Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

No. But your tape measure can't replace this laser either. You’ll probably want to have both if you do a lot of measuring. This laser helps you work faster and more accurately. The bluetooth feature allows you to move measurements directly onto sketches or photographs in your phone or tablet without rewriting them - eliminating a common source of error. If you do not take lot’s of measurements you can probably just stick with a good quality tape measure. If you’ve already got a laser measure but it doesn’t connect to your phone or tablet, the D2 may be worth an upgrade especially if you are prepared to invest the small amount of time required to use the free app effectively. The Disto D2 is more expensive than some other laser measuring devices. What you get for your money is a well designed device, high build quality, ISO certified accuracy, compact size, very good ergonomics and a 3 year warranty. I’d rate it at 4-1/2 stars if amazon allowed - but since I can’t I’m rounding up to 5 stars. In summary I like this tool a lot and am comfortable giving it a strong recommendation. WHAT I LIKE: -------------- [+] Small, compact, fits comfortably in my medium sized hands. [+] Comes with a high quality case that hooks to your belt with a velcro strap. [+] Comes with a wrist lanyard which I didn’t use - it seemed like it would interfere with accurate measuring. Others may have a different opinion and find it handy. [+] Bluetooth pairing is intuitive and reliable. I found it quick and easy to switch between iPhones and iPads. [+] Free bluetooth app - Leica Disto Sketch (V3.0 currently). Use it to move measurements from the Disto directly onto a photo or sketch. Remotely control the D2 to take a measurement. Transfer measurements into a spreadsheet using CSV format, or PDF format, or as a photo. [+] Verifiable Accuracy: each device is tested to ISO Standard 16331-1 and ships with a calibration certificate. Leica claims this device is accurate to 1.5mm (1/16”) - my particular Disto bettered this and tested to within 0.7mm. I’ll upload a copy of the calibration certificate with this review. Maybe it’s just me but I find it reassuring to know this stuff. [+] Measure from multiple reference points including the front, the back, and a flip out end piece. The Disto automatically adjusts the offset when the end piece is flipped out. [+] Audible feedback. Tones indicate when measurements are successfully completed. Especially useful for stake out function as you do not need to look at the screen as you are marking off distances. The device can be silenced if you prefer. If you silence it, it stays quiet - even after powering off - until you turn the sounds back on again. [+] Memory automatically stores last ten measurements. These are retained even if the device is powered off. [+] Countdown timer - variable between 1 and 60 seconds - for reducing shake at long distances. [+] 3 year warranty if you register your device - otherwise a 2 year warranty applies. [+] Battery life is excellent - rated for up to 10,000 measurements. I’ve probably made a thousand or more measurements with this device and the batteries are still going strong. This is pretty remarkable considering the bright backlit display is always on. [+] Dust and splash proof to IP54 standards. [+] Add and subtract distances. This is essential for many kinds of measurements (e.g. the thickness of a window casing which is otherwise too narrow to measure). A nice bonus is that addition and subtraction also works with areas, volumes and Pythagorus functions. [+] Stake out function helps measuring off constant distances, like 16 inch centers for studs or rafters. It took me awhile to get used to using this but it seems like it’s going to occasionally come in handy. Time will tell. [+] Pythagorus function let’s you estimate the height of a building or other object from ground level. Take two or three measurements and the D2 calculates the height. [+] Min / Max function allows easy accurate measurement of diagonals. [+] Leica has a very good website with loads of useful and interesting information. It's worth checking out even if you do not own a Disto, or you plan to purchase a different brand. WHAT I DO NOT LIKE: ------------------- [-] I find the buttons stiff and hard to press. This sometimes makes it difficult to keep the laser on target. I suspect this is a design trade-off to prevent accidental triggering of measurements. It’s not a big deal for me and there is a work-around - simply use the timer function. [-] Minimalist instruction pamphlet is just enough to get you started - be prepared to spend some time experimenting to master all the features on the device and in the app. For example: I thought there was no way to edit a sketch after it had been drawn but it turns out you can - in fact it’s even possible to insert extra corners and insets. It took awhile to learn how to get measurements into a spreadsheet until I discovered where the Export