Paid $150 for a laser level that barely works on sunny days

I picked up a green beam laser level from a big box store last Saturday. Took it out to frame a wall on my patio where the sun was out and the line was almost invisible after 10 feet. Had to finish the job with my old spirit level anyway so now I'm stuck with a tool I can only use indoors. Anyone else run into this problem with cheaper laser levels?

2 comments

2 Comments

wright.drew1mo ago

almost invisible after 10 feet" yeah that sounds about right for a $150 green laser. Thing is nobody talks about how the color of the surface youre projecting on matters way more than the laser itself. If you were aiming at raw wood or unpainted drywall outside that beam is gonna wash out no matter what you paid. I tested this once with a $400 hilti and it still struggled on a bright white stucco wall in direct sun. The real fix is using a laser detector if you gotta work outdoors, but those add another $100-150 so now you're looking at a $300 setup just to do what a $20 string line can do.

richard_wells591mo ago

yeah man that's rough, I feel you. I did the exact same thing a couple years back and it drove me nuts how fast it washed out outside. I honestly think a lot of those cheaper ones just use a weaker diode that can't handle the glare at all, even if the specs say they're "bright." and like wright.drew said, the surface you're shooting at makes a huge difference too. I was trying to mark some concrete block in full sun and it was basically useless, but inside on a dark wall it looked fine. It's just frustrating when you spend that much thinking you're getting something that works everywhere lol.