This is a spirit level, not a digital protractor. As a plane, this DWL-1500XY is wonderful. It can actually be used up to the third decimal place, which is 1/1000th of a degree. To put this in perspective, at 5 inches (spacing between pads in the X direction), a 0.001 degree difference equates to a 0.0000873 inch change in thickness under the pad. Even a tiny speck of dust can change the measured value. So I tested it on a 3/4" thick glass dining table. Over 10 inches, I measured every inch and found that the glass surface was not flat but slightly curved. But best of all, the readings were repeatable .Wonderful for the price.