Thinking about buying one of these. Anyone own one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFarL4P_bWQ
Purchased one anyway despite the overwhelming number of those who apparently don't own one. Should arrive in a day or two and be on the job right away. I'll post my review after we put it to use.
Looks interesting. Please do post your review. How much was it?
It is listed on Bizrate for $535.50 with free shipping.
I purchased it from New England Laser, real nice guys. They had it listed for $595.00 and free shipping. They matched the $535.00 price I found on line with free shipping as well. Comes with a real nice padded case that looks like a slimmed down guitar case. Bummer though as I couldn't put it to work as it was not compatible with the Hilti laser I tried it out with. Seems the our Hilti only rotates at 300 rpm and the SmartRod requires 600 rpm to function. Our TopCon laser is being repaired so I couldn't verify this in person but Alan from New England Laser fired one up while I was on the phone with him and confirmed it. Unfortunately no where in the SmartRod specs does it say this. Shouldn't be an issue as most newer machine control lasers have the faster speed but if you have an interior laser or older one, you may want to check your max rpm's before ordering one. Should be getting the TopCon back next week so we can get this out in the field. Looking forward to putting it to work.
Works like a charm with the 600 rpm TopCon. Very cool product and is pretty much idiot proof. What's very nice is that once the beam hits anywhere on the receiver, it registers grade. You don't have to precisely line up the center of the receiver to take a measurement, much faster this way. Once you take a benchmark reading, you press the Set button. When you take your next reading the display indicates "cut" or "fill" in the unit of measure you have selected. Granted doesn't really do anything you couldn't do the old fashioned way, but does it faster and reduces the margin of error. Unit is a bit heavy at 8 lbs. Seems pretty durable. I'll report back once it's dropped a couple of times. As of now it gets a two thumbs up, buy it review. BTW, also has a tape measure mode that measures height. You extend the masts until the top of the receiver touches or lines up with what you want to measure. Press the button and it takes a shot from the base to the top of the receiver and registers the measurement on the screen.
Sorry I missed your post on the initial writing as we have been busy doing carpentry and other 'hand work' to pay the bills to keep the shop and our equipment storage yard open....yes, it is that slow on the dirt end of the biz..... I have seen this device and decided it would be a good tool due to its quickness.....hope this is the case for you. thanks for posting your results so far
I just saw this thread and thought I'd chime in too. I own one too and think it's great! I was a bit skeptical at first but now can attest to its usefulness. Some things i'd like to change: like I'd rather have cam locks instead of twist locks, but that's pretty minor.