tgiro Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 I have been using my Wixey Angle Gauge for a few years and it works fine. Lowes sells the Toughbuilt Angle Gauge. We got one back in returns a couple of days ago, and after testing, the only thing we could think was the guy just couldn't figure out how to use it. Since the gauge worked OK, the boss knocked 50% off the price and put it in clearance - and I grabbed it. Today, I had a chance to test it against the Wixey. The first thing I did was put them on my saw blade. The first photo shows that they agree my blade is 90° to the table. Then I leaned on one corner of the saw. The Wixey shows that I knocked the angle off by .1°, because the Wixey displays down to a 10th of a degree. The Toughbuilt shows I knocked the angle off by, only, .05°, as the Toughbuilt displays down to 100th of a degree. I zeroed both gauges to the table before attaching them to the blade. When you first turn a Wixey on, no matter how you hold it, it will display some angle reading. When you first turn a Toughbuilt on, if you are holding it so it is laying on it's back, it will display an error. Once you mount the Toughbuilt on the device you are testing, the gauge displays the angle. With these gauges - to get an accurate angle reading, they must be zeroed first. When I set both gauges on the saw table, they both read a few degrees off zero. When I pressed the zero button on the Wixey, it blinked a couple times and then displayed zero. When I pressed the zero button on the Toughbuilt, it thought about it for two or three seconds then displayed zero. The Wixey has two buttons - On/Off and Zero. The Toughbuilt adds a Mode button and a Hold button. The Hold button just locks whatever angle is currently displayed. The mode button switches between degrees, percentage, ft/in, and m/mm. I haven't played with the mode button to test the other modes. While neither of the two gauges will stick to aluminum or plastic, The Toughbuilt has an added feature for piping. The Toughbuilt has a groove in the magnetic surface to align the gauge with the pipe. The Wixey does not. Both gauges are sensitive enough to show an incorrect angle, if they are not aligned perfectly with piping. All in all - it looks to me that the Toughbuilt is the better of the gauges. I think the Wixey was/is a good gauge, but advancements in technology have caught up. If you are interested, Lowes sells these for $19.98 -- https://www.lowes.com/pd/TOUGHBUILT-...vel/5013732061 I checked Amazon, but couldn't find Toughbuilt gauges. There are some like the Toughbuilt, but they were more expensive. jerry walters, jollyred, OCtoolguy and 2 others 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAIrving Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 Sounds like a winner! The word must be out, they are out of stock at my local Lowes. scrollingforsanity and OCtoolguy 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sycamore67 Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) Personally, I like the smaller size of the Wixey as it is easier to attach to a blade. As for the accuracy, it makes no difference in my shop between 0.05 and 0.1 degrees. For woodworking, it is not important to me. Edited March 7, 2023 by Sycamore67 scrollingforsanity, new2woodwrk and OCtoolguy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry walters Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 Thanks for the review, Tony. Coming from a trusted user means much more the counting the stars someone gives. Jerry scrollingforsanity and OCtoolguy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpburcham Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 Thanks Tony for the review. It's in stock at my local Lowes. . . Picking one up today on my way home from work. OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 Glad you brought this up as I've been wanting one and have been researching them. This is a great price because even the cheap Harbor Freight one is nearly $40.. it does have more buttons too. The Wixy one from Amazon is around $30.. was surprised HF one was so high priced.. The one thing I haven't found was... what battery do they take? Some tools I have around here I may only use 1 time every 5 years and if they don't have a way to change the battery to a standard common battery then I'm not buying it.. I see the Wixy one states it uses 1 AAA battery.. I like that.. most times when I want to use a tool I don't feel like waiting an hour or two for a battery to charge.. usually loose the special cords that rechargeable stuff comes with after 5 years of not being used I spend an hour looking for the cord and another for it to charge.. SO.. basically I like things that can take standard batteries.. rather than rechargeable stuff.. OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpburcham Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 21 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said: The one thing I haven't found was... what battery do they take? . . . . . The online manual indicates that it takes 2 AAA batteries https://pdf.lowes.com/productdocuments/a4950c4c-555d-4f0a-94f8-06f664cf74d8/61382995.pdf kmmcrafts, scrollingforsanity and OCtoolguy 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 32 minutes ago, jpburcham said: The online manual indicates that it takes 2 AAA batteries https://pdf.lowes.com/productdocuments/a4950c4c-555d-4f0a-94f8-06f664cf74d8/61382995.pdf Thank's I couldn't get that pdf to open from their site and no mention of it in the description so I didn't know.. Unfortunately my lowes out of stock. I may just order online. jpburcham, OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 5 hours ago, Sycamore67 said: Personally, I like the smaller size of the Wixey as it is easier to attach to a blade. As for the accuracy, it makes no difference in my shop between 0.05 and 0.1 degrees. For woodworking, it is not important to me. I agree. scrollingforsanity 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak0ta52 Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 I have the Toughbuilt and still learning it. The mode button can be a little confusing however it works a lot better than the user! OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 I bought one for myself at Lowe's Christmas sale. Love and it even has a digital level. OCtoolguy, kmmcrafts and scrollingforsanity 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 After looking more closely at the photos and seeing the comments about the size I might just pass on it.. The more buttons and options for it will probably just confuse me on how to use it anyway, I think I might stick to the Wixey brand one for $10 more.. scrollingforsanity, OCtoolguy and Sycamore67 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgiro Posted March 8, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 On 3/7/2023 at 6:46 AM, Sycamore67 said: Personally, I like the smaller size of the Wixey as it is easier to attach to a blade. As for the accuracy, it makes no difference in my shop between 0.05 and 0.1 degrees. For woodworking, it is not important to me. The Toughbuilt fits the my saw blade just fine. As for the accuracy, I cut segmented rings to make bowls, If I wish to cut 16 staves to make a round, each stave has to be 22.5°, which means I have to cut each side of the stave at 11.25° With the Wixey, it was a trial and "sneak-up-on-it" adjustment. The Toughbuilt (although I haven't tried one yet) will, hopefully, eliminate the trial & error phase. OCtoolguy and kmmcrafts 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbow388 Posted March 12, 2023 Report Share Posted March 12, 2023 I wanted to get one of those at Lowes. My Son (Been at Lowes 11 years) kept his eyes out every day for one, maybe in an odd place as stuff gets put back wherever in those stores. He finally came across one but I had already bought one off amazon. I use mine all of the time. They are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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