On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:06:40 +0000, Paul Mc Cann
wrote:

How do you establish a level line with them ? (These are the ones that
look like a tape measure in the pictures ?)

The one I bought from Homebase looks identical to this one:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...38178&ts=34465

Mine didn't have the goggles, but apart from that it looks identical
and I reckon it's the same model. I got a hard carrying case as well.

Basically the thing on the top is a bog standard spirit level, at one
end is a small laser LED (?). When set up that LED squirts out a
single dot of light onto the wall.

The kit comes with two inserts which can be shoved into the LED hole.
One is a prism which turns the beam 90 degrees (can't think of a use
for that, but it's there if I need it). The other is a prism that
splits the beam into a long thin line on the wall.

With the latter you can twist the prism to give a horizontal or
vertical line on the wall (and actually any angle in-between if you
need a line at a funny angle). Setting that line up is a little tricky
I found, the best way is to line it up on a horizontal/vertical
surface first, then change the elevation up/down

The head of the tripod twists and raises/lowers, and comes complete
with a small bubble level so that you can stabilise the head to fully
horizontal.

I had to install some picture hooks in a hallway today - it was a
piece of cake offsetting the tripod legs so that it could stand on two
steps and shine the goods onto the far wall.

BTW, if you go to Homebase to pick one of these up you may find they
are marked on the shelves as £29.99. When I got to the checkout I was
charged £19.99. Naturally I didn't feel the need to complain

I'm quite pleased with this purchase - as I said earlier I had
resisted the temptation but when I got a job where I could make use of
it I succumbed - it was a good buy as far as I am concerned. It would
most likely be very useful when wallpapering to give the vertical line
for the first sheet, but would be great for shelving and other things
where you need to line things up over a fair distance across a wall.

PoP