GemRed 82305 Aluminum Digital Angle Finder Protractor

Because of the price (a third lower than the more expensive angle finders) I was concerned about the accuracy. If not accurate, what's the point. Well, the accuracy was well above my expectations. Every angle measured was within 0.1 degrees. Usually right on and 70% of the time within 0.1 degree. Occasionally it showed 0.2 degrees off, but never more.I was also concerned about the quality and thickness of the arms. As far as I am concerned, they are perfect. Not too thick, nor to thin. Very satisfied.Hopefully they hold up over the long term, and if they do, they are a great buy.

The angle finder does its job very well. It is easy to use and responds consistently and accurately. The buttons are intuitive. The display portion does feel flimsy so don’t expect to throw it or drop it off a roof. At this price point, I can’t complain.

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.)

Works fine.

This isn't my first angle finder, but it is my first digital angle finder - and I love it. My husband and I had a lot of moldings to add in our 100 year old house, which is built like a tank but not exactly plumb or square anywhere. This little tool was just the thing to make sure the cuts we made were accurate. The digital readout makes all the difference. It's easy to see and read, and it's much quicker than trying to find the tiny numbers on my old plastic angle finder.

Excellent product !

As the senior-most sheet metal fabricaor and ME for a billion dollar company with a large sheet metal department I was forced to re-evaluate our protractor needs after a bout of faulty protractors from a traditional manufacuter. I decided to start looking around. Having tried every digi and manual on the market; This was the winner.It's not perfect by any means, but it hands down beats any other model I've experimented with.Pros: Digital readout means fast aquisition of angle. Accurate sensor as I could ever need. It reads to 1/10s degrees and it means it. No parallax error in readout = no need to do the one eye squint. Large radius lead edge means you can use it to measure interior angles of work pieces up to .68" interior radiusCons: the battery tray does have a very good positive lock and tends to displace itself with use. Also the + prong doesn't have a very good design for solid contact. The battery will likely outlive the contacts. That is just sad, but it's better than an $80 manual with a missed weld and a miscalibrated indicator mark out the box.Other thoughs: I chopped the lead blade down to the 3" mark and reamed the hole on the other end to make it easy to hang. Wish that was a standard design option

I've had this for over 2 years now and use it for woodworking. I paid $19 for it.It's more than accurate enough for woodworking, and handy to measure and transfer angles, or for machine setup. The operation is intuitive and it's still running on the first battery.The overall finish is decent (not awesome but not bad either). The screw mechanism that holds the pivot is made from plastic, and tends to stick a bit. This is not the kind of tool that will outlast you, but you knew that already.All in all I would recommend this and I would buy it again.In case you're interested, the blades are not hardened and can be drilled. I know because I increased the size of the hole so that I could hang it from a screw.