Best Tape Measure - Head-2-Head

[Music] who makes the best tape measure tape measures and hammock brands are probably the cause of more debates on the jobsite than anything else and I can see why when you think about a tool that is used daily hourly or more you wear it on your hip you've been using it for years this brand loyalty one of the most critical and most used tools required by the trays is the tape measure so the question is which one's the best tape measure which one would you buy well pro-grade tape measures must retain their accuracy while enduring a beating on job sites from drops and bumps and dust and dirt rain snow whatever so in this best tape measure head-to-head we put several 25-foot premium tape measures to the test to see which one came up on top we evaluated eight different tape measures from seven different manufacturers five of the eight tape measures had magnetic tips those tape measures were Dewalt klein milwaukee stanley fat max stanley power mac pollen lock Lufkin and Tajima and guys look if you if you want more information you want more details you want to look at the graphs and the charts you've got to go to the website model numbers the website will have the article the articles always have more information so why did we pick 25-foot tape measures while there are certainly many different tape measures to choose from we chose to look at the more popular program measures we also chose to look at 25 foot lengths because they are the more popular length tape measures sold on the market that's just a fact so when our testing we the first thing we did is we needed establish some benchmarks we did 10 foot and 25 foot recoil tests when you let a tape recoil 25 feet into its case it's never a smart idea you know tape measure isn't really designed to be recoiled like that over and over a sharp short recoil and snapping back into the case full-speed rewinding can cause damage to the inner workings the end hook eventually where a blade markings even break the tape but during this testing we did just that we tested we tested recoil from ten and twenty five feet and we wanted to establish that benchmark speed and again this is this human error here I get that but we needed a benchmark and then we use that later when we did our abrasion testing and our debris testing and our drop testing to see how the tapes performed so we cleared the floor we swept the floor measured out 25 feet we pulled these tapes all the way out and we recorded their recoil speed we did it five times to establish an average baseline recoil speed the Milwaukee tape bent and was not usable after the four three Korell test the Lufkin tape tip broke off about three inches after that third test and several other brands had their hook movement stretched so we used several different brand several different models we had several several the same models in our testing because it allowed us to complete and continue testing if one particular tape measure failed its tests so to do this test we had four of the same tape measures from each manufacturer as far as recoil Lufkin was the fastest with one point zero five seconds absolutely fast and that was probably the a detriment to it tearing on that third recall test Klein was the second fastest at one point zero eight and Milwaukee was the third at one point two zero seconds on that 25 foot recoil test we also did what we call an abrasion test tape measure readability is important over time tape measure markings wear off and it becomes difficult if not impossible to read your tape measure so if you think about the number one failure of tape measures its wear of the tape coating that's the number one failure so all manufacturers follow the ASTM standard it's a d9 68 standard internationally recognized and it's called the falling sand abrasion tester the falling sand abrasion tester measures the resistance to a brit abrasion on pate lacquer and other organic coatings and abrasion abrasion basically results from the abrasive particles falling through a guide tube onto the onto the measure until the substrate becomes visible and that's how they determine tape measure where the tape the abrasion jig we used was way more aggressive we wanted to speed this up not over days we wanted to do it instantly almost so to simulate an accelerate tape measure marking where we performed an aggressive test and we did it here in the shop through what we call a tape pull abrasion jig it measured approximately 26 inches long it had a hollowed-out concave bottom the center was concave on the bottom the top head of the jig had a 3/8 inch wide convex pressure point abrasive grit sandpaper was applied to the convex point wax was applied to the concave bottom the tape measure was then placed into the jig into the concave bottom which had a very small gap for the tape to fit we then placed a 25 pound weight on the top of the jig which put pressure onto the team and then all the tapes were treated the same we pulled the tape out using a slow one one thousand two one thousand comp back and forth and it allowed us to basically evaluate approximately 60 inches a span of tape where tape marking was then noted and recorded we laid them all out marked them and looked at them the stanley power/lock had the least amount of visible wear to its tape Lufkin was second and then Dewalt third and chameleons came in fourth I do want to make know many contractors including myself we use the first you know six inches to a couple feet of our tape measure way more than we're using 25 feet often so as a result our tape measures we're in these short areas first so to combat that Dewalt stanley fat max and paula lock they all added that clear thermal plastic blade armor tape on those high wear areas Dewalt actually covers nine inches of their tape with that