Skip to content

AV Tool Bag – Suaoki Laser Measure

By: Richard Mitchell

If you provide AV consulting services, as our department does for Duke University, you’ll find yourself frequently measuring all types of unique spaces. How far away is that projection screen? How long does the HDMI cable need to be? How big is the room? While a traditional 25′ tape measure is fine for many situations, the act of measuring a larger space can be a bit more difficult. Say a room is 80′ across, that’s four trips with a traditional tape measure (assuming the space is flat) and a bit of “the maths.” But, there must be a better, faster, and perhaps less intrusive method, right?

The Suaoki 131′ Laser Measure is an incredibly handy, flexible, and inexpensive device for quickly measuring all types of unique spaces. At around $25, it’s nearly the cost of a professional measuring tape and easily fits in an AV technicians bag. While I’ve only had the device for a roughly a month, I’ve found the user interface to be self-explanatory. Simply point the device at the object you want to measure to, push and hold the big red button for a few seconds, the device will start shooting lasers and providing distance feedback. Pressing the red button a second time will stop the laser.

In the above example, I received the maximum distance recorded, the minimum distance recorded, and the average of those two numbers. Considering I was hand holding the unit, the variance over ~62′ was about 1/8th of an inch. That said, some negative reviews indicate that the device isn’t amazingly accurate at long distances (that it can float ~.5″ over long distances). I didn’t find this to be the case, but in my environment, it’s not all that important that the device is perfectly accurate.

All in all, I’ve found the Suaoki 131′ Laser Measure to be a solid purchase for the AV or IT technician on the go.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *