I was thrilled to find the Plott Cubit waiting at my door last week — this seemed like just the tool I needed to switch up the decor in my house, especially my bedroom. The Plott Cubit, touted on its website as “The Ultimate Home Improvement Tool”, is a high-tech AR (Augmented Reality) device designed to make flawless interior decoration a piece of cake.
The main reason I was so excited to review this product is that, in my bedroom, I have almost nothing on my walls (a few pictures, no decorations, and one poster). It’s true that I’m a bit of a minimalist, but I’m also just generally too lazy and unmotivated to take the time and decorate my walls. I’m also just subpar with interior decoration as a whole.
Figuring this was my chance to spice up my bedroom a little bit, I promptly printed out 11 small Marvel superhero posters so I could test out my new toy. I picked out a spot on my wall, about five feet wide and five feet tall. I put on some music and began my project, hoping it wouldn’t take much longer than 30 minutes or so.
I turned the Cubit on and downloaded the Plott app on my phone. The Cubit itself is basically a glorified tape measure that uses both wheels and lasers to accurately measure distances. The app is an essential companion to the Cubit. Most of the AR and calculations happen within the app.
The process of even starting the project took me a ridiculously long time — I first had to scan my wall and adjust the measurements on the app, then I began to scan my posters. I quickly realized that scanning every single poster would cause mass chaos when I’d try to organize them with AR, so I opted to scan, import, and place each poster individually.
Once you import your picture, poster, or other decor, you use the app to place them where you want them on your wall (or another surface). You then use the coordinates provided by the app to accurately place your picture on the wall. One feature that I appreciated was the hanging point estimator. This feature lets you calculate a “hanging point” for your poster or picture frame. It’s really helpful when you need to hammer in a nail.
By itself, the Plott Cubit is a great tape measure. It’s digital, it’s accurate to the nearest eighth of an inch, and the wheels and lasers make it more efficient than your typical tape measure.
However, together with the app, the Plott Cubit just seems like a waste of $100. This Marvel project took me hours to complete — I could have nearly finished Avengers: Endgame in the time it took me to finish the project.
The end result was very nice, but it wasn’t worth the effort I put into it. If I had eyeballed the measurements and placements, it wouldn’t look quite as good but would have saved me over two hours. Even if I had used a tape measure for accuracy, it still would have taken far less time.
Unless you are an absolute perfectionist when it comes to home decor, I wouldn’t recommend spending $100 on the Plott Cubit. If that is you, I won’t judge you for buying it — the Cubit really does do its job well. I just can’t imagine the majority of people finding it to be worth the time, money, and trouble.
