Rotary Laser

[shadow2]

i was looking at the hilti pr26 and i wondering if there is a better on out there

 

[lumberjack]

I have a Spectra UL633 that I'm well pleased with.

 

[nlneilson]

I have two from Harbor Freight that work great and under $50 each.

 

[eric12]

top con makes a nice one, what are you using it for? do you just need a flat level laser or are you needing slope also?

 

[mitch504]

I have a Dewalt that works great for a flat laser, for the price. Around $300.

 

[powerjoke]

I don't know anything about the one your talking about but I have several and my favorite is my spectra LL600 a bit spendy but has served us ell for 10-15yrs and will shoot 3000' if I remember right, however it does get to be a pita if you have a congested site and several different contractors have a laser set up about the same elevation.

Also have a cheap Bosch that I bought at Home Depot one time in a pinch that works great, it was only $600 with receiver, tripod and stick

Pj

 

[ScottAR]

I have a manual Dewalt also that is serviceable. I don't remember the beam distance but it seems enough for a residential site. Takes the same batteries as the rest of the tools which is handy.

 

[wilko]

I have two from Harbor Freight that work great and under $50 each.

Harbor Freight is a strange place. Some of their stuff is cheaper than dirt and works great. What model unit do you have and how much use have you given it?

 

[mitch504]

Harbor Freight is a strange place. Some of their stuff is cheaper than dirt and works great. What model unit do you have and how much use have you given it?

You got that right! You can't beat some of their stuff, and some is garbage. I looked on their website, and the only 2 rotary lasers they have only have a range of 40', and accuracy of 1/4" in 33'. This wouldn't be very useful for most excavation and grading work. I have their straight laser level, and it comes with the same tripod. I have used that tripod many times to set my Dewalt on when I need it near ground level. It is nice to be able to level it, then crank up the height without messing up the level or slope.

1/4" in 33' is 3/4" in 100', and most other lasers are 1/8 or 1/16" in 100'. My Dewalt has a working range of 600' radius, many of the more expensive ones are 1000' radius.

Btw Scott, I bought the Dewalt that uses D cells just because I hate rechargeables. If I don't use them all the time, they are dead when I want them. Oh, and my $300 Dewalt was just the laser and case, the receiver, good tripod and stick was another $2 or $300.

 

[ScottAR]

I have several batteries and I use them regularly, sometimes all in the same day. I should confess that I forgot about the battery that came with it until it died.

 

[nlneilson]

Harbor Freight is a strange place. Some of their stuff is cheaper than dirt and works great. What model unit do you have and how much use have you given it?

The units are up at my Farm but looking on the HF web site I think they are the Pittsburgh - item#69247

I bought the first one and it worked so good I bought a second one. The first is still working great so the second is still in the original package.

I have used it up to about 1/4 mile. It is the leveling on the tripod that makes the difference.
I have used it mainly on 2 1/5 acre parcels for setting stakes.

Neil

 

[nlneilson]

I could not find how to edit a post on this forum.

I bought them about 4 years ago and no problems so far.
I usually just visually look at the laser beam on a survey lathe. I do have an expensive receiver but usually use that for setting the laser on the tripod using binoculars with the receiver on a stake.

I did have a receiver mounted on a LeTourneau 10 yard pull scraper behind my CAT D7 Dozer but it is easier just setting stakes and go for it.

 

[Tinkerer]

The units are up at my Farm but looking on the HF web site I think they are the Pittsburgh - item#69247

I bought the first one and it worked so good I bought a second one. The first is still working great so the second is still in the original package.

I have used it up to about 1/4 mile. It is the leveling on the tripod that makes the difference.
I have used it mainly on 2 1/5 acre parcels for setting stakes.
Neil

