Best Tape Measure Brand? Let's find out! Milwaukee, DeWalt, Stanley, Craftsman, Klein Tools

when i was growing up my father used tape measures five to six days a week on construction sites and they just didn't seem to last since then there's been a lot of improvements made to tape measures we have a whole bunch of different brands of tests today so let's get the testing underway and see which brand is the best in the first test we'll see which brand has the best stand out then we'll see which brand offers the best wear protection then we'll find out which brand has the strongest magnet and finally we'll see which brands can survive an impact at a price of only seven dollars the least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by bauer all the tape measures are 25 feet durable and economic case design we're gonna test that push button blade return protective nylon blade coating lifetime warranty the bower is made in china the hook is secured in three spots we're probably gonna do a lot of damage these tape measures so went ahead and bought three tape measures each if you work alone a lot the distance you can extend the end of the tape measure can really make a huge difference let's see which tape measure has the best standout in the next test to help sell more tape measures some of the manufacturers no longer mention standout instead they mention reach which is standout plus three feet the distance of a person's arms with a tape measure placed on a flat table there's up to seven degree difference among the brands so i put together this simple test jig to set an angle at 16.5 degrees a bearing is located 10 inches from the front of the tester to apply pressure on the tape consistently from one brand to the next let's test the bower first with the blade thickness of 0.15 millimeters the bauer blade is a lot thinner than some of the other brands and that's definitely gonna have an impact on how far it'll extend 84 inches are right at seven feet for the bower at a price of only ten dollars the second least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by ming hao the brand claims to be strong and durable the casing of the measuring tape is made out of top grade rubberized material easy to read fractions the ming how includes both a blade lock as well as a break the end of the tape measure is outfitted with the powerful magnet the ming howe brand does not claim to have any sort of protective coating the ming hoe is made in china and the bauer has a standout of 84 inches and the blade thickness and width is nearly the same as the ming hose 89 inches so the ming hoe takes the lead from the bauer at a price of only 15 the third least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by cobalt 90-day satisfaction guarantee high-vis double-sided blade with durable nylon coating printed fractional graduations magnetic hook the hook is secured in four areas product of korea assembled in china and the cobalt blade is slightly thicker and wider than the bauer and the ming hao 92 inches for the cobalt also costing 15 the same price as the cobalt is this komelon brand magnetic hook nylon coated blade printed on both sides of the blade unlike the previous three brands this one has a double hook the komelon is made in china the komelon has the same blade thickness and width as the ming hao brand 82.5 inches for the komelon at a price of only 16 is this cooter brand five times stronger accidental drop protection with shock absorbent case it claims to have seven feet stand out easy to read bold numbers double-sided ruler magnetic hook there's a hook above and below the tape measure the hook is secured in three spots the kuder brand is made in china the kuder brand claims to have 84 inches of standout and it actually did better than advertised at 90.5 inches but the cobalt holds on to the lead at a price of 23 dollars is this klein tools brand double hook magnetic tape measure it claims to have a tough blade 13 foot standout easy to read bold lines heavy duty nylon coating for longer blade life retraction break for speed control and finger protection the blade is secured in four spots the klein tools brand is made in china and the klein brand claims to deliver 156 inches of standout and decline branded better than advertised at 167.5 inches and moves into the lead also the price of 23 dollars the same price as the klein brand is this stanley fat max magnetic hook end ten times the blade life the first four and three quarter inches is protected by the blade armor coating the stanley fat max blade is secured in three locations 14 feet of reach the stanley is made in usa with global materials and the stanley fat max claims 168 inches of reach or 132 inches of standout and the stanley came up a little bit short at 127.5 inches of standout at a price of two dollars more than the stanley fat max or 25 is this craftsman brand 16 feet of reach extra durable blade coating magnetic hook the first three inches of the blade has a coating the hook is secured in three locations made in the usa with global materials the craftsman claims a very impressive 192 inches of reach or 156 inches of standout 154 inches so the craftsman came up two inches short of meeting its rating at the same price of the craftsman at 25 is this lufkin brand all the other brands are 25 foot tape measures the lufkin is 26 12 foot stand standout fingertip control durable coating three times a life lifetime warranty versatile 360 degree and hook the hook is secured in four locations the lefken is designed engineered and tested in the usa but it's made in china standard as well as metric the lufkin claims 144 inches of standout or 180 inches of reach and the lufkin came up 12 inches short at 132 inches at a price of 28 dollars the second most expensive brand we'll be testing is made by milwaukee magnetic hook wire form belt clip finger stop nylon blade protection the end hook is secured in four locations up to nine feet of standout five point reinforced frame the milwaukee is made in china and the milwaukee only claims a standout of 108 inches and performed better than advertised at 121 inches of standout and the most expensive brand we'll be testing at 33.00 is this dewalt brand 13 feet of standout extended performance lifetime warranty our toughest blade coating guaranteed tough the first nine inches of the tape measure