Sometimes a Dot Laser is better than a Line Laser

When buying a laser for internal fit out you have a choice of either line lasers or dot lasers.  So which style of laser is best for you?

Before getting stuck into this a little further another choice may be a rotating laser.  A rotating laser is essentially a dot laser beam that is rotated around the room, a rotating dot is generally not as bright or clear as fixed line or fixed dot.  Saying this some rotating lasers have scan line mode which intensifies the beam buy toggling the dot left to right over a short arc.  Why would you go a rotating laser for internal fit out?  There are a couple of reasons for this; firstly you buy a laser predominantly for external site levelling using a receiver, but occasionally do internal fit out, but you don’t want to buy a second laser.  The second reason is that you need a gradient feature for applications such as a raked ceiling installation.  If the second reason fits you then you would look at the RedBack GREEN624GM green beam rotating laser with grade HERE

If you work predominantly indoors then the best laser for you would be either a Line or Dot laser.

Line Lasers

A line laser produces either a horizontal or vertical laser line, in fact many models feature both horizontal and vertical.

Line lasers are handy for all types of internal fit out such as kitchen, bathroom installation, tiling, carpentry and more.

Some models have a relatively short line with a 70° fan angle and some have a complete 360°.  The brightness of the line is dependent largely on if it has a class2 laser output <1mW or class3 output <5mW, with the class 3 being the brightest available in the construction industry.

But what about green beam?  Green lasers are generally a class3 laser and compared to a red beam with the same power output is similar.  So just because a laser is green does not necessarily mean it it significantly better than a red beam.  Saying this, the colour green is slightly more visible to the human eye than red.  When some sales guys say that green is far brighter than red they are normally comparing a class3 green to a class2 red.  The choice is yours if you get a chance to see  some lasers compare how bright they are for you and see which suits you needs best.  Bare in mind that Green laser diodes are more expensive than red and they tend to use more power, so shorter battery operation.

Image shows a red class3 and green class3 line laser side by side.

Some line lasers feature pulse mode.  Pulse mode allows you to use an electronic line receiver to pick up the lines outdoors, for site levelling, decking etc.  The RedBack 360 Range of class3 red lasers can operate up to 300m diameter when using the LLR705 receiver.  Check out this range HERE.

You can purchase line lasers with between 1 and 5 lines depending on what you need the laser to do.  If you just need horizontal levelling and vertical alignment then just two lines will be fine.  If you require plumb up and down or site squaring 90° then you need more than 2.

Dot lasers

Dot lasers do a similar job to line lasers such as horizontal levelling, plumb and square depending on the model.  These laser are generally available as a class2 laser output but as all the energy is in a dot they tend to appear clearer and brighter than a laser line.  So if you are doing work over short distance, say 10m, outside then a dot laser may well be visible.  Whereas a line laser will be far harder to see.  Visibility outside is very much dependent on the ambient light levels.  This is why generally for work outside over any great distance you would use a laser with an electronic receiver either rotating or pulsed line.  For applications such as installing garage doors, windows, even small decking and other jobs in brighter conditions a dot laser is going to be a better choice than line.  But again if you get a chance to try some lasers out see which works best for you.  You can see RedBack’s range of dot lasers HERE.

If you want the ultimate in visible lasers then RedBack have two class3 green beam models which provide amazing visibility in even quite bright ambient light conditions, D272G and D273G check them out  HERE.

Summary

So in summary, if you are working indoors then a line laser is going to do the job you best.  If you are working either outside or in brighter conditions than a dot may well be the best for you.  One more thing, dot lasers are generally smaller and cost less than line lasers that provide similar features.

Still cant decide?  Well there is one RedBack model that may work for you the DLD5X which features both lines and dots.  Horizontal and Vertical lines plus 5 dots plumb up and down and three horizontal all at 90° to each other details HERE.