Make the noise

I'm looking at purchasing an angle finder. What do you guys use? What features do I want?

General garaging stuff. finding angles. alignments, drivetrain angles, saw blade angles, etc. 

Watching , cuz I need one,too.

or?

Note I have never used the second type.

In reply to wheelsmithy :

More like the first one, but I was thinking digital. Maybe not worth going digital?

I have one from HF, I think, like the first magnetic one.  I also have a HF digital angle finder.  I use the magnetic analog one more.  Used it just recently to time the rear sight on a 90 year old Mauser.

The only advantage digital get you is the ability to offset the zero value, but it will require you to feed it batteries. (and maybe the beep).

Analog is the failsafe in my shop (like the magnetic round one above), since I almost always have a sharpie to write down my reference measurement if I need to work out a delta. I have a digital beam/box level as well, but almost always reach for the analog. Anything that need more accuracy gets the precision bubble level (good for something like 10 minutes of a degree).

A couple of angle matching devices kind of like the second one above compliment any thing that requires copying angle from one piece to another.

My round one has a movable marker that I can use to "zero" it. Like this:

I have a digital one I bought from Matco.  It was $90, reads down to .05 degree, is accurate to at least half a degree and repeatable to the .05, and has a nifty "hold" feature so you can take a measurement, then hit the button and pull the tool down to where you can actually see it to read the number.

The BOM device is like $200-300.

edit:  This guy. Interestingly, they now say it is accurate to a hole degree, my paperwork didn't say that.  And either the price went up, or it was on sale when I bought it.  (I saw it in the flyer and instantly pointed and said GIMME)

I regularly use a digital inclinometer that is capable of reading to 1/100ths of a degree but the reality is that for nearly everything i do that is way more precision than I need. 1/10ths of a degree is at the edge of what I really require/use.

I really like the digital ones we have at work, but I'd have to look to see what brand they are and what they cost. They read to .05 degree, and I'd call them accurate to a tenth or two. Most tasks I use them for at work require more precision than an analog angle finder is capable of, plus it's just easier to read at a glance or especially viewing from an angle. Another feature I really like is the v-notch on one edge so it centers itself on a tube, which is handy since I'm usually using it for tube bending.

It's worth reading the spec and not just looking at the numbers on the display. For example, the BAILEIGH INDUSTRIAL AF-360D reads in 0.05* increments but the rated accuracy is 1*.

I have an ap on my phone - iHandy Level or something like that. No idea how accurate it is, but I suck at measuring pretty much any & everything, so I’m sure it’s more accurate than I am. 

I got one identical to the one Bad Obsession Motorsports uses off of eBay for like $50. 

I have one of these. I use it frequently on the mill and such. 

I got one of these for Christmas. I'm looking forward to trying it when I cage the B210.

I've had one of these forever. I probably haven't used it in 20 years, but it's still in the tool box. 

This is the tool of choice when working with wood. It gets used pretty regularly as well. 

The machine shop I work in sometimes has a Soviet military surplus level that alegedly was in a submarine. Specs say accurate +/- .005 degree. Only thing we ever use it for is leveling the lathes and mills on install or after earthquakes, rare here. Every analog piece shown above is good enough for automotive fabrication, even setting wing angles on serious cars.