has the coating survives a 60 foot drop new quick release lock design the dewalt does not have a magnetic end hook the dewalt end hook is secured in three locations made in usa with global materials dwarf claims 13 feet or 156 inches of stand out and the dewalt was only an inch and a half short of reaching 156 inches so the klein tools brand came out on top at 167.5 inches dewalt second at 154.5 craftsman 154 lufkin 132 and stanley fifth at 127.5 many tape measures claim to have a protective coating on the blade to protect it up next let's see which brand offers the best protection using this test jig the test jig is set up with 800 grit wet sandpaper and it's wrapped around a 1 inch diameter pvc pipe to keep the sandpaper from becoming clogged i'll spray water on the tape and the sandpaper i'll also apply 10 pounds on the edge of the test rig arm to apply a consistent downward pressure each brand will make a total of 60 passes across the sandpaper beginning with the barra brand after 10 passes the bower is still in great shape let's give the barrel 50 more passes the bauer actually did fairly well a couple of areas where it did wear through but other than that the numbers are very readable testing the ming howe i'll be replacing the sandpaper between each test after only 10 passes with the ming hal the numbers are completely worn off so let's continue for another 50 passes to see how it holds up wow that's a lot of damage compared to the barrel brand the ming how just didn't hold up very well at all testing the cobalt and the sandpaper just doesn't seem to be causing any damage wow there's a huge difference between the ming howe and the cobalt the numbers on the cobalt are slightly faded but they're still very easy to read during the test i could tell that the friction or drag of the tape passing across the sandpaper was a lot more than it was with the bauer cumlin definitely did better than the ming hao but definitely not as good as the bauer testing the cooter brand there's a lot of resistance to the tape moving across a sandpaper with the cooter brand unfortunately there's a lot of damage with the cuda brand but definitely not as bad as the ming howe testing the klein tools brand decline is sliding across the sandpaper effortlessly there doesn't appear to be any fading with the klein tools brand testing the stanley fat max the stanley fat max held up very well and looks as good as new testing a craftsman the craftsman brand seems to be moving across the sandpaper just as freely as a stanley fat max and the klein tools brand even before the test the numbers on the craftsman look slightly faded but in fact they are not this part of the tape measure was not sanded and this part of the tape measure was and as you could tell there really isn't any visible difference tess and lufkin brand unfortunately there's quite a bit of damage to the lufkin brand it wore right through the paint in several areas so the coating used on lufkin just isn't as good as some of the other brands testy milwaukee unfortunately milwaukee brand just did not hold up very well there's quite a bit of fading and some of the numbers are very difficult to read testing to wall there's no fading with the numbers and the dual looks as good as new wear resistance is very subjective so i put together a rating scale of one through five a rating one indicates very poor abrasion resistance while a rating of five indicates outstanding abrasion resistance the difference among the brands was rather surprising with the klein tools stanley craftsman and dewalt receiving a perfect five rating but the cobalt performed nearly as well with a four unfortunately some of the more expensive brands just did not perform very well one thing for sure industrial environments can be really hazardous for tape measures let's see how these tape measures hold up after five minutes inside the ammo can shaking around with some sawdust some sand and some drywall screws before we beat up the tape measures let's go ahead and get our 12 foot recoil time for each brand and then we'll see how they perform after five minutes inside the ammo can to prevent damage to the tape measure i'll tape a couple of ear plugs to the tape just to serve as a cushion and help prevent damage testing the bower i tested the bar twice and took right at 0.85 seconds each time let's see how it performs after five minutes inside the ammo can okay it's been right at five minutes so let's see how the bower is doing wow the barrel looks pretty rough let's test the recoil speed once again to see how it performs and the barrier slowed down a little from 0.85 to 1.1 seconds i slowed down the side-by-side video footage just a little and the new tape measure is on the left and it's noticeably faster and the new ming hao averaged 1.05 seconds before 5 minutes inside the ammo can and the ming hao took nearly twice as long and stopped almost 8 inches from fully retracting and the cobalt is right at 0.85 seconds both times after exposure to sand and dust it didn't seem to bother the cobalt too much it slowed down slightly from 0.85 to 0.9 very impressive the komelon is right at 1.16 seconds both times the exposure to sand and dust only slowed it down slightly from 1.16 to 1.36 seconds the cooter brand averaged 1.18 seconds the sand and dirt caused a lot of problems with a cuda brand and is stopped around five feet short of fully retracting both times the client tools brand is right at one second both times the klein tools brand really slowed down quite a bit to 1.87 seconds after exposure to the sand the stanley fat max is right at 1.6 seconds both times the santa dust only slowed it down slightly to 1.76 seconds just like the stanley the craftsman is right at 1.6 seconds both times it also slowed down slightly from 1.6 to 1.97 seconds the new lufkin was a little bit faster than the craftsman and the stanley at 1.4 seconds the salmon to dust hardly bothered the lufkin only slowing it down slightly from 1.4 to 1.5 seconds 1.2 seconds on average for the milwaukee which is slightly faster than the lufkin a lot of sand and dust made its way into the milwaukee through the giant hole for the finger stop and it really hurt the milwaukee 1.16 seconds both times for the new dewalt which is slightly faster than the new milwaukee it was just as quick after exposure to santa dust at 1.16 seconds