Last updated on March 23, 2026 9:04 am
Has your laser measure been off lately?
Aaron Barnett of BangingToolbox suggests: Your laser measure, just like your laser level, is an extra-sensitive tool when it comes to calibration.
It could get out of alignment if dropped, bumped on, contaminated, or exposed to extreme heat. The external elements can shake up the tool’s internal components and affect how the device can work.
After dropping a laser measure and you finding the measurements are a bit off, you can check for accuracy before proceeding to automatic or professional calibration.
Testing for accuracy is pretty simple.
What do you need?
Prepare the following before you test laser measure.
- A steel tape measure, a yardstick, or a meter stick
- Your laser measure
- A target point
- A pen and paper
1. Set up a steel tape measure, yardstick, or meter stick.
Stretch or lay out your steel tape measure from your wall target.
The standard tape measure may take distances of up to 12 feet, 25 feet, 100 feet or 20 meters, 30 meters, or 50 meters. While a standard meter stick measures 100 centimeters, a yardstick is 36 inches long.
The goal is to take measurements from different lengths to see the differences between the physical measurement results and the laser measure.
Secure the tape measure on the floor. You can use an adhesive tape to do this.
2. Set up a reference point in your laser measure.
After setting up your tape measure, it’s time to set up your laser measure. The key is to be familiar with the laser measure parts.
Turn it on by pressing the center red button. Set your reference point by pressing the reference point button.
It’s the button with an icon of a laser measure. You must see this icon blinking on the screen. Every press will display a new reference point, which is either the bottom, middle, or top of the tool.
Choose any from this reference point to use as a basis for comparing the measurement of the laser measure’s result to the physical measurement of the steel tape measure or yardstick.
Also, make sure to set the same unit of measurement: cm, inches, feet, or meters. You can do this by pressing the UNIT button.
3. Measure your target.
Aim your laser measure at the target and align your laser measure with the tape measure or yardstick. Align the reference point to the actual distance you are testing.
For example, if you use the bottom tool reference point, align the laser measure bottom point exactly on 25 feet indicated on the tape measure.
Once the laser dot point and the end of the steel measure are aligned with your target, press MEAS to capture the measurement. Take note or save it on your laser measure by pressing the memory button.
4. Test laser measure at different distance points.
To ensure accuracy, measure different distance points. For example, test accuracy of 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet, and 25 feet.
Take note of your measurement of the steel tape measure on paper. On the other side, write down the measurements you’ve taken at the same distance point from the tape measure with your laser measure.
From your data, you can start comparing to see if you can find any differences.
What to do next?
For most laser tools, the acceptable error range is around 1/16 to ⅛ of an inch or 1.5 to 3 mm.
So take the average of the measurement difference by getting the sum and dividing it by how many measurements you’ve taken.
If the range of error is considerably larger than the acceptable range, bring your laser measure to your manufacturer for professional calibration or replacement. Or use the laser measures calibration mode if available.
Some superior quality laser measures like Disto and Bosch feature a self-calibration mode.
