Johnson Level 40-6064 Digital Angle Locator

Barnaby (host):  Hey what’s up Barnaby here.  So you want to more about the Johnson digital angle finder.  It has a range of angle capabilities of zero to 220 degrees and is designed to transfer digital angles to miter angles for cutting, right.  And so as far as accuracy plus or minus 0.5 degrees and it runs off a nine volt battery and they say it can go as long as 50 hours of continuous use.  That’s a long stretch!  We will find out if Kurt put it to the test in that regard as well as talking about performance, design, quality and value of that tool, but first of all what do you do professionally?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  I sell fertilizer and feed chemicals to agricultural customers—farmers.

Barnaby (host):  ok, but you have some construction experience in your rear view mirror.

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):yeah, I spent years doing custom framing for many large home builders. So I was excited to use this tool, when I started remodeling my basement because it’s pretty cut up, lot of angles in it; so it’s a good place to put it to use. 

Barnaby (host):  see I would suggest any kid coming up spend a couple years doing construction because it always serves you well later in life, right? 

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  or it haunts you when your wife wants projects done.

Barnaby (host):  there you go at least they get done right!  So let’s talk about the performance of it?  How’d it work for you?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  it worked great.  It’s pretty easy to use, I just turn it on and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to do the math on it, but it comes with instructions that are fairly useful and once I got it figured out, all my cuts were dead on.

Barnaby (host):  that’s cool cause boy I’ll tell you what, that’s years of experience usually making the right measurements, transferring them to the miter box and making the cut and putting up going hey I’m pretty good but this simplifies it, does it?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  yeah it cuts the time way down.  You know I just went and made my cuts and could go right at it. 

Barnaby (host):  alright, so any problems with the performance of it at all, any little trap doors you want to tell us about?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  you know I had no issues with this.  I double checked the levels to other levels, its got a couple levels right on it and it worked great.  I had absolutely no problems with it.

Barnaby (host):  alright then let’s talk about the design.  Do you think it’s well constructed, thoughtfully designed?  Anything you would like to change about it?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester): there wasn’t really anything I wanted to change about it.  Sometimes they would make something too long, and it wouldn’t fit in some tight spots but this seemed to do everything I wanted it fit in.  it wasn’t too long or too bulky, and it was handy having these two levels on there and I double checked them to another level I had and they’re right on.

Barnaby (host):  and then this thing looks like of like it just stays put.  There’s not a lot of wiggle to it.

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  yeah it does, it holds in place really well.  So, if I had taken an angle, and I took it down and it flopped, it would be frustrating because you would be trying to hold it up there and hit the hold button whereas this I can just hit hold, take it down, fold it up and take it to my miter saw. 

Barnaby (host):  ok, getting back to the bubbles there it looks like these days they put them in some sort of nuclear goo right there.  Can you use it in low light circumstance?  Did it shine?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  yeah, you know I was down in my basement remodeling it and the lighting is not the best, and you know they were very easy to see.  I think they put that in there too because I think it doesn’t freeze.  You can leave this in a job trailer and you’re not going to end up with a hunk of junk.

Barnaby (host):  ok and lastly what about the battery life?  Did it ever go dim on you on the readout screen right here? 

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  no it didn’t. like you said I think the battery is supposed to last 52 hours, but the amount of time you are finding angles on a job is pretty limited so I would think you could go months and months without having battery issues.  I’ve had it about  3 weeks now and I haven’t had a problem by using it on and off the whole time.

Barnaby (host):  ok, well let’s talk about quality.  Do you think it is going to survive a couple drops or what?  Did you drop it?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):  I have dropped it and you know it’s pretty heavy.  I didn’t mean to drop it.  I tried catching it with my foot, you know one of those balancing acts, but it hasn’t affected it at all.  You know if you feel it it’s a pretty heavy tool.  Well-constructed, aluminum body, it’s not just some cheap plastic thing that is going to crack if you use it in cold weather.

Barnaby (host):  and you can always sheath your tool when you are done, right?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester): right.

Barnaby (host):  alright, so then let’s talk about the value proposition.  If you’re going to go get a digital angle finder, would you recommend this one right here?

Kurt Dufendach (product tester):id buy that tool in a heartbeat. The price point on it, I thought it was a very good value for the money.

Barnaby (host):  well that’s what we do here at toolselect.com.  real stats from real people to make it real easy to figure out which tool is right for you and while you are watching this video, do something for me if you would, go to toolselect.com and become a member.  It’s free to do that and then tell us about all the tools you own.  Rate them so that we can all learn together about which tool is right for the job.