DEWALT Line Laser, Self-Leveling, Cross Line, Red Beam (DW088K)

After renovating our house after 20 years, I was finally going to put some stuff on the wall that was straight. This level did the trick. Easy to use, and set up. I was up and running with level laser marks on the wall in minutes. I can’t believe I went most of my adult life without it! I installed level towel racks in a bathroom, pictures, and I’m about to tackle 3 tv wall mounts. Nice carrying case. I have not used the attachment. I bought the tripod as well. Works well enough. It is very lightweight but does the job. I’ve only used it inside but the laser light it’s bright enough. Great tool investment!

If you are on the fence on buying a laser level, you should get this one! It’s awesome, it does dual level lines, single level lines.

This saved my husband so much time setting lights and framing our entire basement. I heard him say "I love this thing"and "I'm so glad I bought this" at least 25 times while helping him.

Great for doing all those indoor jobs. Will only work outdoors if you get a rod eye. You will not be able to see the laser lines outside in full sunlight. Very good product for the price.

This is my second cross line laser, the first being an earlier generation of an obscure brand that is no longer sold but served me very well for a number of years. I opted to get a new unit primarily for the convenience features that my other unit doesn't have: most significantly, the DeWalt is much smaller and lighter, and I really like the mounting options; specifically, 1) the tripod mount on the bottom that fits my very stable camera tripod, and 2) the magnets in the mount allow easy attachment to anything metal including a small metal Simpson tie plate that I can attach to studs with a screw in about 3 seconds so I can hang this things wherever I want.I also like the fact that it flashes at you when you don't have it sufficiently plumb of level to be within the swing capability of the pendulum. That makes it easy to glance down at it and realize you need to tweak the housing a bit to get within those limits.There are a couple of things that I don't like:1) There is no lock on the pendulum for use during transport. This is probably less of a big deal than I originally thought, however, because it came to me via UPS with that pendulum clunking around inside, and after checking calibration when I first got it, the thing was right on the money. So, it can obviously handle some clunking around, and I'll certainly subject it to less of that than what it saw on its way to me.2) It sure would be nice if it was brighter. I had hoped it would be an improvement over my earlier generation laser in this respect, but it's not. As I think about it, projecting a line beam over a wide degree range certainly requires more energy than projecting an equally bright dot, but it has made using it outside during the day a bit of a challenge. There is a $100 laser detector that you can buy for this thing that will allow using it over a much greater distance in daylight (the advantage of the DW88 vs DW87), and I'm waiting for one of the vendors I found who sells this detector to get one back in stock.Meanwhile, let me offer some observations on its usability without a detector. At night, it's great. I've got up early a couple of times to shoot outdoor stuff at 4AM because it projects such a nice line over a long distance -- setting footing and pier elevations, lining up ground markers up the side of the house, etc. Indoors during the day, you can pretty much see the beam over any typically useful distance: within a room or across two or three rooms. Outdoors during the day, however, is where it gets challenging. With overcast skies you can get maybe 15 feet or so, sometimes a little better if you can cast a good shadow over the target area. This, by the way, is wearing DeWalt's over-priced, red plastic glasses to enhance the beam, which also make red print on a tape measure disappear so you have to move them away from your eye and back a time or two to get a measurement if you insist on using a tape with any red numbering like me. It also helps to have something bigger for the beam to hit that you can hold alongside of a tape if you're trying to get a measurement... I used a green kneeling pad angled up toward my eye to find the beam, and then did my best to align my tape with the edge of the pad since I couldn't see the beam on the tape. You could also set up a stationary target that you could mark and then measure. That said, my favorite time to use this laser outside is early morning or dusk unless I need 50+ feet... then it's pre-dawn or well after sunset.Regarding accuracy, I have been really impressed. As one example, I shot 50' across the back of a house for a deck ledger location, and used that same projection to measure that height above twelve concrete piers for steel column heights, and the measurements came out as perfect as I could imagine (e.g., within 1/16" and/or my ability to tell). Using a tripod, I picked two locations about 50' apart, and swiveled the laser back and forth to the edges of its projected beam, and the beam projections lined up perfectly. I used this same technique to project elevations around the five sides of a large bay on the back of a house, and everything matched up well.Bottom line for me: I like the unit, I'd buy it again, it's extremely handy to use and has worked well for me. I just wish it projected a brighter beam, maybe as an on-demand feature where you can get more light when you want it if you're willing to sacrifice battery life. Just an idea.

Jeff Thorson on YouTube’s Renovision implored that it was necessary. Like most guys, hell yeah I need a new tool! Seriously, I just renovated a shower & used Subway Tiles … because of this laser level, the shower turned out nearly perfect. It’s got what you need; vertical & horizontal lasers. You might want to get a stand for it … or just stack subway tiles & set it on top! A great tool!

Wish I'd found this earlier. I'm coming from a cheap little B&D laser line that came as part of a kit. It showed me how useful this type of tool can be for nearly everything, and I used it to death.Now that I've upgraded to this tool, I wish I had done it earlier. If you can get this within a few degrees of level, the pendelum takes care of the rest. It's a solid, bright line, and has amazing floor-to-ceiling coverage. I haven't tried it outside yet, but it's plenty bright for any indoor conditions I've encountered so far.As with any laser line / laser level, you have to be aware of parallax error. It's best to shine it straight onto your target at a 90-degree angle, since the projection will be straight regardless of the target profile that way. The classic example is trying to hand a picture on a wall that's leaning, and projecting a vertical line from an off-angle. The line will project straight onto the crooked wall, and as a result appear crooked. This is a factor common to ALL optical tools, but is easily rectified once you understand the cause by simply re-positioning the laser.I've used it so far to hang and level cabinets, and lay tile. For cabinet hanging, a large beam level would have been fine to bridge all the walkways and ensure the counters and cabinets were level to each other. But for the tile work, there is really no replacement for a good laser level. You can snap a chalk line, but it just gets covered by the grout as you go. The laser continues to project on the surface as you go, making it so easy to get good straight tile lines running up the wall.It can be used for framing, subfloor leveling, hanging drywall, marking stud locations, or any number of other activities. Yeah you could do them all with traditional tools, but the laser is always level and just makes progress so much quicker with less layout and set-up time.

Purchased this after borrowing one. Makes cabinet hanging and shiplap installation a breeze. Should have bought this a long time ago! Having the right tools makes the job easier and this will be used over and over again. Just one use pays off in time saved.