Customer Reviews

STRAIT-LINE 6041401CD Sonic Laser Tape 50

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I'm a general contractor and use this to make quick estimates of whole room square footage (Drywall, paint, etc.). It's cheap looking, but as long as nothing is protruding into the path of the ultrasonic beam it works ok (+-1/2" is more than enough precision for simple estimating). For absolute precision and for shooting between objects go with the PLS1 Laser unit from Pacific. BTW...my cats love chasing the laser dot. It was worth the money for that alone.

I am a realtor and I have to say this is a great tool. I use this to measure room sizes and it make fast work of the details. It also figures out sq ft. so it makes it a breeze to do listings.

First, it's important to note that this is not a laser measurer. This is a sonic measurer with a projected red dot. The difference in accuracy between the two technologies is striking. When measuring with this device, holding down the measurement button often results in a variation of 6" - 15' readings. While I can usually tell when something is an obvious error, I don't want a measurer that I have to re-check with common sense. If I know a wall is around 30', readings of 12', 34' and "ERROR" don't give me a lot of confidence in this device's accuracy, and those sorts of misreadings are the rule, not the exception. Furniture and other obstacles seem to enhance the problem, as they seem to disrupt the reflection of the sound.

The distance is limited as well. One reviewer suggested that to measure a 100' wall, you should go find a lawn chair to stick halfway between the wall and myself. While technically true, I'm not inclined to carry a lawn chair around with me.

HOWEVER, I would instead recommend an actual laser unit. Stanley has a terrific true laser measurer you can find here on Amazon called (appropriately) the FatMax Tru Laser Measurer which is affordable, accurate and consistent. It runs about 100 bucks, but the difference in performance is well worth it. 25 bucks for a worthless tool, or 100 bucks for something I'll use and trust?

If you're not picky on accuracy, only need to measure distances under 50 feet, and really, really don't want to spend more than 25 bucks, then maybe this thing will suffice. Otherwise, buying this thing would be a mistake.

This does what it is advertised to do. Put the butt against the wall and find the distance to the wall on the other side. So what's the obvious limitation? You can't measure anything in between like conventional tape! So forget about measuring objects, distances between studs, etc. You get the idea.

The Strait-Line Sonic Laser Tape works great if you know and work within it's limitations. I got mine for $8 and that's about what it's worth. To be accurate it must be perpendicular to the wall being measured. Because it works with a sonic tapping sound (the laser just helps you get the device positioned properly), objects in the way like furniture that absorb sound can throw off the measurement as well. While I wouldn't trust it 100%, it is good for estimating paint, furniture layout etc. The ideal situation for the device would be an empty room with a flat ceiling and perpendicular straight walls. I wouldn't trust it for exact measurements like needed for construction etc.

I purchased this unit at the local lowes yesterday. It is not accurate or consistant at all. I would not recommend it.

I am a Realtor and thought that this product would be great for me. I am totally disappointed. I tried it for several days and had to manually measure the houses since this yellow peice of junk was giving me ridiculously wrong measurements. Today was the last straw as the homeowner was walking around with me and saw the inaccuracy of this yellow peice of junk.

Save your time and use the old fashioned tape measure if you care about accurate results.

I am a structural enigneer in southern California who often rely on accuracy of dimensions for use in design. Please don't trust this device unless your tolerance is within the 2-3ft range.

Besides being an amatuer woodworker, I also have been fixing

up our 100 yr old house.

I own several convential tape measures. Out of curiousity, I decided to buy the Strait-line Sonic Laser tape 50, wondering

if I could simplify my various measurement needs of my projects.

My biggest complaint is that this device does not provide

accuracy of less than an inch. My second complaint is that the

advertising for it does not clearly disclose this fact.

Due to this lack of accuracy, I can't find any real use of

this device in anything I do. From my perspective, a waste of roughly $30.00

on a piece of garbage.

Hopefully there are other laser measure tapes on the market

that are more accurate....for now I will stick to my old fashioned method.

IT'S GARBAGE!!! Bought this item today at a big chain hardware store. It was the only non traditional tape measure the had. So unreliable there is no point in using it. I can get it to repeat the same wrong measurement with consistency. About 1 out of 5 times it will get close (+/- 3 inches over an 18 ft distance) but unless your already good at judging distances how can you tell when it's giving one of its better answers. There's probably a ton of technical reasons why it can't read accurately, like it not perpendicular to the opposite surface) but try as I may in my rectangular rooms, I couldn't get it to work right twice in a row.