CSV feature was hiding. (Okay, if you must know the secret here you are: when viewing a sketch press the 4-horizontal-bar icon on the top left corner. That shows a list of all your lines. Now touch the Share box in the top right corner and the option “Export CSV” pops up. Why it doesn’t present in the main sketch view eludes me.) [-] Some features are not intuitive, may require pressing and holding two buttons for a few seconds. Keep that tiny pamphlet handy as a memory jogger! [-] The free Leica bluetooth app takes a little time and practice to unlock all it’s features. It does have a few rough edges - it crashed a few times - but never lost my data. It’s good enough as it is right now - I expect it will improve with time and future updates. [-] The app has an undo but no redo - which you sometimes need in case you undo too far! [-] The app does not sync sketches across devices. It’s most likely you’ll use your smart phone to take measurements in the field, but then may wish to further refine them on a larger tablet device. Right now there is no straightforward way to do it. You can export the data as a PDF or a CSV file and mail it to yourself, but that won’t get it back into the Disto App on your other device - it only exports these file types, it does not import them. Let’s hope a future update improves on this. [-] Some things in the Leica app are hidden or poorly labelled. For example to save a sketch into your photos you use “Export To Gallery" - why isn’t it labelled “Export to Photos”? MORE DETAILS (FOR YOU INFORMATION JUNKIES): ------------------------------------------- o Weight (with batteries), using my trusty old kitchen scale is: 105 gm / 3.6 ounces or 130 gm / 4.5 oz including the case. o The Leica app works only in landscape mode on my iPad, and only portrait mode on iPhone 5. This is fine on the iPad but a bit irritating on the iPhone as it’s not possible to see more than 3-4 measurements on the bottom of the display without scrolling. This is not big deal, but it would be nice if a future version of the app allowed landscape mode on the iPhone. o Stated Accuracy: in favorable conditions: 1.5mm (1/16”) in unfavorable conditions: 3mm (1/8”) o Stated Range: in favorable conditions: 0.05 - 100m (1.9” - 330ft). (My unit does slightly better measuring as close as 1.7”) in unfavorable conditions: 0.05 - 60m (1.9” - 200ft) o The laser beam turns off after about 1.5 minutes of inactivity. The screen stays lit and the device stays on for about another 1.5 minutes (3 minutes total) then turns itself off. All measurements are saved in the device memory and can be recalled next time the unit is powered up. o Requires 2 AAA batteries (included). o Size of unit (HxDxW) is 116mm x 44mm x 26mm (about 4.6” x 1.7” x 1”) o Bluetooth v4.0, range about 10m (30 ft). o Stated working temperatures -10C to 50C (14F to 122F). o Stated storage temperatures -25C to 70C (-13F to 158F). o Display formats: 0.000 m 0.0000 m (i.e. smallest unit is 0.1 mm) 0.00 ft 0’00” 1/32 (displays n/8, n/16, n/32 as appropriate) 0.000 in (numbers change in 0.005” increments, not 0.001”) 0” 1/32 (displays n/8, n/16, n/32 as appropriate) Press the + and - buttons simultaneously to change display units at any time. Device retains the selected units even after being powered off. The 10 memories display in the currently selected units. So you can measure in inches then convert to meters by changing the units later. o In bright sunlight all lasers become difficult to use at distances beyond 30 feet. There are workarounds such as using special gear, or simply waiting for an overcast day. This one is about as good as my other lasers for these conditions. I suspect all are limited by Class 2 regulations to the same maximum power level. o The Leica Sketch app gives you six choices of line color (black, white, red, green, blue, yellow) and 6 choices of line thickness. o When using min-max function the device screen shows max and min values but only the max value is stored into memory on device. Meanwhile the app gets all the continuous intermediate readings with the max reading as the final one. This is reasonable for measuring diagonals. Should you need the minimum value you can pull it from the stream of values inside the app or just shoot a new single reading. o It is possible to use advanced functions with app. Just remember you need to press the Bluetooth button on the Disto to send the computed result to the app. I wish this would have been explained better - it took some fiddling to discover how to do it. o Third party bluetooth apps are available. Some may interest DIYer’s others are expensive and obviously geared towards professionals. See the Leica website for a list. If you made it to this point in my lengthy review thanks for your patience! I depend on amazon reviews for many of my purchasing decisions, so I try to provide thorough accurate information in mine. If you notice any errors or omissions I’d appreciate it if you’d leave me a comment so I can make corrections.