Bought a cheap laser level on Amazon and spent 6 hours chasing a line that was 2 degrees off

Picked up one of those $30 green laser levels with like 5000 reviews. Figured how bad could it be for marking drop ceiling grids. Got to a job in Raleigh, set it up, everything looked fine. After 6 hours of cutting track and hanging wire I stepped back and noticed the whole grid was sloping down to the right. Pulled out my old 4ft level and yep, the laser was reading crooked. Ended up ripping out half the grid and redoing it. Learned my lesson - spend real money on layout tools or rent them. Has anyone else had a cheap tool cost them way more time than it saved?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_park1mo ago

My buddy Mike bought a similar cheap laser off Amazon for hanging cabinets in his kitchen. Spent all Saturday getting them perfectly level only to realize the laser was off by like 3 degrees. He ended up having to take down every single cabinet and redrill the holes lol.

sandra_anderson21mo ago

Did you ever see that video where a guy used a cheap laser for a fence line and ended up with his neighbor's property mixed in? My grandpa had a similar issue with a level from a dollar store once, thought his shelf was straight but it had a slow tilt over a few days. Drew_park, your buddy Mike’s story gets me though - imagine the frustration after all that work. I guess sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and spend more on a decent tool, or at least check it against a bubble level first. Lasers are finicky like that.