Hacking laser tapemeasures?

Hi, I have an application where I want to measure up to 10m distance with mm accuracy and so far can only see that laser is capable of this feat.

I'm thinking of hacking a laser "tapemeasure" in order to extract the analog value (if there is one), as research so far has failed to find a unit that has a serial output which I can manipulate. Does anyone have some experience with these and can offer suggestions before I buy bits? The application calls for measurements every few minutes so my PIC will control its power and also process the results for analysis later i.e. log.

Worse case is I end up with a handy tool if the hack is unsuccessful...

Cheers,
Bill