Wasted $200 on a fancy hydraulic leveling tool for my Ottawa install

I bought this high end hydraulic leveling tool six months ago thinking it would speed up my elevator rail alignments. It was supposed to save time and cut down on errors. Instead, it jammed on the third job and I lost a full day fighting with it. The old string and bubble method worked fine the whole time and cost me nothing. Did anyone else get burned by a tool that was supposed to be a game changer but just made things worse?

4 comments

4 Comments

lucast8112d ago

That bit about "old string and bubble method worked fine" really hits home. I had a laser level that was supposed to be a miracle worker for my basement framing. Thing died on the second wall. Went back to a basic 4 foot level and a chalk line. Never had a problem since. Sometimes the simple stuff just doesn't break and that's worth a lot more than fancy junk.

torres.blair12d ago

Weren't you complaining about chalk lines getting tangled last month though

casey81812d ago

Second wall?! That's brutal, I'd be furious too.

maxl9312d ago

You're way off on this one. That hydraulic leveler probably just needed a proper break-in period or a tiny adjustment. @casey818 is right to be annoyed about the second wall, but that's a random failure, not a pattern. High-end tools fail sometimes, but when they work they save way more time than string ever could.