General Tools Angle Protractor #17 Stainless Steel Square Head - Measuring Tool for Carpenters & Woodworking Hobbyists

Needed something for my son for home for his math homework. We had one from a certain company with a mustache, and it was an utter piece of junk, so we wanted something more useful, not plastic. This looked like it would work, and was metal. So we gave it a try. Love that unlike the others we were using, the standard arched plastic ones, it's easy to draw the angle with a single placement of the protractor and a single movement of the pencil. The thumb screw tightens for people who need that to hold it steady while using it. I was worried the size would be a bit awkward, but it's proven to not be the case. Can't beat it for the price, best protractor I've ever had.

I do a lot of work with small wooden parts layout. Scribing lines in 1/4" and 1/8" thick stock. Typical squares just do not work well for these small thicknesses. This device quickly became the most used layout tool in my shop when doing this type of small parts work. Extremely accurate and easy to read scale. Provides for fast layout to square which I use the most, but also very easy to re-set to any desired angle. Thumb screw loosen, set and tighten in seconds. Great tool, and outstanding value for the money.

I ordered one of these to keep around the shop and the first one arrived with an inaccurate scale off by about 1 degree, reading 89 degrees when checked against a verified-accurate machinist's square. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR GAUGE AGAINST A MACHINIST SQUARE BEFORE USING IT FOR ANYTHING. Obviously when you're using this to transfer angles for replication or to create the inverse of an angle, where you won't be actually measuring the angle and are just using it as a transfer tool, then this becomes a non-issue but when using it to actually measure an angle it's frustrating. Needless to say, that unit gets one star. However I decided to give the manufacturer/Amazon another shot before leaving my review, and I contacted Amazon about the issue and a replacement was sent immediately, arriving 2 days later. They didn't request the original back so that one can still be used for just transferring angles, and I handed it off to a co-worker with the warning about the scale so he can use it for a transfer tool. The replacement is accurate! Note that this isn't a "precision scale," as the marking for reading the angle is itself is about 0.5mm wide and that presents wiggle-room in the potential for mis-reading the scale very slightly, but it gets you in the ballpark, and on the replacement it actually lands on 90 when measured against a machinist's square. It's a solid little tool, and very simple. Provided that the scale is marked accurately, there's really not much that can go wrong with this tool aside from being crushed/bent/destroyed through negligence or accident. It is low-tech and perfect for work where "good enough" certainly is; I'd advise against using it to design a space shuttle or something where the difference between 45 and 44 degrees might be a life-or-death situation, though I don't suspect folks doing such things are looking to pinch pennies on angle gauges. It was a bummer that the first one's scale wasn't precise but given how quickly and easily the issue was rectified with absolutely no fuss, I don't feel I can exactly fault the item for that sour first experience. I'd say that if you're in the market for an item like this and trying to keep the cost down, go ahead and take a shot if you're buying from a company that's easy-breezy with returns/replacements: in my experience, if you catch any accuracy issues quickly Amazon and/or General Tools will take good care of you.

Quality, product easy to use

I use a Mitutoyo protractor which is almost identical but much more expensive. I wanted a second one for another area of my shop. I was wary about the General Tools version but it appears to be as precise as the Mitutoyo. The “fit and finish” is as expected with the much cheaper tool but it functions well. (It has the same precise indicator method missing from some of the cheaper machinist’s protractors.

For the price I was expecting cheap metal, blurry markings, with the swing hub being off and loose—I was going to use it for quick and dirty markings on architectural models. To my delighted SURPRISE it’s made of thicker stiff metal, markings are sharp and precise, and compared with the more expensive ones—it holds its own. I can tell it’ll be used for precision positions, too. It’s durability is likely to last year. It’s a true bang for the buck.

Bought for my 5th grader. Really helps him understand angles.

Usable but Poor quality.