Accessories & supplies
The small things that decide the result
12 categories of accessories and consumables, judged the same way as the instruments themselves: by what they change, and whether the cheap option is already good enough. Most instruments described as broken come down to a blown fuse, a cracked lead or a cell left in over winter — not the instrument.
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- Laser receivers Outdoors the line is invisible, and this is the only fix 6
- Laser target plates A red plate for a red line, a green plate for a green one 10
- Laser tripods The thread size is 5/8 inch on site and 1/4 inch on cheap heads 5
- Grade rods and measuring staffs The scale that reads upside down is the one you want 9
- Test leads and probes The leads carry the same CAT rating as the meter, or they do not 11
- Temperature probes Type K is a standard; the plug on the end is not always 8
- Multimeter fuses A glass fuse in a meter that specifies ceramic is not a substitute 6
- Instrument batteries A leaking cell destroys more meters than any electrical fault 3
- Chalk lines The gear ratio decides whether you rewind or wait 12
- Marking chalk Permanent chalk is genuinely permanent, including where you erred 5
- Marking pencils A deep-hole marker reaches where a flat pencil cannot 8
- Mason lines and plumb bobs Gravity needs no batteries and never needs recalibrating 10