My tape measure has broken so I am in the market for a new one. Are they all much the same or are some better than others? I think I read a post here about the Fat Max measure being particularly rigid. It can be a nuisance if you are trying to measure something long without a helper and the tape keeps collapsing in the middle. Is the Fat Max (or any other make) particularly good in this resisting this?
1) It can be hard on this side of the Pond to get a tape measure that shows both inches and centimetres, and I find both useful depending on task. Maybe the UK isn't cursed in that regard - or maybe most of the ones you get there are cm only these days :-)
2) Check on the depth and shape of the tape body - lots of them are goofy shapes (the backs aren't flat or at 90 degrees to the base) or strange sizes, and once in a while it is useful to measure from the back of the tape body (my current Stanley one is 3" exactly)
I just checked mine (it happened to be on the desk next to the PC :-) and it'll do over 5' horizontally with no sagging, and just over 8' before it collapses. Of course that's without hooking something and pulling it tight - if I do that it'll run the whole 25' with very little deflection.
The tape's exactly 1" wide if I flatten its natural curve.
I keep meaning to get an electronic one for doing really long measurements...
I think my favourite is a Rabone Chesterman 'Supalok' SK35, nominally
12' in length. Although it 'collapses' at only some 30" it's very light and compact and pushes along a surface easily to hook on to something. The hook at the end slides easily for inside or outside measurements. Sadly it's made in France, and it's body length is metric, viz 70mm, although I never rely on measuring that way.
I once had a bog-standard yellow Stanley tape-measure thingy, but could I hell find it - I searched the world for it, and in the end bought this Rabone jobby at a builders' merchant's emporium. Getting back into the car I chucked it into the door pocket where it bashed into - the old Stanley one...
I must have four or five tape measures (or six if I count the one marked in hands (!)), but I'm very lucky if I can find any of them when I actually want to measure something. It's a bit like Stanley knives.
Hmm - 'Stanley' seems to be a common factor here... :-)
In my case hunting for the tape measure and the pencil takes more time than the rest of the job combined. I wish I had the type of ears that you could keep a pencil tucked behind, but it always falls out
agree on that... I had 2 Stanley Phillips screwdrivers .. both relatively new, and on both the heads snapped off when doing up screws. (yes they were Phillips screws) Older Stanley screwdrivers (mine are at least 40 years old) still work fine .... assume either cheaper steel or they have forget how to harden & temper.
I would guess they now subcontract to off-shore factories.
I went to Screwfix to order one based on all the recommendations here, ouch, twenty pounds compared to four pounds for their own brand. Whilst I realise you get what you pay for and I don't mind paying a bit more for a better one, four times as much seems a bit steep. How do they justify the cost?
Worth the 20 quid - if you do work that needs that much horizontal standout.
Otherwise my favourite is a Makita(?) promo freebie. This is because it has a lock that's a _sideways_ press button and that doesn't fly off if you push on the end of the tape.
Otherwise anything that's cheap and a lurid colour to stop you losing it.
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