Vent: That $400 laser level I bought last spring was a total money pit

I grabbed one of those self-leveling green beam deals for a big patio job in March, thought it would save me time. It kept drifting after an hour of use, threw my whole first course off by half an inch. I had to tear out 80 blocks and re-lay them, cost me a whole weekend. Anyone else had luck with a cheaper tripod and string line instead of shelling out for the fancy gadgets?

2 comments

2 Comments

derek_bell22d ago

Funny how the same pattern shows up everywhere, not just in tools. People buy the pricey thing expecting it to fix a problem that cheaper, older methods already handled fine, then pay for it twice when the shiny option fails. Eventually you learn that simple and dependable usually beats fancy and fragile.

karenp1123d ago

Moved back to a basic string line and a cheap torpedo level for anything under twenty feet. That laser was fine for framing, but it just wasn't stable enough for patio work where a little drift means a big problem. I found that checking the string with a level every few courses catches any settling before it turns into a redo. Saved me a ton of time and my back, and the string setup packs down small in the truck. Bad tools cost more than they save, that's for sure.