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Digital measuring devices
Hi
Anybody using a digital measuring device on site visits etc and if you do can you recommend one and tell me some of the pro’s and con’s.
Thanks
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4 Replies
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Use a Hilti PD4 laser.
Basically it’s their budget model as I didn’t need any fancy calculation functions inbuilt…I’ve got a pen if I need to add up!
Pro – brilliant for estimating heights to work at, accurate to 1mm for long fascias so no tape sag to account for, turns a "can you hold the end of this" into a Point – Bleep.
Cons – not great for getting a reading off dark surfaces (obviously), egde to edge of a building – then you have to place / get a helper to hold a white clipboard to bounce off.
Still use a tape measure for most jobs but it’s handy for the big stuff.
Biggest con is that you are never 100% sure that it got the right reading the first time on LONG distances so you do two and if they match you’re all good.
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Got a Leica X310, not the cheapest, and certainly not the most expensive:
Pro’s:
- Massive range (It will measure over 200m, not much use in our game I know)
- Accurate
- Able to measure the height of a sign using it’s Pythagorus function, and is reasonably accurate.
Con’s
- Measuring the width of something with it’s pythagorus function isn’t great, unless you’re exactly square on to it, so an elevated sign causes issues.
- Hard to see the red dot, on sunny days, measuring over a long distance (10m) but we made up some reflective ‘targets’, problem solved.
- You need something to aim at to measure, on a few occasions a tape measure has been easier, or there have been obstructions such as roller shutters, window grill’s etc that obstruct the laser.
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Thanks David and David
Food for thought and think it will come in handy now and again.
Cheers
Warren
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I use the Leica Disto D5, aside from the normal measuring functions, I use the double Pythagoras function, which means when mounted to a tripod can measure the width using a three point function calculates the overall width, very accurate when used with a tripod, costly unit but saves a lot of time if you compared setting up a tripod verses setting up a scaffold tower or other access equipment to get to the height required to take measurements. I also use an app called "My Measures" to note measurements
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