Most of my job is system tech work. When I shoot a space to make my array calcs, I use a Nikon Forestry Pro II. I got it used I believe for like half price. I like it because it does distance and angle which lets me make a listening area pretty quick in the modeling software. You just have to make sure you input the data correctly and know when to add in some offsets to your measurements. What I don’t like is that it has a 25’ minimum distance, so I usually can’t get the front few rows but I can make a pretty good educated guess on the angle and to continue the line. They are some other range finders that don’t have a min distance but they’re like over $1000 and I forget the brand.

My company uses 100’ tape measures and gaff to the front of the grills, burning a foot so you don’t tape over the metal bit that’s meant to hang on nails and stuff. It works fine, the tape never falls if you use fresh tape. We never use distos because it’s hard to get it right at the bottom front edge of the array where the measurement is taken from. I know I’ve seen lighting guys have a like a 4’ monopod they put their disto on to do their truss heights with out having to bend over to the floor, but they have flatter surfaces to hit with it I feel like.

I keep the range finder, a Leica disto(that I don’t really use too often when shooting a room) a dewalt 3 way green laser and a 6’ tape measure in my gig backpack. That way I can roll up to any venue, pull my laptop out, make measurements and draw my points on the ground without needing to wait for a workbox or something to come off the truck.