David White Reviews

I almost bought a Berger sight level and then happened to see a David White in use on a friends job site. I was impressed with the quality of the level. Now that I've had a chance to use mine, I'm very pleased to have bought the David White instead of Berger. The top mounted leveling vial on the David White unit is so much easier to use. Sure was a snap to level my garage floor forms.

As an engineer, I didn't have need of a highly accurate instrument, but wanted something more durable and accurate than that you'd find at Home Depot or Sears. This David White gun is durable (metal construction), is smooth turning and has a bright, easy to sight through scope. You'd pay twice this much at a surveyors' supply store for a transit of this calibre.

My only caveat is that on my scope, the internal focusing carriage was loose on arrival, but this was an easy fix.

All in all a good value for the money.

I wanted the best quality optical transit/level I could find, but at a low cost. Without going to automatic (self-leveling, etc.) -- I found this to be the best deal I could find. It's easy to setup and use. In particular the optical plumment is great for locating directly on top of benchmarks/stakes. I use mine for fence work, calculating areas, site work in restoring my barn, and mostly for outside plant grade/level work. For my use, it has been a great investment. I use it year round and have found the optics to be tolerant of severe weather extremes and easy to use in high or low light. I work by myself, and also found it easily portable (light) and quick to setup and take down.

We have used wood and metal rods for a long time but the fiberglass scared me a bit. Now that we have this rod on the job I would not say that anymore,it is very sturdy and well marked. David White also made the locks easy to use even if you have gloves on! So if your looking for a rod this with this one you can't go wrong!

I bought one of these to replace an old, old screw-together wooden rod that had about every third number missing - the painted scale was peeling off. I currently use an old optical transit that should be in a museum somewhere.

This rod is a joy to use. The sections easily telescope out and click-lock in place. Push the button and the sections slide back together for easy transport. The Numbers and Graduations are silk screened onto the rod so they should last a long time. It has the inches & eighths scale. I kept the cardboard shipping box to store it in.

This is a great rod, no matter what instrument you use with it. Someday, I'll retire the old optic for a laser, so this rod should work with a target bracket then.

I recently purchased this level to replace a broken nikon ax-1which sells for the exact same price as the David White package. Tocompare these two levels is like comparing night to day, with this one being the hands down favorite! The viewfinder on top is great and the overall "feel" of the controls and the movement is by far better than the competitor. I also found it much easier to level up, and like the fact that it is a little heavier than the other, feels sturdier on the tripod. This is a great level for the price! And I was also really pleased with the aluminum adjustable stick that came with it!

This is not the product which was advertised. The lamp is a 13 watt PL bulb-which at best is equivalent to a 50 watt incandescent lamp. there is no instant start feature-the lamp has a built in starter which flickers and flashes for a few seconds. Any one who is looking for at least 100 Watt output should look elsewhere.

I would agree with Michael W. Savchak about the bulb. I read up on this lamp first then went to the web looking for a PL-27 bulb and could only find it is a "type" of bulb and had no information as to the wattage output. So I went to Home Depot who has only Phillips lamps (bulbs) and I found a few that fit the PL-27 series descriptions but 3 choices of wattages. So, combining the info listed by Amazon (most accurate) and the manufacturer (not very) I made a purchase and got my lamp product yesturday.

It is a very nice design, I love that part however, the output is restricted to 13 watts only. It is ok but it does not put out any 150 watt intensitiy (lumens). My 50 watt halogen lamp does better but with a lot more heat (the main reason for this purchase anyway). Overall, this is exactly what it looks like in the photo but the output is a 13 watt lamp and the fixture says Max 13 watt bulb only.

Also, in surfing the web I found that there are two types of lamp fixtures dealing with fluorescent bulbs, one has the transformer (ballast) in the fixture and the other type the ballast is integrated in the lamp bulb base. The later is the new design with less noise or static on electric circuits. This unit is not noisy but the ballast is part of the fixture base.

Now you know the full story. Still a good buy.

This lamp is a nice decorative fluorescent unit, suitable for a student desk or other such purpose. It doesn't look "industrial" yet has the functional advantages and cool operation of a low-wattage compact fluorecsent lamp. It is fairly rugged and has on on-off switch on the bottom side of the lamp head. The arm is flexible.

If you are using them outside, all models are not waterproof. If you get them wet it is a $300-$400 repair.