Horrible Freight has a large wheel unit for about $17 on sale, and I think
it's $22 regularly. I have one and occasionally use it to generally locate
something on property I'm inspecting, or roughly measure buildings from the
street when site access is a problem.
HOWEVER, it's not as accurate as you're looking for on paved surfaces with
measurements in the 100-200 foot range. For longer measurements, and for
any measurement on grass, you will have far more variance - I wouldn't
believe anything less than +/- 5 feet over 200 feet on pavement, and
wouldn't really depend on it for any measurement, particularly off very
smooth pavement. I've never checked the actual diameter of the wheel vs
what it measures per revolution - even if it was perfect the process itself
is just not that accurate. Most surfaces have vertical discontinuities
(waves and dips at least) and it's damn near impossible to track perfectly
straight, so the wheel naturally tends to travel further than the
straight-line distance between the points measured. Your mileage may vary,
and your measurements definitely will ;-)
A tape measure is cheap and far more dependable and accurate. Fiberglass
ones aren't expensive and don't expand and contract significantly with
temperature.
Karl
> Howdy,
>
> What're some cheap/easy ways to measure up to 500' or so over grassy/flat
> terrain?
>
> I was initially thinking a measuring wheel with a decent diameter wheel,
> but would welcome other options. I'm a little worried about the smaller
> (~6") measuring wheels not working well on grass, and the ones with bigger
> wheels seem to be a little more expensive. My only other idea is a long
> nylon tape, but that's a hassle to move around for other measurements.
>
> I need accuracy to the foot or so. Prefer it to be under $50. Ease of
> use is important. This is just so I can measure stuff on our lot, to
> model our existing buildings so that we can play "what if" games with
> other building heights/placements...
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark
> _______________________________________________
> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
>
> You are subscribed as kvacek@ameritech.net
>
> Shop-talk mailing list
>
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shop-talk
>
> http://www.team.net/archive
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Shop-talk mailing list
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shop-talk
http://www.team.net/archive
|