Forestry Suppliers Tangent Height Gauge

Way way more accurate than the old 'stick trick', but same principle. Mathematically it has to work. With several tries on a pre measured height, some were dead on, most close enough. The level bubble is critical to keeping it parallel to the ground.

It very easy to use

Someone with a 3-D printer could probably build one cheaper but it works great for finding height.

As a ham radio operator, I use trees to hold up wire antennas. This is a handy tool for calculating the height of the tie points of the antennas (80-m dipoles, off-center-fed dipoles, end-fed antennas, etc.). Few tools could be easier to use, including laser measuring devices. The problem with laser devices is knowing whether the laser beam is bouncing off the antenna insulator (to which I wish to measure) or something else nearby. With the tangent height gauge, all I need to do is sight the insulator through the sighting holes while keeping the gauge level by viewing the leveling bubble in the angled mirror, then follow the simple instructions. Oh yes, and there are no batteries needed.

The site glass and bubble level are very difficult to see. I may be too negative here due to the bright sunlight I tried to use it in so YMMV. Would I buy it again….no, but my eyesight could be a factor.

Got this to help me tell the height of a tree to cut down. I checked it against once it was on the ground and it was real close with in 4 feet on a 80-100 foot tree.

I cut a lot of tree's in rural and urban area's. It is a must not only to know where the trunk is going to land, but where the topa will land. This Tangent Height Gauge does just that. I use Open face Bore cut for landing tree's to control where they hit, and this little baby puts the top right where I say it's going to land. It's easier to cut a full tree and buck it on the ground then to climb and cut piece by piece. It takes a few minutes to figure out the hight, and I cheat by using laser rang finders. Works great.

Just wish it was made of metal instead of plastic. Price is kinda high for something that will likely get broken. Time will tell