Ditching my string line for a laser level on a long run

I was setting a 300 foot field fence last week and kept getting sag in the string line from the wind. Grabbed a cheap rotary laser from the depot, leveled it on a tripod, and set my posts dead straight in half the time. Anyone else switch to lasers for long fence lines?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_taylor28d ago

I've actually gone the other way on this after trying a laser on a 200 foot run of horse fence last year. The wind was calm so that wasn't the problem, but the laser dot got real hard to see past about 150 feet in the afternoon sun, even with the red glasses they give you. I ended up having to mark every post with a stick and then go back and double check the line by eye anyway. The string might sag a bit on a windy day but at least you can see the whole line at once and adjust for dips or rises in the ground as you go. I think for 300 feet a good tight string with a line level every 50 feet is still the way to go, especially if you're working solo and can't have someone holding the receiver for you.

king.wyatt28d ago

Hear me out, is getting the line perfect on a horse fence really that critical? I mean, we're not building a house foundation here. You could be off a couple inches over 300 feet and the horses aren't gonna care one bit. I've seen plenty of fences that are a little wavy and the animals just walk right past them without noticing. Feels like half the time people get way too in the weeds about this stuff when a couple stakes and a decent eyeball would work just fine. The sun's gonna mess with any laser anyway so might as well save your money.