Golf Headcovers & More

Reviews

After spending an hour and a half measuring a large room with a tape, I finally broke down and bought a Leica DISTO D3. While that unit is very well built, compact, and the price was not too painful, I found many problems using it at longer distances and on some surfaces even at shorter distances. The D5 is everything the D3 is and a little more, but is much more reliable at longer (100'+) range. Measurements I was having real problems taking come out no problem, and the color LCD screen is much friendlier to use. I don't need the bluetooth communication capabilities of the D8 or the A series, so the D5 is really the best possible tool for the job. Quick, accurate, very well built, it came recommended by others I trust in my industry and now I know why. You should be aware that Amazon's price is about $100 higher than this unit can be found for elsewhere. I returned my Amazon-bought D3 as it wouldn't reliably take measurements it claimed to be able to, and upgraded to the D5 for another $50.

I purchased the Disto D5 for laying out foundations for a house I'm building. The D5 is reasonably simple to use. I spent a couple hours playing with it and now feel comfortable using it. I've layed out my batter boards for the foundation to within 1/32 in. accuracy. A level of precision I would have never been able to obtain with a sagging tape measurer. The D5 is compact, and you get a sense of quality when holding it. You simply aim the laser at a surface to be measured and you spot the laser dot or find the item in a cross hair on the LCD screen. The color LCD screen is bright and surprisingly so is the laser dot. Within distances found on a construction site the dot is large enough to see with the unaided eye in full sunlight-surpirse for me. The indirect measurement functions are handy, volume and areas calculations are pretty straight forward. For long measurements 50' or more you will need to steady the instrument (hand shake) and probably could use a tripod. The unit has a flip out bracket on the back to wrap around edges or fit inside corners. The D5 senses the bracked and the tripod screw and tells you where the measurements are referenced from, i.e, front, back, tripod screw, bracket inside corner, bracket outside edge. I bought my unit on Ebay for $450. I'm sure with time the price will drop. I do believe the D5 with it's color display will be the standard that other lasers range finders will be compared too.

Reviews

Though I am not in the forestry field, either for work or play, I settled on this model of laser rangefinder because of its hypsometric capabilities. I've been using the Nikon Forestry 550 Hypsometer Rangefinder to establish the heights of various buildings, antennas, bridges, and cliffs. And because I wouldn't always have the time to do the geometry calculations on my own, I settled on this model, with its built-in understanding of Pythagoras' elegant formula. This tool is simple to use, accurate enough for my purposes, and seems to have just enough features and settings to tackle a wide variety of rangefinding tasks. So if you're potentially interested in how high something is, or how wide a span is, rather than simply how far away something is, give this model some consideration. This device not only measures distance, but also has an internal inclinometer for measuring its angle with respect to horizontal. Therefore, with some basic mathematical assumptions, a range datum, and an angle datum, this device calculates all three sides of a triangle in one measurement. As long as you take the time to understand the mathematical assumptions the device must make, you can put this tool to use in many areas of measurement. Thus far I give it my highest recommendation. Note: I have not exercised this device enough to make any commentary on its battery life.

Pro: Compact, light, relativity inexpensive, waterproof Con: Uses 2-point height measurement method If this unit used the 3-point method of other range finders, it might be close to perfect. As it is, it is only useful for open grown stands. You must have a CLEAR view of both the top and base of a tree or you get faulty measurement. With either brush around the base, or branches between you and the top and it's useless.

I use this Nikon for Tree hieghts, and distances, for streamside protection zones. It is fast and reliable, compact, light, and easy to use.