over a long outside distance.

 

[Beerhippie]

I forgot the ancient method of pacing.

Measure your pace--call it what you want, but I was taught that a pace is from when your right (or left) foot touched the ground until the next time it did. A step is called a step--from when one foot hits the ground until the next foot does--and you have twice as many to count. If you're a "square" person, your pace will be your height--as will your armspan. Handy to know when tracking.

Amazingly, pacing can be damned accurate. When I surveyed streams, we had a choice of many ways to estimate distance--visually (WAG), using a primitive range-finder, pacing, etc. Every ten or so units would be measured using tapes--time consuming and a PITA in stream. Walking upstream in chest-deep whitewater to bare trickles, over every substrate imaginable, my crew had the absolute best record for actual measured distance vs. estimated using pacing. I also did some of the data analysis at the end of the season for all the crews. Plotting measured vs. estimated for most of the techniques gave a cloud of points, whereas pacing made a pretty good line on the graph.

 

[RTM]

Surveyors I worked with never used wheels, only steel tapes. I would consider a wheel good for estimates of concrete or asphalt, but not for building a foundation.

I would not trust a small diameter wheel outside.