Swanson Tool PL001M Magnetic Level Review

I make boxes and magazines, this tool has become a must-have in my accessory box. I used rulers, magnets and all sorts of tools to make sure my corners were even. This very inexpensive instrument is a dream come true.

I put this on the tube of my telescope. If I set the hour circle to zero and the declination to my latitude (40 degrees), the scope should point straight up. If it's not quite vertical, with this tripod level, I can know how to adjust the length of the tripod legs to level the telescope mount.

I've been using this type of level to build 4x4 wood picket fences for years. This time I built with a galvanized post so I bought it for the magnets. However, the magnets are too weak. I ended up having to use a rubber band. So for me a useless purchase as I already had others without magnets.

I consider this item a luxury purchase as it was not really needed to install wooden poles on my property. I could use a level but figured it might help speed up the install. Actually it isn't. Wooden poles are usually round so it doesn't matter because they are made for corner poles that have flat surfaces for accuracy. But I used it anyway and everything was fine.

For anchoring clothesline posts into concrete. It was easy to set the bar up correctly using the bubble levels. The elastic looked cheap and I was afraid it would tear as the clothesline was quite thick. But that's not the case. The magnets didn't actually hit the metal of the bar so I can't say how well they will work. For my purposes I think the rubber band held it in place.

Very practical for checking the position of the pole hands-free. Of course the 3" level isn't as accurate as the 5' but it turned out to be more accurate than I expected. After about 10 posts (out of 62) I stopped using both and my long level just for Used last minute checks.before digging concrete.Very few posts required further adjustments and I've been very picky.I see comments complaining about the band snapping.I lost mine and found medium sized rubber bands to be the same work fine, so no