OK, here is my opinion on the Disto, but first let me explain my outlook on the appraisal job and how I perform it. There are not many things in our profession that can separate you from other appraisers except your work product. Therefore, I do little things in my reports to make them look better or appear better than my competitors. When it comes to the floor plan, I make exact measurements and I do interior walls, icons and room labeling (including WH and A/C location). I shade my garages, sun room or any below grade areas a pretty yellow tint. If you choose the yellow tint and they only print black and white it comes out a light gray and does not bleed into diminsions or labels. I do not round walls except to the nearest tenth. It is more exact, more professional (in my opinion) and easier to square. In eleven plus years I can count on one hand how many houses did not square within a few tenths. It is my opinion that rounding to the half foot or the foot is watering down the appraisal process and since we are measuring the property to give our professional opinion, why not state it like it is. I rarely get challenged on my SF totals and when I am, I simply ask them to take my floor plan and check it versus their own measurements. I always get the "no, your measurements are very accurate" response whether they like my SF total or not. I take great pleasure in going behind "Joe Number Hitter" and disproving his SF total just by simply having exact measurements and showing that he either pulled them out of the air or had a full 1.5 foot slack in his tape to make the home appear bigger than it is.
No, I do not get paid extra for this effort. (See my comments about Alamodes response to my Pocket Total questions regarding that little screen and floor plans.) I do it for my clients, for the borrower and for myself, because I hold myself to a higher standard than the sweat shop down the street. My clients appreciate it, underwriters appreciate it and comment about my interior layouts help them. The borrowers love it, because they can use my floor plan from their appraisal as a selling tool when it is time to re-sell or list their property.
Yawn, this brings me to the problem with the Disto. It has the same draw backs of a tape measure. I have a motto that there was no wall I could not measure. When you have that motto you don't have to worry about whether you round up or round down to get it to square. I will hook a tape over a gutter on a corner and toss it 20 feet through the air over bushes so that it lands where I can grab it and bring it to the end to the end of a wall and pull it tight to get the exact measurement. I have done that from the bottom too. Suffice it to say, I am not going to lose an argument about size of a home or a wall.
Here are the drawbacks with Disto Classic:
1) In tight quarters, you can not see where you are aiming at all times.
2) If you are not careful, when you push the "shoot" button you may move off your target and hit something else like a window ledge or the house next door.
3) Bright sunlight (101 today with no clouds) will make the red dot disappear with distances over 20 feet and you have to pray that it aimed where you think it is aimed.
4) The monocular is great if you don't have the Disto against a wall where you can't fit your head to look through it to see your target or some other angle that is impossible to get your face next to the disto. Oh, you can unhook it from the Disto and look through it, but try a Disto in one hand and monocular in another a bush in you face and no idea where to aim the monucular ot see the dot.
5) I works beautiful with 90 degree turns and no obstuctions, but so does a tape measure ($9.99 for 100 foot Stanley fiberglass tape and you friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart). It is quick, until you get to that wall with no targets, then the tape is faster.
6) Since I do interior walls, the Disto is great indoors because the sun is not a factor, nor is schrubbery. It is great here in Texas to measure those garages that haven't held cars for years due to the 10,000 boxes, Aunt Mary's furniture and 2 1/2 year of trash or recycleables. But you still have to climb the garbage to see that cut out area in the back corner and see how long it is.
7) If you really want to use the Disto exclusively you need the monocular, or "red" tinted glasses for bright daylight, a desktop camera tripod for the "pyth" function swivel, and your tape measure for back up when you want to check to see if you did the "pyth" function right.
8) Be prepared for a learning curve. As I stated earlier, you will think you have steady hands until you try aiming this device. I especially like Matt's comments about keeping your hand on the "shoot" button so you can locate it when in tight areas. Easier said than done, especially when you have to move back and forth to re-aim the red dot off the wall, or a branch or leaves or window ledge.
Now, I do not hate the Disto. I consider it a helpful tool. A measuring tool that combined with a tape measure can accurately measure a house. I have gotten quicker with it and steadier with it, but old reliable is still there when I don't trust the Disto. It is still quicker to measure a straight line wall with no targets with a tape. You can be creative, but being creative throws too much inexactness into the mix. Just how wide are those gutters, 3 inches , 4 inches, six inches, gee, the gutter is a foot or foot and a half away from the end, etc. This is what I don't like about the Disto. My learning curve with a tape measure was two houses. The Disto I am still not sure about in some areas. But I am just too picky I guess.
This entire posting is meant as an informative post. It is not meant to "slam" the Disto or Matt Johnson. It is meant to inform typical appraiser types about the Disto, its advantages and its disadvantages. Hopefully, my comments will enlightnen those of you who were considering buying the Disto and will help you decide whether you want it or not. I was skeptical, and it proved my skepticism was right in the areas I was worried about. Maybe with time, the "pyth" function will become second nature to me and I will discard my tape. But what about all the homes I measure in the mean time. I am going to keep mine, use it with the tape measure and I am sure it will pay for itself in time. I have appreciated it inside the home and in cluttered garages.
Frederick, You can measure a upper story with the "pyth" function and get close or exact depending on your aim, your steady hands and you ability not to move the swivel position while aiming at the other end. Of course, you can do the same thing with tape measure by mentally remembering the start and stop points while measuring the bottom wall.
