Bosch GR 500 Professional Telescopic Measuring Rod, 5 m, 0601094600

Bosch GR 500 Professional Telescopic Measuring Rod, 5 m, 0601094600

Bosch GR 500 Professional (article number 0 601 094 600) is a telescopic levelling rod with a working length of 5 metres, made from aluminium profile in five sections. It is used to read heights in conjunction with optical and laser levels - Bosch GOL and GRL instruments and their equivalents from other manufacturers.

What a levelling rod is for

A level establishes the horizontal plane but measures nothing on its own. The rod is the instrument that turns that plane into a number: stand it on the point, read the value where the beam lands or where the crosshair sits, and the difference between two readings gives you the difference in height. From that come screed levels, drainage falls, excavation depth and formwork height.

Five sections, five metres

The rod extends to 5 m, covering a storey height with plenty to spare, and collapses to a length convenient to carry and to fit in a vehicle. Sections lock with high-strength locking buttons - exactly where cheap rods fail, because at five metres a section that creeps under its own weight makes every reading wrong. The joints between sections are injection-moulded rather than assembled from separate parts.

Scale readable to the millimetre

The scale is in metres and centimetres, graduated to the millimetre. It is printed with weather- and corrosion-resistant inks - a meaningful specification for a tool that by definition works outdoors and comes into contact with wet concrete, mud and mortar. A faded or worn scale cannot be restored, and it makes the rod useless.

Removable spirit level for verticality

The rod carries a removable spirit level that fits where it is needed. Its job is singular: to guarantee the rod stands vertical. This is not a minor detail - a leaning rod always reads higher than the true value, and at five metres even a small tilt produces an error of several centimetres. A leaning rod is the most common source of levelling error, more so than the instrument itself.

Aluminium profile

The profile is high-quality aluminium. On a levelling rod that is the trade-off worth making: stiff enough not to flex when extended to full height, and light enough to hold upright in one hand while the other adjusts the instrument. Aluminium does not rust in contact with wet concrete and mortar.

Delivery and applications

The rod comes with a carry bag for transport and storage. Typical applications are setting out and checking levels for screeds and floors, establishing falls for terrace and roof drainage, checking excavation depth, formwork and foundation heights, and general site setting-out.

Technical specifications

Questions and Answers