The Leica Disto d810 is a high end laser measurement tool that will help you to make perfectly accurate measurements and that comes packed with all of the premium features that you could possibly be looking for.
When it comes to DIY and woodwork, accuracy is everything. You’ll often find yourself measuring the length of pieces of wood, measuring indents so that you can make joins and more. Get this wrong and you can end up with a piece of furniture that rocks when you lean on it (leading to many spilled cups of coffee) or picture frames that don’t hang straight. For those of us with OCD, there is little worse…
But is the Leica Disto d810 worth it for you? Do you need to shell out this much on your measuring tool when a piece of tape measure will do the same job? Let’s take a closer look…
Product Description: Professional Grade Accuracy
This is one of the nicer looking tools that you’ll have on your workbench, even if that isn’t saying much. Spend this much on a laptop ($704) and you’re looking at something with a premium, chrome finish and a stunning 4K screen. Spend it on a tool and you’re looking at a rubbery phone. Still, the black and red makes for a nice colorscheme and the screen is large and bright. It just feels a bit like a phone from the 90s…
But that design is there for a reason. This tool is IP54 certified, meaning that it is highly splash and dust resistant. That is great news for woodwork because, as you no doubt know, this has a tendency to kick up a fair amount of sawdust that gets into everything. With the Leica Disto d810, you can rest assured that’s not going to be a problem and that your device will keep working.
The screen also serves a purpose. This has a point finder camera with a 4x zoom. That means that you can find the exact point and distance you want to measure and use cross-hairs on the screen to line it up. This will speed up your workflow and make for more accurate measurements.
The device is capable of measuring up to 650ft or 660ft with a 1mm accuracy. Outdoors, you can measure up to 820ft with a 1/16” accuracy.
That is extreme pin-point accuracy and added features help you to avoid obstructions and measure at unusual angles.
Pros and Cons: Great Connectivity but Not Necessary for Everyone
The Leica Disto d810 is no doubt a professional piece of technology and will come in very useful for architects and property developers as well as home improvement fanatics. The camera lets you take screenshots to go along with your measurements and the Bluetooth connectivity means that you can quickly upload all this information to your computer or to the cloud. It’s great for working in teams. The extreme accuracy and dust resistance are also great bonuses.
But not all of these features are going to be ‘must-haves’ if you are mainly a hobbyist. If you are looking for a tool to help measure out sheets of wood for home-made furniture, then you don’t really need this kind of distance and the camera and screen are only going to occasionally be of use.
And on the downside, it does feel that some of these features have been a little poorly implemented at the price point. There’s no ‘pinch to zoom’ here, instead you need to press a button, watch the screen go blank and then wait for it to refresh with the zoomed in picture. It’s small and grainy and while it’s great for a measuring tool, it’s far from being at the standard of a smartphone camera.
Conclusion: A Professional Tool for Professional People
If your job revolves around making precise measurements and you can see yourself making use of the camera, then this is a great purchase. And it’s tax deductible so why not?
But then again, you are also spending a lot of money for features that not everyone will need. Hobbyists can make do with the Leica Disto X310 and still enjoy a more than capable device.
And it’s just a shame it doesn’t ‘feel’ a little more premium…
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