Lasers: Hilti vs Leica vs the rest...

I'm doing a lot of outdoor work on a steep block. Some retaining, fencing and landscaping. So far, I've been waiting for dusk and then heading out with my cheapo green line laser to make measurements and plan, but it's not really practical or sustainable, and I'll need better when I start digging.

I've been looking, and getting bogged in the detail, at laser measuring devices, and rotary laser levels.

Hilti and Leica both seem good, but pricey. The Hilti PD-E looks like a good laser measuring device, and I like the kindle-like paperwhite screen. It's expensive, but it'd be a buy-once-cry-once purchase. They come up 2nd hand occasionally.

Price-wise, the Leica Disto D510 is close. Fancier interface and screen (which likely means shorter battery life and possibly more to go wrong). It does a bit more in terms of bluetooth etc. There are a few more of these on the 2nd hand market - can be around the $500 mark.

Does any one have experience with either make?

Rotary lasers are another quagmire! Hard to decide whether I should get a 'cheapish' $1000-1500 price range machine (hopefully around half that for a decent 2nd hand specimen), or look at something more upmarket (in which case it would have to be a 2nd hand unit).

Leica, Imex ... vs a dewalt which would use my current battery line... any advice? I like the Leica's detectors with their distance up/down displays.

I want self-leveling at a minimum, not too fussed about vertical, but slope work would be nice.

You seem to want two different tools

One for distance measurements
One for levels

The Leica Disto is the market leader for distance measurement.

The Topcon RL series are the market leaders in levelling lasers


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Yes, two different tools.

I'll have a look at topcon levels - thanks

Is this going to be getting ongoing use or more just for this project?
There are plenty of cheaper options that will do the job just fine. Bosch professional range laser with one of their digital targets is a good option. Here is one example
Sydney Tools

I have a few different Laser tools both for measuring distance and transferring levels and I also have optical levels, like the Leica Sprinter 250M which uses a barcode type staff

I have a Hilti PD-E, but for me it's not brilliant in direct sunlight.

The Hilti laser levels are good, I have both internal/external levels that can do horizontal & vertical

Bosch do a nice range of laser measuring tools, I have one with a Bluetooth app, so measurements are transferred to my mobile

It all get used again and again, Beardy

This Bosch rotary seems stupidly cheap, particularly with the redemption offer on at the moment - essentially the whole setup for 795. Self levelling, manual dual slope, horizontal/vertical, variable rotation rate, scan angle selection, and a tripod and rod by redemption. I'm trying to find the catch.

Rod is only 2.4m which is shorter than I need, but that's about it.

I have the Leica Disto 2 which I find impressively accurate. Sub mm, and robust.

For a level I use a green DeWalt* three axis laser and an audible detector which clamps to whatever staff material you have at hand. It is fine for use on my 5000m2 block, and ideal for use inside too. Takes a 10.x battery which uses the standard chargers. It is not a rotary obviously. I don’t think that it does anything fancy, but thats what trigonometry is for. And by that I mean Google.

*I really like some of my DeWalt tools. This is one of them.

If the Bosch rotary suits your needs I wouldn’t hesitate, I have one similar to what I referenced earlier and cant fault it. I also have a Topcon and another little unit which i cant recall the brand from Sydney Tools and the Bosch one is the go to most of the time.
The Bosch warranty is superior to others as well.

The one thing i would look into though is the quality of the free tripod and staff, they may only be entry level ones that you might want to upgrade?