Customer Reviews

Black & Decker BDL100AV All-In-One SureGrip Laser Level

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Length:: 1:18 Mins

I like this because:
- It's not too expensive (for a laser level)
- It is compact, more so when you don't need the section cup part (see the video)
- It is easy to use

What I didn't like:
- There is only a horizontal beam. Sometimes its handy (or even necessary) to have a vertical beam as well. In that case I prefer the Black & Decker BDL310S Projected Crossfire Auto Level Laser
- It doesn't reliably stick to painted walls. I easily fixed that as shown in the video

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews, accompanied by detailed videos, can take the place of first-hand experiences that are often lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've gotten from other reviewers and try to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and the video at least entertaining. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

I wish the suction cup worked better.

Like a lot of "modern" houses, mine in mainly textured wallboard. The suction cup does not work at all, not even for a few seconds.

Once you put in on a smooth surface, it holds fine, but I don't normally hang pictures on my doors or jams.
If you don't mind pin holes and remember if you are off a little in your placement, another pin hole or two is in your future, then this does work.

Another complaint I have is that the level is connected via magnet and cannot be "locked". When mounted, the slightest touch will take the level out of alignment and while it is not hard to get it level (green) again, there is a little "play" in between the level lines. So once it is moved, it may not be exactly in the same place again. There should be a lock.

You also need to note that the laser only comes out of one side. If you are using this to hang pictures along a wall you need to mount it all the way to one side so the laser shows the line on the whole wall. You wouldn't want to start in the middle and flip it over since there is no guarantee that you will get the magnetic attachment exactly at the same level you did going the other way.

I had my husband hang curtain rods in our house this last weekend, and I gave him this to do it with. The laser showed up nicely on the wall, and all we did was measure where (height) I wanted my first holder, and the rest lined up from there. The red/green indicator light made it easy to tell when we were in line. We have textured walls, so we had to use the push pin to hold the level, but did not have a problem with that. the hole was so small we could not see it (but we did fill it anyway). Then my husband went wild and started checking all our appliances for level, as the unit has an audible beep signal for level, so you don't have to be looking at it while turning the levelers on the feet. Now we are all in level. Since we did not use the suction cup, for a test we hung it up on our fridge, and it is still there 4 days later. The only thing we did not like was the switch to change the unit from level to laser, as it is easy to slide, and would go past the off position and turn on the other funtion (it is a three position slide switch, with off being the center position). All in all, it works, it is a good price and I can see us using it for everything from picture hanging to leveling everything in the house. Because of the switch, I really wanted to give it between 4 and 5 stars, but that was not an option, but it is a very usefull tool.

It seems like it's been years since somebody came out with a decent consumer laser level...until now! This item is perfect for one of the most common DIY projects around the house - hanging pictures! I just moved into a new home and used Black & Decker SureGrip Level to hang all of the pictures in our house. I also used it to hang cabinets in our garage. The red/yellow light indicator that tells you when the laser is perfectly level is perfect for low-light areas where it's tough to see the vial (garage, under cabinets, etc.). The audible alert also makes it effortless. The best thing about this product, though is that you don't have to worry about pins or sticky strips when attaching it to the wall - it just sucks right onto the wall.

Great job, Black & Decker!

I was truly excited when this product was introduced. It solved the issue with marking up walls when hanging things. Or so I thought.

The idea is great. Press the mount against the wall and push the center button in to trap the air and create suction. Attach the level via the magnet. I was successful in mounting it to all walls except wallpaper with a coating on it. Flat wallpaper without any coating worked fine. You will be able to tell if the suction is coming loose because the arrows on the button will become visible letting you know it is about to fall off.

The biggest and most important issue is that the laser is the worst I have ever used. It only remains solid for the first few inches extending from the unit. After that it degrades greatly and becomes more of a grainy patch than a line. In daylight it is difficult to follow the line. At night it is obviously more visible, but still very grainy and not much like a line at all. For sure the laser line looks nothing like the images on here. Laser technology in tools has been around for a long time so I really don't understand why the projection is so poor. I also found that some "stray" laser reflections pointed out of the back of the unit extending downward a few inches along the wall which is somewhat distracting. Just low quality all around. I bought a laser level ball on here years ago that projects a solid beam for 15 plus feet, and that was only a few dollars. There really is no excuse for this weak laser performance.

The level indicator feature is nice, however it changes from red to green without being completely centered. You can clearly see the centering bubble is a few millimeters off to one side but still the light turns green. This may not seem like much, but for those of us who prefer perfectly straight lines, it is. I should have posted a picture of this but I was so disappointed in the laser quality I didn't even bother since I knew I wouldn't be keeping it.

After trying it out on three walls I noticed it left a dirty ring mark after removing it for the third time (unfortunately on a yellow wall). So, it IS necessary to wipe off the rubber ring before installing it to the wall since it picks up dirt and then deposits on the next wall you mount it to. My walls certainly don't appear dirty, but obviously it picked up some dirt.

I really like the mount as it will work for my old cheapo unit I bought a few years ago. However I'm not paying $30 for just a mount. Just a note, I bought this when it first came out so hopefully they worked out the kinks by now.

