I run a 20 foot press brake for a living. That is, everything I do is all about the angles. I've had all sorts of different protractors over the years, from Sterrett to Mitutoyo and five or six others. My good protractor is a Sterrett cast iron job from a combination square set I bought for a couple hundred bucks. I use both the tri-square, and the protractor every hour of every day.
But this thing, cheap as it is, blows them out of the water like a nuclear torpedo.
Seriously, this has cut in half or more the amount of time I spend checking angles. It's accuracy is decent (certainly within the 1/2 degree shop tolerance we have) and it is extremely easy to use. The digital readout is easy to read, which is a blessing for my poor worn out eyes. (I can barely read my old Sterritt without reading glasses, which I can't wear while running my machine. So I was constantly switching glasses. Yeah, I have bifocal safety glasses, but they're a pain to use when running my machine.)
But there are some down sides. Down sides I will happily live with.
First, this thing is very cheaply made. In my environment I don't expect it to out-last the batteries. This is okay. For the price and the amount of time I save using it, I'll just buy another one! but it is a downside.
Second, the battery is prone to falling out. Unlike some other devices, you can't easily tape the battery compartment closed either. But oh well. It doesn't fall ALL the way out, just enough where it shuts off. Push the tray in and all is well.
Third, it doesn't remember it's zero after it self-shuts off. No big deal, but if you leave it sit at a particular angle over lunch when you come back it will have set that angle to zero. Easy enough to fix, but a mild irritation.
All these irritants aside, this is a great product for the price. It works wonders. The only reason I don't give it five stars is for the three above reasons, and I almost did anyway.
If someone would make pretty much exactly this, but with a little sturdier blades and a higher quality mechanism, I'd marry it.
(Note: I work in a heavy industrial job shop, the majority of the time bending 3/8 to 1/2 plate. I also bend up to 1.25 plate, and down to 11ga on occasion. All of it up to 20 feet long. When you need to go down a length of 3/16 plate 20 feet long and check for angle consistency, this has been the best solution I've ever had. Bar none.)
Dan Clark
