Customer Reviews

LPI FR-16 Laser Framing Square

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was disappointed with the workmanship and quality of the laser square I received. The square itself (metal base) is cheap and looks like something Wally World would be ashamed to sell for $2.95. The laser seems to work fine and is adjustable so no problem there. On mine the bulky and childish looking laser assembly and shield protrudes enough that the outside of the square will not sit flush or square with a flat surface. Overall a good idea but poor execution.

i would not recommend this item to anyone. it is junk. the laser line does not appear except at the end of the project if there is a solid item in the assumed area for the dot only to show there is no line. it is useless and over rated in the description. do not be fooled as i was.

We do a lot of remodeling. We felt that the laser capability was not a sufficient enough reason to buy this square since it only gave a "dot" instead of a line. We've gone back to our old square and laser.

I bought this square and only got to use it a couple of times before the lasers started acting up and not working. When they did work they were so dim that I could not see them with my hand right in front of them. But, when it did work it worked very well.

The FR-16 Laser square does not put a line on the floor, only a dot on the wall. I needed a laser that puts a line on the floor.
Nice product, just was not what I needed.

Right out of the box my unit's lasers were not aligned to the square and not orthogonal. No combination of turning the adjusting screws, tilting my head, or standing on one foot could make the laser parallel with the square, much less perpendicular to the other leg. Judging by the way the beam moves, I think the designers suscribe to the "Let's wrap an O-ring around the laser and push on it a little to give the impression you can adjust it" school of laser aiming. The trouble is, you can only loosen a screw so far. With no screw on the other side, you can't make it go past the point where screw loses contact. Buy this product if you feel lucky. Others have been. I wasn't.

The beam is very weak. It is worthless on a sunny day.

The framing square works very well once it is adjusted for square. The instructions for adjusting the laser lights are very poor but most people should be able to figure it out after a few tries.

To understand why lasers are NOT the end-all of projected measurement devices, you must understand how this is is supposed to work. The misconception of laser projection devices is that a perfectly straight beam of coherent light guides the path to perfection. That is not what happens with this tool at all. Like many modern laser-tool gimmicks, the laser inside is just a cheap Chinese "consumer grade" laser. It is very low powered to maintain its UL safety status and avoid litigation. Also, it is not the laser itself that projects a line. Remember that light itself is invisible unless it is reflected from an object or colored ( filtered) by a lens. SO the LENS is a critical part of the accuracy of any laser measuring device, and good lenses are very expensive. Also, the line we see from so-called "laser" guides is really a vibrating reflection from an oscillating mirror. The mirror must be accurate just like the lens, AND it must have an accurate mechanism for reflecting the filtered beam. The mechanism in this cheaply made gimmick is not accurate. It suffers from high-jitter even if no one moves nearby. The projected beam scatters and spreads so that over any useful distance, as little as four feet, the beam is less accurate than a piece of string.

Remember, the Ancient viaducts of Rome and the more ancient tunnels in Egypt's pyramids were laid-out with trammels, compasses, hollow-sighting tubes and STRING. Those objects still stand.

The actual cost to manufacture this thing is probably about one tenth or less of its retail price. There is no way it can work well. And even if by some engineering miracle it did, you can not use it effectively outdoors in the daytime sunlight.

I got the laser square from my father for my birthday about 6 months ago and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Now I don't know what I would do without it. Everyone I know that used my laser square has either purchased one or borrows mine. We've built storage barns, garages, fences, retaining walls, & dozen other things with the laser square. As a side note the unit is also very durable, as my square has taken several falls & remains in excellent condition!