I looked at the Harbor Freight ad and that level apparently is manually leveled visually with bubbles.
With only 1/4 inch of accuracy at 33 FEET that thing could be off as much as 2 1/2 inches at 330 feet. Keep in mind, that is with the bubble vials being leveled as close as you can get them. Any rotating laser that does not have either an optical or mechanical self leveling system would never be used on anything I graded. You should borrow or rent a self-leveling rotating laser in the $500.00 to $1000.00 cost range and check the accuracy of the HF one. I think you may get lucky once in a while and have it fairly close to being at true level. Please don't take this post as criticism. I am posting this because a huge amount of people read these posts for information to make decisions in regards to purchasing everything from tools to machines and the more of that information they have, the better equipped they are to make a correct and productive decision.
In regards to the OP's Hilti PR26 question, I think it is a super nice level. It has a high visibility green laser beam and the accuracy is superb. 1mm (0.0393701 inch) at 10 meters (393.701 feet). Also the quality of the laser beam receiver is just as important as the level itself. The receiver I have gives me the choice of selecting three different vertical reading widths. The narrowest is width is 1/16 of an inch. I use that mostly for more accurate grades.

 

[nlneilson]

"I have used it up to about 1/4 mile. It is the leveling on the tripod that makes the difference."

I don't use the bubbles very often, just for short stuff.
On my Farm ALL of the proprety has slope. The 'flat' area for my equipment, etc. has 4'' / 150 feet.

For a quarter mile I set the receiver the height I want. When the receiver blinks as seen through binoculars that is good.

Every time I rip the property and even the natural compaction of the dirt makes more difference than any 'error' in the rotary laser.

I am very pleased with them.

 

[Oxbow]

10 meters (393.701 feet)

Those are BIG meters Tinkerer! (Just teasing)

We have A Spectra LL400 and GL 422 (dual slope). They have worked well, but are very finicky when setting on frozen ground. It seems that as the aluminum tripod feet warm up just a touch from sunshine they settle minutely (melt the ground ever so slightly) and the laser shuts it self down. This is of course a good feature to maintain accuracy, but it gets frustrating at times.

We have had to get the GL422 recalibrated once.

 

[nlneilson]

1mm (0.0393701 inch) at 10 meters (393.701 feet).

As Oxbow mentioned: Those are BIG meters Tinkerer! (Just teasing)

How about 10 meters = 32.8083 feet
The EXACT (by definition) is 25.4 mm = 1 inch

The 'accuracy' of the high price units is determined by the 'auto leveling'
I could check the accuracy of the most expensive for 'auto leveling' even the dual slope.
It is just a matter of setting the laser spinner to a known point and checking where the $$$$ units point to. That is just basic.

My Major in college was Physics.
Einstein was wrong as the speed of gravity (or it's effect) travels 1,000 of times faster than light. http://www.ldolphin.org/vanFlandern/
Time/light speed is affected to a small extent by the magnitude of the gravitational field it travels through. All the GPS satellites compensate for that.
Some of the new GPS units have a resolution of .0001 foot (just guessing as it has been a while since reading on that) and the accuracy is nearly that.
Who cares?? The tectonic plates are moving so in a few months the readings will be different at that resolution.

Also with the curvature of the Earth over a half mile distance the 'level' has about 1/2 inch in the middle that is 'lower' in line of sight than it's 'altitude'. Just basic algebra.

I will use the $50 HF units even if I had a couple $$$$ units in a box.
It takes more time setting at least two points first but I KNOW where I am at.

 

[Oxbow]

nlneilson, I can check the accuracy easy enough, but am not brave enough to attempt to figure out how to calibrate it. Has anybody done that on the Spectras?

 

[nlneilson]

Some units have a 'plum bob' that is electronically read.

Oxbow: What part of Idaho are you in?
My relatives on my Moms side are from the Blackfoot area.

 

[norite]

Back to the hilti laser.

I've never used one, but I have some other hilti equipment. I googled it, no max range spec. but gave accuracy as 1mm at 30m. which sounds ok. In suggested applications it was recommended for drywall and suspended ceilings. Says it has a green laser for better view outside. Hilti makes good stuff, if expensive. You may find they have another model better suited to what you intend to do.

Personally I have a topcon unit, flat rotating laser unit with detector goes out to 500' or so. For excavating, next unit will be a dual slope unit to allow direct readout of grades, otherwise for flat work like pads and foundations, mine is great.

I like my topcon laser but would also look into spectra lasers as well, they seem to be popular in the contractor market.

 

[Oxbow]

Some units have a 'plum bob' that is electronically read.

Oxbow: What part of Idaho are you in?
My relatives on my Moms side are from the Blackfoot area.

Blackfoot, coincidently!