Extreme Accuracy with Bosch
This review was created as part of a paid affiliate program with the Home Depot.
My first order of business with this and every power tool review is a disclaimer: I am not a professional contractor. I am a farmer and a fine furniture maker. When it comes to construction and renovation projects, I’m a DIYer and weekend warrior. That said, I doubt many professional contractors will be reading my tool reviews. My goal in reviewing tools and products is to provide honest feedback based on my own use and experience with these tools to other regular folks like me- wanting to get their hands dirty, try new things, and get the best value for their hard earned dollars.
This laser tape is the bees knees, and I think it should be another staple in every homeowner’s toolkit. There are a lot of bells and whistles to this tool that have made it especially useful for me. I’ve talked a lot about the frustrations I’ve faced with my dyslexia and apparent inability to use a measuring tape efficiently. The numbers get jumbled in my head and I always seem to forget I’ve burned an inch, then my boards end up too short.
The first project this tool came in handy on was measuring for trim on my shop build. Nothing in that whole place is square, and there’s not even one place in the whole shop where I’ll be able to put in a solid run of trim, but the digital bubble level assured me I was taking precise measurements and nothing was getting longer or shorter because of a bowed tape. I saved each measurement and it CALCULATED THE LINEAR FEET of trim I needed for the whole project automatically. That right there sealed my love affair with this tool.
It can also calculate square footage for flooring, wall material, and paint. It can calculate volume (hello well maintenance on the farm!!), calculate pathagrean theorem (a2+b2=c2) to get the length of roofing material needed on a pitched roof, and for that matter, can also calculate pitch, slope, and angles, and might just be the ticket I desperately needed to stop making gross miscalculations on the jobsite.
I was also able to use it for site prep on the tiny house, measure trees and branch heights when choosing the exact location for the tiny house, as well as planning my means of attack when demolishing the old shed at the tiny house build site.
The only limitation of this tool is that it requires a stop point to be able to measure distances accurately, so in instances where you’d hook the tape to measure something, you’re still tied to using a tape- at least for now. There are, of course, workarounds, you could tack up a stop block for the laser to register against, but sometimes it takes more work to be lazy than to just do things the old fashioned way.
Awesome Features:
· Takes precise measurements in tough to reach spots
· Calculates angles, run, distance, pitch, square footage, volume and more
· Built-in memory storage
· Calculates linear feet needed for specific operations
· Also functions as a level
· Has 1/4/20 thread so it can be mounted on standard clamps and tripods
Things I wish were better/different:
· It’s weird to me that you can’t set it to read 16th’s of an inch, only 32nd’s. In instances where I’d be using this level, it seems like 16th’s are more than adequate.
This retails for $99.97 Would I buy it?
Absolutely. The money/time/headaches I’ll save doing the trim and flooring in the shop and tiny house would pay for it three times over.
*I acknowledge that the Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in the Prospective 2018 Campaign. As part of the program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.