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Jud, this is what you are looking for.

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/View_Catalog_Page.asp?mi=3847, Forestry Suppliers Inc. Tape Repair tool Item #39187 and 39186

Posted By hunter0544 on 20 Oct 2008 10:29 AM

I am interested in buying an adjuster-tested laser measuring device that works well indoor and outdoors. 

I traded my old Disto with another adjuster's new Leica D5 Disto at the site I am at for a week.  I used to say that these things were great indoors but not outside - till I tried this one. http://www.distagage.com/distod5.html

I know that Disto's have had "viewfinders" for a while, but my old Disto didn't have one.  So it was quite a change for me to be able to look at a color image with crosshairs that show where the dot is pointed.  You can "zoom in" up to 4x on the image, and from 50' I could see the center of the crosshairs "light up" when I turned the laser dot on.  The dot was right there at the crosshairs.

I used to put the red glasses on and with a long distance shot still not be able to find the dot - but this thing totally handled it for me.

I also tried using it with a tripod, and checking out the stuff they show on that link-video (measuring a wall by taking 3 measurements while facing the wall).  It was fairly accurate.  Sometimes amazingly accurate.  If there was an hard-to-access area of siding that you couldn't run a tape on, I would use the laser outdoors and trust that it was as good as a contractor's scope (or claims manager-reinispector coming behind you).

Just the experience of putting a disto on a tripod was good for me.  My old one would struggle getting a proper reading in bright daylight, and when I put it on a tripod the trouble went away.  The dot wasn't bouncing around and the signal coming back to the Disto was more steady.

If it was ground-level easy access I would just pull a tape on it.

Right now everyone seems to be forced to sell this thing at the $539 retail, it may be another 6 months til we see it discounted.  But it is less than the D8 which is just like it but has the Bluetooth to send the measurement wireless to a spreadsheet, or into Xactimate.

 

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/p...p?mi=3847, Forestry Suppliers Inc. Tape Repair tool Item #39187 and 39186

Thanks Chuck!  I'll be getting one after I save up for a couple of months.

In the meantime, I just use a heavy gauge wire at the loop that's bent down so I can stick it in the dirt.  The piece is exactly 6" long, so if I use it for a roof measurement I just include the difference. 

I do have the snazzy release nail that's collecting dust and aching to go into the field with me.  BenMeadows sells the release nail and tape without making it clear that you have to have a specialized rivet gun and rivet for it.

Best,

Jud.

Now, I believe you are on to something. 

We could use the CADO forums to serve as the sign-in sheet which will note who currently has the tool and charge a nominal fee for rental and shipping (say $10)?  Avoiding late fees, each person currently using the tool will be listed on the forum and will hold on to it until the next person needs to use it.  Private notes can be submitted to relay confidential shipping info.

I know this topic is 'laser' devices, for forgive my mentioning non-laser.  Whilst I have the expected FatMax I've really prefer using my Craftsman battery metal tape when on a roof. The thing extends out and back at the touch of a button. Powered by 4 AAA batteries it is rather bulky and heavy.  I also prefer using the Craftsman digital tilt meter rather than the old gravity plastic angle devices that are really small to read.  Photos are easier to shoot and the angles more accurate as this thing bridges a full shingle course. I also just got a small digital calliper to win those QC 'discussions' on metal sheeting for farm buildings. More toys for the boys. Good job I bought the new 3ft high tool box on wheels to carry all this stuff.    

Way too cool for school and relatively cheap. As a confirmed early adopter I bought one before Sears had one in stock and for racked metal buildings or parking lot or stadium light standards it just cannot be beat. I don't work that many residential roofs but it works well as a slope gage.

I have used both a Leica A5, and a Hilti PD30, and now a Hilti PD32.  The Hilti has it hands down in my world.  The small compact size is exceptionally easy to use.  I worked in New Orleans after Katrina, in which 5 teams of 4 each had a Hilti PD30.  I assure anyone that I dropped mine at least 30 times during the 4 months of work we performed there.  We were assessing schools in the Orleans Parish, and had to measure rooms, halls, etc.....entire building, in muck, mud, wet floors, etc.  

