By the time the average person stuffs boxes, bikes, toys, shelves, lawn equipment, and all the other stuff we rely on the garage to hold, there's barely any room for the cars. It's because the garage has become so cluttered that parking a car can be a nightmare. One inch can mean the difference between getting your garage door to close, and running over your weed-eater.
Sure, there are many parking solutions available that can help you park consistently every time. Tire blocks can do the trick, as well as the old-fashioned "tennis ball from the ceiling", but each of these solutions has faults. You can easily trip over tire blocks when working in the garage, as well as constantly run into that tennis ball (as I learned in my neighbor's garage). Besides, these solutions are so... low-tech.
It's these reasons why the Garage Laser Park from Maxsa Innovations appealed to me. That's right, the same single frequency light beam that's used for cutting, drilling, presentations, and eye surgery can be used to help you park your car with pinpoint precision.
The Laser Park was pretty straightforward to setup. You mount the back plate to the ceiling above your vehicle using three small screws, attach the device to the plate, and run the power cord from the unit to the outlet powering your garage door opener. It takes about 10-15 minutes to install one.
The Laser Park unit itself consists of two major components. The first is the low power laser light, which is very similar to one of those laser pointers that teenagers use to annoy people in movie theaters. The second is an ingenious addition - a motion detector that senses movement and activates the laser light. This will help ensure a longer service life out of the product.
For those who don't have an outlet nearby, don't let the packaging trick you. Though it clearly states "Powered by 110 Volt AC adapter with 6.5 foot cord (included) or 9 Volt Battery (not included)", the unit's instructions point out that the battery is for backup only, and will only last a few days as a primary power source.
Once the unit is mounted and powered, simply park the car in the desired "reference" spot and aim the unit's laser at a recognizable area or the car that is easily visible from the driver's seat. When the laser point reaches the determined spot, the car is parked in the right place.
I personally have two of these mounted to my garage ceiling (the image above is actually my garage!), and am happy to report that work fantastically. Best of all, they're inexpensive enough to give as gifts, and keep for yourself.
Pick one up for each car at Buy.com.