very impressive the tape measure that performed the best in a simulated work environment is the dewalt which maintained its retraction speed after exposure to sand and dust the cobalt and the lufkin tied for second only losing six percent of their original retraction speed stanley fat max did well at nine percent in comlin 15. unfortunately several of the other brands weren't able to fully retract after exposure to sand if you're using a tape measure for metal work or even in home construction having a tape measure with the magnet on the hook might come in handy it seems to make sense that the magnets should be strong enough to hold the tape onto the metal while the tape measure is extended the full 25 feet so let's see how they perform sticking to this half inch by three inch mild steel the ming hoe uses a two magnet setup i made several attempts and the ming ho was only able to hold for 17 feet and 3 inches and the cobalt has just one large magnet in the center and it held while the tape measure extended the full 25 feet the rest of the brands with magnets held for the full 25 feet of extension however some of the two magnet setups required more than one attempt to get the job done i found if i didn't provide a perfectly straight pull the tape became disconnected to quantify the strength of the magnet let's measure just how much pull each magnet has before it detaches from the metal beginning with the ming hao brand unfortunately ming hao didn't have enough strength to move the weight scale off of zero the cobalt has just one magnet and did much better at three pounds the komelon has two magnets and it was maxed out at 1.6 pounds the cooter has two magnets and it performed better than the kamlon at 2.6 pounds the klein tools brand has one magnet and it did the best yet at 3.8 pounds the stanley fat max has just one magnet and it barely beat the client tools at four pounds the craftsman has just one magnet and it did the best yet at 4.8 pounds even though the milwaukee has just one magnet unfortunately it really struggled at just two pounds so the craftsman came out on top at 4.8 pounds stanley 4 klein 3.8 cobalt 3 cooter 2.6 and milwaukee 2 pounds so five of the six top brands have just one magnet i went ahead and tested all the tape measures for accuracy the hook on a tape measure is supposed to slide back and forth the width of the hook if you push the end of a tape measure against an object the hook should slide inward the width of the hook so the first inch measurement is accurate if the hook is placed over the end of an object the tape measure slides outward all the tape measures were close enough to perfect except for the cooter brand i tested three tapes made by cooter and they were all off by approximately 1 32nd of an inch some of the belt clip designs are really good while others just don't seem to be designed too well taking a look at the cooter brand there just isn't a big enough gap between the leading edge of the belt clip and the tape measure also the front of the tape measure sticks out quite a bit making it difficult to slide the belt clip onto the belt obviously belt clip design is very subjective for clipping into a belt the dewalt seems to have the best design the cobalt stanley klein tools milwaukee lufkin and craftsman are all four out of five once the tape measure is clipped onto a belt it needs to stay in place using an inch and a half belt let's see how much lifting force it takes to remove the tape measure from the belt the barra brand has a small bump out that keeps the tape measure really secure unless you pull outwards so you can remove it without force i've teared the weight scale to include the weight of the clamp pulling it straight up it took 14.8 pounds to remove the bower testing the ming howe 6.2 pounds to the ming hao brand the cobalt did the best yet at 21.8 pounds only 3.6 pounds to remove the komelon and the cooter did slightly better than the kamalan at 4.8 pounds and the klein tools released from the belt at 5.8 pounds and the stanley fat max let go at right at 6 pounds 8.2 pounds for the craftsman so cobalt is still in the lead and the lufkin performed very well at 11.4 pounds and the milwaukee released at 8 pounds and the dewalt performed really well at 14.6 pounds so the cobalt maintained the strongest hold on the belt at 21.8 pounds bauer's second at 14.8 duo 14.6 lufkin 11.4 and a craftsman 8.2 the tapes were also tested for blade lock strength the dewalt came in on top at 12.4 pounds milwaukee 9.8 craftsman 7.8 cobalt 4.2 and come along inclined tools 3.6 for marketing purposes some of the brands mention impact resistance and surviving from a drop for this test i'll be attaching a one pound pvc pipe to each tape measure to direct the impact point to the most vulnerable part of the tape measure all the tape measures were dropped from right at 12 feet while the power doesn't seem to have damage on the surface unfortunately the blade lock no longer works the played lock button on the ming howe has been broken unfortunately the case on the cobalt has been broken the hook has also been bent other than a few scratches on the outside the komelon held up just fine unfortunately the cooter's blade lock button has been badly damaged the hook was also bent during the impact the klein tools brand held up fairly well but unfortunately the hook became bent just a few scratches on the outside of the tape measure the craftsman still functions properly but the hook has been bent the left can held up fairly well but unfortunately the hook is bent the milwaukee tape measure held up really well other than a few abrasions no damage to the milwaukee the dwelt held up really well other than a few scratches the dewalt works just fine so which tape measure is best the dewalt really surprised me with just how good it is easily dominating the showdown however it is the most expensive and it doesn't have a magnet so if not having a magnet's a deal breaker the craftsman really performed extremely well the stanley fat max seems like a great all-around tape measure and finally if you're looking for a good quality tape measure for a very affordable price the cobalt is hard to beat all the videos in this channel including this one are viewer suggested so if you have a video idea i hope you'll take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 710,182