The Hiltis withstood grueling conditions and not one out of the 20 failed, not once!  Assuming I dropped mine an average number of times, that would be about 600 drops between all of us, and yet the devices survived.  I was impressed enough that when I got home, I bought one to replace my personal Leica A5, which was practically new.  

The construction is so superior imho, as to nullify the Leica Brand name.  The Leica, though a good machine, is plastic and feels inferior to my hand.  I especially appreciate the rubber bumpers on either end of the Hilti.  I also LOVE the imposition of a laser dot on the viewfinder in the Hilti.  I  haven't touched a Leica in a couple of years, but if they don't impose the laser dot yet, they are idiots.  Seeing where the laser hits the target is perfect for outdoors.

I invented a rather nifty method of outside measurement, and if you contact me offlist, I will send you photos.  I actually make these devices, and sell them for $20.  But I am not on here to sell you something, OTHER than to say that Hilti in my experience of the 4 years I have had mine, is a really great measuring device.

Dennis Wynne
Adjuster/CFEI/Investigator

I have a Leica Disto Classic that is 12 years old. Been dropped many times and still functions. Janice has the latest A-5 for the past 5 years and loves it. It also has been through hell and continues to work. I will be ordering the latest and greatest Leica, the D-5.

Posted By tejasjayb on 23 Oct 2009 02:47 PM
I own the Leica Disto D8...

The D8 is virtually identical to the D5 info I posted on the previous page, but it has Bluetooth (which I personally don't have a need for at this time).

I bought my own D5 after borrowing one, and have been using it for a month, used it this morning. Both the D5 and D8 have a "live" camera that shows on a color screen where you are pointing, and the "laser dot" will be in the center cross-hairs.  You can zoom in, and have total confidence where the dot is measuring at (in the past I usually could not even find the dot outdoors, despite the red glasses).

Are you the Jay from Texas that I met in Jacksonville December 2008?? 

Posted By kuletule on 22 Oct 2009 09:33 AM

...The Hiltis withstood grueling conditions and not one out of the 20 failed, not once!  Assuming I dropped mine an average number of times, that would be about 600 drops between all of us, and yet the devices survived.  

... I also LOVE the imposition of a laser dot on the viewfinder in the Hilti.  I  haven't touched a Leica in a couple of years, but if they don't impose the laser dot yet, they are idiots.  Seeing where the laser hits the target is perfect for outdoors.

Dennis Wynne
Adjuster/CFEI/Investigator

I'm sure the Hilti is a great tool and I'm not knocking it. 

If dropping a laser is the gold standard, my older Disto also has survived many falls.  My new Disto D5 hasn't been dropped yet, but it is smaller & easier to hold, rubberized. 

I don't know exactly how the Hilti imposes a laser dot, but with my D5 if the camera is set to 4x magnify I can see the actual laser dot when I turn it on.  It will be "at" the crosshairs.  If I turn the laser off, and leave the camera on, the crosshairs lose the glow in the center.  That "glow" is the laser dot that one is watching in real time through the color camera.

Hey Bob H and everyone else reading this post:

I took an Xactimate class and learned that with 25.5 and newer versions of Xactimate Blue Tooth is Great!   Also Xactimate 27 is coming out in December or January 2010.

Here is why Blue Tooth is great for XM8:

1. Using a disto with Blue Tooth you can measure a room and it will load your measurements into sketch!  I think the guy teaching our Great New THings ABout Xm8 class even said that with Blue Tooth enabled laser it will load and draw your dimensions in sketch!  Save a lot of time.

2. The teacher of the XM8 class also said you would have to specifically use Eagle View if you wanted to use a pitography program and have the ability to Upload the Entire Drawing with dimensions into XM8.

Now you know why Blue Tooth can save you $$$ and time if it works as great as I was told.

There was a thread devoted to using Disto -> Bluetooth to Xm8 about 6 months ago.

Enteriing the numbers into the computer is not a "bottleneck" for me, and not the most urgent issue for me personally.

I am also looking to buy my FIRST Laser Measuring Tool.

I am trying to decide between the Disto A6 (we use Xactimate) or the much, much lesser cost Bosch DLR165.  I hear good things about the lower cost lasers for measuring, but like the distance and Bluetooth on the A6.

Any A6 users out there to give a recommendation?

Thanks for helping me spend my money wisely!