iGaging35-408 Digital Protractor with 10" Rule, 11"

I have large Bosch digital finder and liked it so much I thought I'd try this smaller version for projects that did not require the larger unit. After doing so, I decided I need a few of them around for the shop and the work van.These work well for setting and checking angles when doing blade set ups on miter saws, table saws and band saws. They give a good read-out for inner and outer angles, such as when building picture frames. They are easy to check for accuracy by setting them at 90, placing them on a straight edge, drawing a line, flipping it over, drawing a second line over the first, then checking for variances. I found the accuracy of mine to be reliable for producing tight miter cuts and so forth.

Very impressive tool. My woodworking quality and speed just got a boost with this tool! I don't know how the accuracy could be much better. It measures to the 0.5 of a 10th of a degree. Repeatability is very good. The three buttons are: ON/OFF; ZERO; and HOLD/Rev. ON/OFF toggles with each press. ZERO establishes your zero reference and keeps that same reference when powered off. HOLD/Rev. quick press turns on a little "H" indication and keeps the number even if arms are moved. Press it again quickly and the protractor shows the angle of where arms may have been moved since the "HOLD." Pressing HOLD/Rev. for 3 seconds flips the same display upside down so you don't have to stand on your head to read the numbers. Holding for 3 seconds again flips the same number right-side-up. The read-out goes completely from 0.0 to 359.9 (with the 0.5 of a tenth of a degree too.) A thumbscrew tightens the arms, but they can still be slipped pretty easily.

I like the repeatability. It gets the same reading again and again on test squares. The resolution is a tad low for my purpose, but fine for most. 1 more digit of resolution would make it super. I wish it took an AAA cell or small Li-Po battery because I don't like button cells. The good news is, it's a large, cheap, common button cell, and comes with a spare. The blades are a bit thin. A little thicker and stiffer blades would be make the tool better. I dislike the locking knob. It's too rounded and slippery, needing deeper knurling. The knob also self-tightens and jambs up when you rotate the blade clockwise, so It must be loosened often. The function buttons are a bit small, and the print on the buttons is hard to read. 1 star off for the locking knob, but still recommended. A nifty, useful little tool. Recommended!

I was apprehensive about the tool and its ability to to do what I needed it to do but for the price I was willing to try it. I have for years used a standard Starret protractor and been happy with it. The manual protractor has been getting more and more difficult for me to read in part because of normal wear and maybe the larger part I can't see as well as I used to. The iGaging protractor is vastly easier to read than my Strarret and easily reads to within .1 degree with as of yet unswerving accuracy. It is not as handy to use as my old protractor but I am learning and becoming more coordinated in using the tool. It has some nice features such as anywhere zero and a hold feature but as other reviews have written the lock mechanism leaves a little to be desired. The un-answered question is will it be as durable as the one it replaces. A new starret protractor is about 3 times the cost so if it lasts a third as long then I will still be way head in just the ease of measurement and increased functions. I would not hesitate to recommend or purchase another one at this point.

Bought these on a whim for a replacement to my old "analog" bevel square. All I can say is they really do make working with angles and setting up machinery a lot easier. Most important they set easilly, are more accurate and it's all repeatable.In my wood shop it is always difficult to get any machine set to exactly the same place twice when doing angles but not anymore.It's become one of those tools that I keep coming up with new ways to use so these puppies get a 10 out of 10 from me. The price is more than fair for the value.

Use it everyday at work and it works great 👍

My first one from this company had a thicker (at least 3/16") wider aluminum blade and had magnets stuck in a groove on the edge of the blade. You could stand the digital protractor on edge stuck to the table saw top and get an easy zero. The little buttons were so close together you had to have the support of the magnetic blades, but it was possible. That protractor went bad so I had to replace, no recalibration possible...I called the vendor.This one was it's replacement and except for the accuracy I don't like much about it. The thick blades were replaced with thin stainless steel ones about an 1/16" thick, together about 1/8". That was hardly enough to stand it on edge. Oddly, mine came with a bow in the blades so that they were spread apart and stood on their own. But, since it is not magnetized, you have to hang on to it and make sure you don't tilt the blades unparalleled otherwise, you get a false zero. The protractor head is still the small unit that has the buttons close together making even more unwieldy as you try to hold the blades vertical on a flat surface to zero.There are a few things I did like; the battery preservation feature so that the protractor turns itself off after so many seconds is great and it works. The accuracy is just awesome, another decimal position would be better for when you're setting up a jig to cut segmented turning wedges. I can say awesome because setting my wedge cutting jig produces correctly angled wedges to create perfectly fitting rings with not the slightest gap.I wish I could have felt a 5-star but I was soured by the thin blades, the fact that you can't get these re-calibrated and the awkwardness of the zeroing process. Maybe for people with smaller hands this is just fine.