DEWALT DW096PK 26X Automatic Optical Level Kit with Tripod, Rod, and Carrying Case, Yellow

Good Value, Prompt shipping

I purchased this at first to survey my own property and now use it commercially in most of my work. A simple to setup product, with great design and ease of use. The leveling bubbles and gear are a snap to use! Thank you.

I purchased the Dewalt level two weeks ago and have used it in my consulting business twice already. I have been pleasantly surprised at the ease of set-up and use of both the level and the tripod. I am the only one that uses the set so I am not overly concerned about it being banged around too much. The tripod is not as sturdy as some of the more expensive models I have used over the years, but it seems to be well made for the money invested in the set. My only disappointment so far is I would have liked the option of having a decimal rod measured in 10ths in lieu of feet and inches. I know that feet and inches work best in building construction, however my field is in civil engineering and I need 10ths of a foot,not inches. I do appreciate that the size of the rod is convenient for carrying in my car. I do have a four foot extension foot, left over from my old Lenker Rod. This just happens to fit the shipped rod. Eight feet is not really very much when shooting grades in a rapidly changing terrain. I would recommend that the manufacture provide some type of extension base for those that need it.

The peep sight is opaque rendering it useless, and the bubble level has no bubble, also useless. The latter makes the entire device difficult to use effectively. First I ordered a DW090PK and it arrived with many black specs in the telescope. That was surprising. I returned it and ordered this DW096PK, paying a little more money hoping for better quality. When this second scope from Dewalt also had defects, I gave up and returned it as well. I double-checked the peep sight and there is nothing physically blocking it. If QA had simply tried looking through it the item would have been rejected. Additionally, there is no bubble at all in the level. There may not even be liquid as far as I can tell. Again, this should have been very obvious to the QA inspector. I'm switching brands now.

If you have ever done dock or seawall work then you would know, like me, the importance of a straight, level line. Perfection is key to every project I do and this transit has already proven to be capable of perfection. The day it arrived we built a landing dock for a foot traffic drawbridge and because of the DW096PK the bridge landed perfectly level. My only wish is that the rod was marked in 16ths of an inch.

No problems so far. Unpacked and in operation in about 10 minutes. Focus is good, and optics are powerful and clear. Auto level is a cool idea - which is, by the way, a prism (on some kind of pendulum acted on by gravity) inside the device that levels what is seen in the viewfinder.

Wanted this to do elevation profiles of running courses.The tripod isn't that great; I wound up using a photography tripod that I had with a three way head. Made using the level way easier.The rod is OK.The level itself is decent, not too hard to set up. However, the small sight on top of the level is a bad joke. Like others have noted, the front of it is frosted over and you can see nothing at all when looking through the rear of the sight. After having the level a few years, I decided yesterday to pry out the front of the sight. It's a small piece of opaque plastic; you can't see through it! I thought with the front of the sight out, I would be able to now see through the sight. Wrong! The glass (or hard plastic) at the rear of the sight is a lens, but what it is supposed to do is anyone's guess. Everything is blurred when you look through it. The only way to get an image is to move your eye about two feet back from the lens and then the image is about the size of the head of a pin. Just garbage. I pried the lens out also and now I can at least look through the sight. I have no idea what happened with Dewalt with this....I think they built the level, then found out the sight was completely useless and said the heck with it and figured the customers would just not use the useless sight instead of returning the whole level. Which, from some of the other comments, is exactly what happened. Reflects badly on Dewalt though.For anyone thinking of buying this product, I wouldn't do it.

I purchased this to fix a drainage problem at our home this summer. Every spring we have a lake where are driveway is suppose to be. This year we also had some water get into our basement. The plan is to grade the driveway better, put in some drain tile and get rid of the water. We havne't actually used it productively yet, but I have set it up to see how much we need to grade. The level set up with ease, was easy to focus and seems like it will work well.Update: We are midway through our project and I'm extremely happy that we bought this level, it's working flawlessly.