Wixey WR300 Digital Angle Gauge Review
A magnet, an inclinometer and a zero button. It replaces the combination square you were squinting at, for about the price of a router bit.
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Every saw in a workshop has an angle scale cast or printed into it, and every one of those scales is a rough guide. The pointer is thick, the increments are one degree, and the whole assembly shifts the first time the saw gets knocked. A 90 degree crosscut that is actually 89.6 degrees shows up as a visible gap in a mitred box, and the scale will keep telling you it is 90.
The WR300 is the standard fix. It is a small box — 2.3 x 2.3 x 1.1 in — with magnets in the base, an inclinometer inside and a backlit LCD. It reads over a +/- 180 degree range at 0.1 degree resolution, with stated accuracy of +/- 0.2 degrees and repeatability of +/- 0.1 degrees. One AAA battery, auto shut-off.
The zero button is the tool
The gauge is not useful as an absolute inclinometer, because your saw is not sitting on a level floor and does not need to be. The technique is: put the gauge on the saw table, press ZERO, then move it to the blade. Now the display is showing the blade’s angle relative to the table — the only angle that affects your cut — and the saw’s own levelness is removed from the equation entirely.
The same method works for a jointer fence against its bed, a drill press table against its column, and a bandsaw table against the blade. Zero against the reference, measure the thing.
Where it will lie to you
It reads whatever it is stuck to. Stick it across the teeth of a saw blade and you are measuring the tooth set, not the plate; stick it on a gummy blade and you are measuring resin. Clean the plate and sit the magnet on the body of the blade between teeth.
The magnets are also strong enough to pull a bevel that is set but not locked. Set the angle, lock the mechanism, then check.
Build quality is the compromise
For what it costs, the WR300 is a plastic case, a hinged battery cover and a clever sensor. It is not sealed, it does not like being dropped, and a display full of sawdust is a thing that happens. Treat it like a digital caliper rather than a hammer and it will outlast several blades. At this price, the value case does not really need arguing.
What works
- The zero button referenced to the saw table is what makes it accurate: you are measuring the blade relative to the table rather than relative to the earth, so the saw does not need to be level
- 0.1 degree resolution with +/- 0.2 degree accuracy sets a bevel far closer than the cast scale on any table saw or mitre saw
- Strong internal magnets hold it on a blade or a fence one-handed, and the backlit display is readable inside a saw cabinet
What doesn't
- The magnets grab the blade hard enough to nudge a freshly set bevel if you are careless putting it on — set, remove, then check
- It is a plastic-bodied tool with a hinged battery door; drop it on concrete and you will be buying another
- It reads the surface it sits on, so a blade with resin build-up or a tooth in the way gives you a confidently wrong number — measure against the plate, not the teeth