coating thermoplastic coating while the two stanley tapes to three inches now milwaukee they use a nylon exclude extrusion process this process basically melts down high-quality nylon pellets through a proprietary machine and a basic coasting blade and then it's baked in a furnace which is kind of cool chameleon uses a spray sprayed on process and they spray nylon on the blade of their tape measures and like that the L 102 5b that we test it they also do a matte nylon finish to reduce clearance if that was cool let's talk about magnetic pull testing so many contractors use magnetic tapes from metal stud guys to HVAC and plumbing so we wanted to glean a little bit of insight for you guys and who sported the strongest magnet so for this test we attached each tape to a 3/8 thick metal plate with the magnet and we pulled and in our opinion all of the tapes should be able to extend that's full 25 feet 25 foot tape some did some didn't the three tapes that were able to extend the full length of 25 feet were Klein Milwaukee and the Stanley fat Maxx the de Lufkin that made it to 19 feet 4 and the chameleon to 16 feet and guys I'll be honest with you we all have our favorites and mine has always been the stanley power lock that's what i use but i was starting to fall in love with the chameleon i'm starting to pay attention to it because it at this point of the testing I was like look at this I've never seen this tape before this is a cool team so we did some more magnetic testing on this test we wanted to eliminate the risk of torque while you're pulling the tape out so we attach the tape measure to the bottom of a ceiling non galvanized joist hanger and by sailing in the shop here we extended the tape down to the table almost touching we applied the tape lock and then we put blue tape around the tape and the body of the tape to reinforce the lock we used blue tape because we were finding that many of the tape measure locks failed before the magnitude the tape would just slide down so we use pre measured weights we use an electronic scale and we and we measure this and we measured until the magnetic failed and the test gave us a good indication of how strong the magnet was the stanley fat max blew the doors off the competition it was able to hold 5.5 pounds of magnetic strength second place came to Milwaukee two and a half pounds two and a quarter pounds and that was followed third fourth and fifth by klein chameleon and Lufkin all at around 1.5 pounds or less we also looked at debris because the trades we work at extremely dusty environments and anyone who works at dust will tell you that tape measures don't last long if they're getting wet or dirty so recoil gets sluggish or the tape completely stops and you think about water and dirt it gets into the blade it works its way into the mechanism it can cause sludge in there rust it can jam up the the windings all that stuff so for this test we designed a torturous debris chamber recoil test we modified a 3/8 3 inch PVC pipe to hold a medley of drywall dust sawdust and sand each tape was pulled out to 25 feet and allowed to recoil slowly we repeated it four times and recorded all the results that the test proved way too much for omelet for all the tests for all the tapes really many of the tapes would not even reach retract to close at 6 inches some didn't even retract halfway we had to pull the tapes in and out to get them to close pulled completely so once we got them all to close we then took them to the 25-foot recoil test and we recorded their times again the best tape measure in this torturous test was the stanley fat max which originally stopped at 9 feet on the recoil test and then on the second recoil test it completed the test at one point nine seconds wait longer than took originally Lufkin was 10 point 10 feet 10 inches on the first test 6 inches of a second Stanley Paul maxed out at 10 feet 4 inches on the first test and only recalled 25 inches total on the second test so you can see this was a torturous test the DeWalt decline in Milwaukee all recoiled 14 feet 5 inches or greater and then failed to recoil at all in their second tests we looked at standout standout standouts big to a lot of guys right being able to reach the tape is useful when you're measuring alone and standoff basically refers - how straight you can extend your tape without it bending or losing its rigidity so we made a jig with a 15 degree angle and we tested each tape three times for an average stand out measurement the DeWalt stood out here pun intended the DeWalt had the longest stand out so basically the hook Dewalt mated to eleven feet three inches with the longest stand out Stanley fat max ten feet six inches Lufkin at ten feet all three impressive we looked at hook movement next because hook movements important for accuracy and if you've ever wondered why a hook is loose most of you pros know this stuff but the hook at the end of the tape has movement to it you can see the rivets and it moves for you novice guys out there people wondering the looseness is very intentional and it plays a key role in using the tape for both inside and outside measurements when you buck the end of the tape against the surface for an inside measurement the tip of the other tape comes or compresses against the end of the tape and basically by the width of that hook spoiler here that Oh spoiler alert here is the first inch of the tape is short by the thickness of that hook so when you go to take the outside measurement in the hook you hook it over the edge of whatever you're measuring the hook moving away from the tape by the width of one hook so it's commits it's factored into that so we basically examined how Acuras accurately manufactures built their tapes for this inside outside hook movement and we wanted to see how the hooks on