Comes with two AAA batteries, a thumbtack-pin for marking holes for nails or screws, and it has a sturdy metal underneath. The level magnetically attaches to the suction cup, allowing for easy removal. The "Sure Grip" suction isn't as impressive as I thought it would be. Unlike some models, the suction isn't maintained by a battery operated vacuum. It's just a glorified suction cup. Lasted less than 30seconds on my semi-textured wall (I tried several times), though it claims to be able to attached for up to 2 hours. The best feature is the colored light on the bubble area of the level. When it's red, it's not level. It changes to green when it is level; makes for quick and easy adjustments, and a good warning if it happens to slip. There's also the ability to turn on an audio beep that will sound when the device becomes unlevel. Gave it three stars because it only attaches well to extremely smooth surfaces. I'd say this is good for home projects, not pros who need something that works everywhere.

Update: I tried this on a different wall in my house. The suction worked much better. To test, I left it attached to the wall to see how long it would last. 24-hours later it was still attached, so I removed it. Bad idea; now there's a permanent circular crease on my wall (don't leave it suctioned for too long of a period). Just goes to show that on some walls it works great, where others it doesn't.

Hanging pictures has always been a pain for me. I'm not the best judge of when things are straight

I love this level. It sticks to your wall with a suction cup and when it's even you get a green light to show you that your are level. There's also an audio signal if you can't see the color.

It's easy to use and great for the horizontally challenged, like me.

Length:: 0:38 Mins

I enjoy buying wall art at neighborhood yard sales and hanging them around my apartment (much to the displeasure of my spouse), and always wanted an easy-to-use leveling tool. This B&D laser level is super easy to use, even for someone like me. As my video shows, it consists of two parts: the suction cup base, which contains a small magnet, and the level unit itself. You can attach the suction cup base to either side of the level unit, so the laser can be pointed to either left or right, very convenient.

The laser level takes 2 AAA batteries (included). The switch is weird (more on the switch later), but the lower actuation point lets you do the leveling. Basically you turn it on, rotate the level unit until the bubble indicator turns green (otherwise it's red), at which point the laser line is level. It really doesn't get simpler than this! Actually, it even comes with a beeping function so you can, for instance, leave it on a tabletop while trying to adjust one of the legs to make the table level.

Now, about that switch. It's extremely poorly designed and poorly made. On the design front, it has three positions: from top to bottom, on position 1, off, on position 2. The space between two positions is very small, so it's difficult, without looking at the bubble indicator, whether the thing is on or not, and it's super-easy to, when you want to turn it off, go from on position 1 to on position 2. Worse, the switch actuator itself is very difficult to move, so it always takes several tries to turn it off each time. Very annoying.

Despite this stupidity, this tool is very practical, very useful, and very handy, and the price is right.

For hanging pictures or leveling out hanging shelves/coat hooks on your finished walls this is a really nice little level. The suction cup sticks to un-textured dry wall really well and if your walls are textured there's a thumb tack included that is more than sufficient to hold it up. The bubble glows red when it's out of balance and then glows green when you have it level to make it easier to get things right in a cinch.
Once you've got the box level it shoots a laser across the length of the wall and even bounces it a bit across the corner on to the next wall. It's nice and bright and does a great job.

The switch on the side is a little finicky, it seems to slide way to easy and it takes a bit of finesse to get it to turn off. But other than that I really can't fault it as a general purpose tool for use around the house. I have a little 8" level for hanging pictures and shelves and honestly I can see myself using this guy a lot more often. It's like having a chalk line and a level at the same time, only this chalk line disappears as soon as you're done.

Where it becomes totally useless is in any kind of serious building application. You're not going to use it for framing a wall or building a cabinet. First of all it wont stick to wood without a tack and the kinds of deviations you get in stud boards will block the laser completely. In that sense I guess it'd be helpful for checking hooks and bows in your boards but beyond that it's worthless on the job site.
That said I can imagine that if you had an older house with walls that bowed more than normal this level may get blocked and not be as effective for drawing lines across long walls, but I haven't had that problem yet. I suppose you could always just move it closer to your project if your long wall is causing problems, essentially just draw shorter lines and move the level if you have more than one thing to hang, you'd be doing the same thing with a standard level anyway unless you're using chalk lines.

The only other problem I see is that it's a precision instrument hanging on a wall by a suction-cup. Too many times I've seen people drop their levels or bang them around not realizing that you are potentially knocking your tubes out of alignment. To be safe you may want to use the suction-cup along with the tack for back up. The less banging around the better. So... try not to drop it!

PROS:
Hands free, non-permanent line and level
Great for hanging pictures, coat racks, shelves, etc.
Light weight and small, fits in a tool box no problem.

CONS:
Only works on relatively flat surfaces, long walls might pose a problem.
Switch slides a bit to easily making it fussy when trying to set it in the off position (dead center)
Suction-cup alone isn't enough to be confident with a precision instrument, use the added tack to make sure it stays on your wall.
Worthless at a job site or in the shop, this is for general home use only.

This tool is a winner. You don't need a saw to open the package, the instructions are clear and detailed, (English, French, and Spanish), batteries are included, and it's easy to use. The instructions also warned about the laser being dangerous to look into.

I was impressed with how it helps with making sure that pictures are straight and shelves are level.

Surface must be smooth for the suction cup to work.

This is a very nice tool for the home maker, even novices who have not used tools.