Rating: 4.965508 out of 5

Keywords: Seafoam, project farm, Best tape measure, tape measure test, tape measure showdown, magnetic tape measure, best tape measure brand, best 25 foot tape measure, 25 foot tape measure, best 25 foot tape, Stanley tape measure review, dewalt tape measure review, milwaukke tape measure review, klein tape measure review, Lufkin tape measure review, komelon tape measure review, craftsman tape measure review, kutir tape measure review, tape measures review, testing tape measures

Id: 6517aSbzlyE

Length: 16min 21sec (981 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Theader_97]

Really curious why the original Stanley tape was left out

[u/doublemint_gun]

Best tape measurer is the the one that’s closest to my hand

[u/IctrlPlanes]

For those that haven't stumbled upon this guy's channel I recommend checking his no nonsense videos. They seem unbiased and as scientific as one can be in a home built test.

[u/msing]

Pretty much confirmed my bias when shopping tape measures. Stanley Black and Decker figured it out. They don't have all the features but they can survive drops and are the old reliable. Kobalt's Komelon tape is great for features otherwise.

Milwaukee didn't do that well, but I see it most often on the jobsites. I also run with one, which was tested. I haven't encountered any major issues so far with it.

The older Klein ones were straight garbage.

[u/tenshii326]

Magnetic tapes are trash. Once you get enough shavings in the end, measuring inside distance will be off.

[u/QRKnight]

Glad I watched all this! Now I know what one to get when mine gets stolen/misplaced tomorrow.

[u/bismark89-2]

Hey I just recommend this guy a couple days ago lol. If you comment on his vids about stuff you want to see tested, he’s pretty good at answering you and sends you the link when the video is ready. Good dude.

[u/kewlo]

I bought the 2 for $15 craftsman tape deal two years ago and have been loving them since. I recommend them here whenever someone asks and promptly get down voted and told how they're trash. Glad to see the gospel of Project Farm prove me right

[u/Steve1101]

I was really surprised to see how poorly Milwaukee performed in this test. Usually most of their products are great but their tape measure leaves a lot to be desired.