laser level?

[atgcpaul]

I need a new laser level but I'm blown away by the choices (and the PRICES)! Talk to me about 2 vs 3 beam levels. Am I going to regret not getting a 3 beam? But man, those prices!

[dbhost]

Gonna watch this one. I've seen them, but never needed one, yet...

[Jim Frye]

Depends on what you will use a laser level for. I have two old (blue and yellow) Ryobi units, a single beam and a dual beam. They work great indoors and have been invaluable for construction and flooring jobs. They are useless outdoors, unless you work at night as sunlight washes out the beams.

[atgcpaul]

I'm still narrowing down which brand/model to get, but I found this video helpful in deciding what features are important (I'm definitely going with a green light and 3 beams). Being able to see it outside would be nice but not absolutely essential since I can also setup string lines, but if there's a decent knockoff going for ~$150, I might be game.

https://youtu.be/oCEqfeXp-Zs

[cwsmith]

Probably not too helpful, but I have both an old Ryobi and a Johnson kit. The Johnson kit came in a yellow plastic case, complete with laser level, tripod, and other accessories and the Ryobi was in a black zipper case with a couple of plastic holders, a laser head and a LED light head. IIRC, the Johnson was only around $35 or so, purchased at either Harbor Freight or Home Depot and Ryobi was probably in the same price range purchased, at HD of course.

I didn't particular like the Ryobi, but did use it once to mark level when I put in the oak trim in our kitchen. I just checked it, and see that one of the spirit levels has leaked out.

The Johnson looks like a conventional level with the laser shining from one end. It came with two lense deflectors to change the straight beam to a side beam or a line. I used the Johnson to level the gravel bed for my work shed. I had to do it as dusk so I could see the beam, but it worked great for that purpose.

I don't understand why the prices have risen so high! Seems ridiculous considering what they used to sell for, at least for homeowner uses.

CWS

[atgcpaul]

I bought a Huepar 3 beam self-leveling unit from Amazon after watching lots of YouTube videos. Not inexpensive but also not as expensive as some bigger brands like Bosch or DeWalt.

I do kind of wish I paid a little more for the one with the remote control fob. That way you can set it up, turn it on/off without messing up your setting.

Otherwise the unit does what I need it to do. The battery seems to last a long time. I left this on for over an hour as I went back and forth to the garage as I frame this closet and the battery meter didn't change. The green line is easy to see and checked out against my good 4ft level.

Here it's mounted to a separate magnetic mount and it's shooting a plum line on the ceiling, wall, and floor making it really easy to frame out a new closet.

Last week I used it to help guide me as I lay vinyl plank flooring

[Slik Geek]

Have to be really gentle with those older Ryobi laser levels. The wiring to the laser is super small wire (nearly human hair thickness). Drop that puppy and the wire will snap. I attempted a repair but it is not realistic.

[atgcpaul]

The level is coming in quite handy. I love that it keeps my hands free while I'm working on something else. My headlamp batteries were running low, too, so it was getting harder and harder to see the bubble on my level and bending low to see it was getting annoying. There's no ambiguity now.

[LCHIEN]

Don't forget to remove your level before pouring concrete!

[atgcpaul]

If it's any kind of endorsement, I would buy it again. The kit comes with 2 lithium batteries and even with regular and continuous use, I haven't swapped out the first battery yet