Credit:
Reviewed / Timothy Renzi
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Credit:
Reviewed / Timothy Renzi
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The Dewalt is a solidly built, front-facing laser level that’s priced on the high end for the features it offers. Read More
The Black & Decker BDL220S a small product, but it packs a punch. Its laser light is surprisingly bright and sharp, and the bubbles are easy to read. Read More
The permanence of hammering nail holes in the wall makes us nervous, and we worry about making a mistake and having to hammer in another hook. The old adage of “measure twice, cut once” is fine in theory but difficult in practice. That’s where the best laser levels come in. They can provide a helping hand (or a guiding light) to make sure everything is level, equal, and flush before you pick up that hammer.
This durable laser level is blessed with the Dewalt name.
High-quality mounting bracket
Bright red lights
No 360° lines
Poor value
Surprisingly bright light for such a tiny device
Bubble levels are backlit
Angle tool isn't useful
Bubble guide lines are spaced too far apart
Hi, I’m Jean Levasseur, a former conveyor mechanic, current property manager, and a hobbyist woodworker. I'm also a writing instructor at a local university. I come from a family of tool users—my grandfather was a carpenter, my father owned an excavation company, and my mother was a mechanic. Between growing up working for my family’s businesses and then moving on to my projects, I’ve used most tools you’ve heard of and quite a few that you haven’t.
We tested laser lights where they matter, on real world construction and home improvement projects.
For laser levels, two features matter: brightness in a variety of lighting conditions and accuracy. For brightness, I picked a sunny day and set all of the lasers up in a room that has a variety of lights, ranging from closet shadows to full sunlight near some of the windows. I set the lasers to different heights, projected lines around the room, and then compared how well I could see them at different points. Unsurprisingly, all of them dimmed significantly in the direct sunlight, some even disappearing almost entirely.
From there, it was time to test the accuracy. I started by projecting a line onto a wall, and then attached screws in a row on that wall. Then I put a level over the top of those screws to see that they remained level with one another. I then hung picture frames from the screws and used the level to align those.
Next, I projected the laser on the floor and put down a row at a time. Then I moved the level so that I could create a square out of the tape. I repeated this process on the wall. Finally, I turned on the manual mode of the laser levels and set an angle to see how easy it was to follow and maintain a non-level line.
Something I discovered quickly about the world of laser levels is that they can be grouped into several categories. There are handhelds, which are compact and simple for smaller projects. There are also professional-style levels, which project the lines onto the work surface from behind the user.
Then there are multifunctional levels, which include other features like a stud finder and a live wire detector. The best laser level for you will be the one that lives up to your needs.
Handhelds are perfect for someone who doesn’t need many bells and whistles for their project. You might say, attach them temporarily to the wall if you’re hanging picture frames on a gallery wall. They are more inexpensive than the others, but they also require more out of the user, like reading bubble levels to make sure the device is level.
Their lasers are weaker in brightness, and it doesn’t help you have to hold them against the wall, so if there’s an imperfection on the wall, like a bump or a wallpaper seam, the line can get interrupted. I also found that I had to change my approach to hanging pictures with these units. If I hung a hook closer to the device, I would block the rest of the light, so I had to go backward and start on the opposite end, working towards the light.
The professional-style levels aren’t held up against the wall, but sit across from the work surface and project their lines onto it. These devices have a mounting thread on the bottom so they can sit on a tripod, or attach to their mounting bracket. I can see this coming in handy for someone renovating a bathroom or kitchen in their house and they’re strictly measuring horizontal and vertical lines.
These devices also have a pendulum inside so gravity automatically levels the laser. Any time the ground moves, like if someone takes a step nearby, the projected lines will bounce, so you’ll need some patience with these units.
If the user needs to measure a straight line at a slant, most of the devices allow you to lock the pendulum in place and turn the device, though the line will flash off and on every few seconds to let you know the lines aren’t level.
The multifunctional levels included a stud finder and a live wire detector, so they are helpful if you don’t want to buy multiple tools to do a single job. They also have a self-leveling feature, but it only works horizontally. If you want to measure a vertical line, you have to turn the device counterclockwise and eyeball how straight you think the line is. If you turn it clockwise, the line disappears entirely.
These levels are cumbersome to handle since they contain electronic sensors. It was difficult to get them to stay in place—I had to wedge them against the wall, lean them against other objects, or get another set of hands entirely just to hold them up. They were the most expensive devices we tested, yet the most challenging to work with.
Jean Levasseur
Contributor
Jean Levasseur became a professional writer over a decade-long career in marketing, public relations, and technical writing. After leaving that career to stay home to care for his twin boys, Jean has continued to write in a variety of freelance roles, as well as teaching academic writing at a local university. When he's not reviewing tools or chasing toddlers around the house, he's also an avid fiction writer and a growing woodworker.
Nick Bove is a journalist and broadcaster based out of Boston. He's currently a public address announcer at Boston University, Harvard, and Northeastern, and is breaking into the voiceover industry. He's also lent his voice as a professional hockey broadcaster and news anchor for NBC News Radio. When he isn't speaking into a microphone, he's probably on a long hike or daydreaming of being the next Bob Costas.
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