BOSCH GLM400C 400 Ft Blaze Outdoor Connected Laser Measure with Camera Viewfinder, Includes 3 AA Batteries, Hand Strap, & Pouch

Bought this laser measure to use for measuring the distances of a foundation for a new aircraft hangar. The wind here in Amarillo blows all the bloody time such that it’s impossible to reliability use any tape measure with string lines to find distances off batter boards. For the intended purpose the laser measure worked near perfectly and I was able to accuracy find the distances across 60 foot and 100 foot walls and with the 116 foot diagonal. It’s worthily to mention that the accuracy of this laser measure is light years over a tape measure for long distances as long distance tapes tend to be fiberglass or similar which stretches when being pulled taught. At low light periods you can see the red laser dot so you’re able to see what you’re pointing at. The red dot is visible really well during dusk and dawn periods but also works well indoors. Outdoors in sunlight, you can see the dot if you look very closely, but it’s near impossible to see after noon on a bright summer day. The device does have a camera that you can use to see what you’re measuring and I found this well worth the extra cost as it allows the device to work if full bright light. One bonus point is that the device can measure from the front, or back, or the middle where it attaches to a tripod.What this device lacks or is subpar with has to do with its age. I can’t find the exact date that Bosch introduced the GLM400, but it looks like 2017 and the images that I did find look exactly like the one I bought in mid 2023. The device still usages micro USB for charging, which all electronic devices I use are either lighting or USB-C, so if I lose this power cable (which can’t be stowed in the caring case) I’m screwed. While I like the camera, it’s very pixelated and extremely hard if not impossible to find small locations to measure at and beyond 60 feet. For longer distances the camera needs a higher resolution along with a better resolution screen or be able to Bluetooth the high res video to you phone. The one annoying feature is that every time the device powers-on it boots to a default setting which is measuring from the back end of the device. Since I measure from the front end this gets a bit annoying as the user interface is a tad bit cumbersome to change this Finally, the Bosch tool app that you can use with this device is literally worthless and I haven’t be able to use it to accomplish anything productive.In the end would I purchase again….absolutely!

Tested it on a golf course on a bright, cloudless, sunny day. It was not reading well beyond about 200 feet, and sometimes not at all.However, when it was CLOUDY, mid-day, it worked perfectly, measuring up to 400 feet with ease. It works best if you can stabilize it (tripod or resting it on something) as hand-holding it makes it very difficult to use beyond 150 feet.Indoors, never had an issue.I am not using a laser reflective target.Checked its measurements up to 200 feet with a tape measure and it appeared very accurate (certainly at least within a quarter of an inch that I could tell).Internal storage and saving of measurements with camera image is awesome. Camera is pretty terrible at night or in dark areas though, but looks great in well-lit areas. Helpful if you do multiple measurements around a room and forget a spot or two where you last measured.Battery life is great, even when using the camera feature. I've been on six different job sites making measurements for about an hour each time and it was only reading about half of its charge used by the end of the week.Have not tried linking it up with a phone or computer so no opinion on those features.

This instrument is a lifesaver! I bought it to survey the lot of the house I purchased, to plan for new construction. The lot has a large flat section, but also significant asymmetrical slopes in front and back. The back of the lot is not even easily accessible, but visible, with a steep downslope. I was able to measure everything in length and elevation pretty much perfectly, certainly well enough to be a guide for my preliminary building plans. I was able to measure the size and location of the house, setbacks, distance to the edges of the lot and flat parts of the lot, width of the street out front, etc. I used it in conjunction with a good target https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BNY7NE?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details that made certain measurements much quicker and easier than without. A target like that is a must, IMO.The most impressive thing was that I was able to measure the back of the lot with a 40ft high, 70ft deep downslope (~32 degrees), with only a concrete drainage ditch at the end to target. I did all measurements form the top of the slope. The measurements, even with such an unreliable target, were repeatable enough and crosschecked well enough to be usable (within a foot). Ex: height should be the same when targeting the same point at the bottom of the slope from any part along the top edge of the slope. I got good enough measurements even without a tripod. Measuring the length, height and angle of the slope would have been pretty much impossible without a tool like this!The indirect measurements on this device are Just awesome! Quite easy to access in the menu, though easier would be better, maybe with a few more buttons on the face (it's also dumb that it doesn't remember settings between starts). It tells you the depth or height, but on the same screen it also shows the distance to the measured point (the hypotenuse of the triangle), as well as the angle. I wish it would tell you all 3 sides of the triangle at once. Of course the third side can be calculated using trigonometry or the mode can be changed to measure the other side (height or depth).The thing is amazing for measuring interior dimensions of rooms. So much quicker and easier than a tape measure!It also seems quite accurate at shorter distances where you'd normally use a tape measure, even at a few inches, though you can't measure less than about 5 inches in front of the lens. I checked against a tape measure and it was quite close.Having said that, it's good to have a tape measure along with this, as some measurements are easier and more accurate with a tape measure, especially at short distances.Long story short, this is an amazing tool that I wish I had known about a long time ago! But it's most indispensable for surveying.