the tapes stood up after our retraction tests as well because it's coming the tape is just whipping back into the case and the results varied out of the box the Lufkin was the most accurate hook it had a blade hook thickness of point zero four five equal to the hook movement which was 0.45 most of the other tapes had a difference of 0.01 in these measurements the milwaukee had the greatest distance difference I should say it was point zero to two after the retraction test where the tape was recoiled in the hook impacted the body on multiple times we measured those tapes and their hand and to see which ones could hold those tolerances and and which ones basically showed a difference so hollow lock reading was identical to the fat max and they varied by only a point zero one of it one Milwaukee matched the fat max performance by point zero one and the Lufkin tape showed the largest difference it increased by 0.45 almost a full thickness of its hook so there's definitely the recoiling letting tapes recoil definitely impacts that look ergonomics is important to guys and and ergonomics is about designing a tool for the end user and it's device it's defined as the science a fitting a workplace to a user's needs and ergonomics aims to increase efficiency productivity and most importantly I think reduce discomfort so for organ ah max we looked at things like grip weight the tape lock the belt clip the ability of the tape to sit flat on a surface if you were laying it down and marketing and the hook oh oh of course we looked at overall construction the best tape measure in the ergonomic category was the Milwaukee the crew liked the the deep does a detent on the back of the body and it's basically it's a finger break and allows you to break the blade as its recoiling so you don't get that fast recoil the tape has plenty of overmold on the case it was the most stable of all the tape measures when placed on a flat surface and has an extremely durable hook and solid rivets on the hook super strong magnet and a and also on the hook has a screw nail slot that allows you and some upper tabs allow you to different attachments and the belt hook it's it's different from most of the other tapes it has a wire bail instead of a flat metal piece and the clip was designed to reduce wear and tear on your pants and tool bags the crew noted that the belt clip was difficult to apply one hand and though you sometimes had to pull up and push down on the tape but once you had the tape measure on whatever you were clipping phenomenal and holding it in place doesn't come off Steely fat max was a close second it has good rubber overmold on the top back and bottom it is has a strong secure and positive clicking tape lock and it can resist 14 pounds of pressure which was impressive the crew liked the belt hook and how low-profile the magnet magnetic hook was also had a screw nail slot and two little tabs on the hook four different attachments third place went to chameleon very comfortable tape to use and wasn't one of my favorites now coming through the test I really was starting to like this chameleon we looked at readability readability durability of two words that that stick together when I think of tape measures three tape measures tied for the best tape measure readability that was Milwaukee chameleon and lucky the Milwaukee tape measure features a 1/16 yellow scale and it's two-sided so there's on the back of the tape there are numbers as well that allow you to actually read upside down additionally there is a small 12 inch long architectural scale for plan measuring and reading and that features that 1/8 and 1/4 inch scale this scale starts on the back of the tape at 10 inches and runs to 22 inches the chameleon also easy to read it has a very high visibility yellow tape on the top and white on the back similar to the Milwaukee I don't know why they do the yellow wipes they do the crew felt that the chameleon may have been the best of the tapes to read and we all think it was based on that color they use the high vis color is really easy on the eyes the chameleon also featured a 1/16 scale one thing the crew noted that after the 12 inch mark on the chameleon tape it gets busy to read when you start pulling it out for instance 13 inches on the tape is listed as 13 and also one F - one one foot one inch and we felt these markings were very busy and very unnecessary the Lufkin yellow tape also two-sided also 1 inch 1/16 inch scale the markings on this tape are longer and they are labeled similar to the chameleon after the 12 inch mark so again busy drop jesting everybody wants to hear about drop testing we tested at 15 and 30 feet onto pavement from up from a lift after the drops we basically recorded the tapes conditioned to recoil all that stuff the hook we set up a basically set up a personal personal lift and we did our drop testing from that almost all of the tapes survived a 15-foot drop so that's the good news the climb tape measure sustained the most damage on that 15-foot drop it the hook bent and the case opened up a little bit well it's possible that the climb might have hit the ground perfectly to dent that hook we feel that the case at least should not have opened up on the 15-foot drop also notice damage was the stanley fat max de walton to locking chameleons slight case damage and a little bit of hook damage on some some of them the Tajima and Lufkin came in first place on the 15-foot drop test basically both test worked perfectly and had very little to zero visible damage now on the 30-foot drop test we're talking way up and we did this right after the 15 the two most durable tape measures were the DeWalt and stanley fat max they also were the two biggest and most beefy both sustain the least damage and was still usable after the test Lufkin and Tajima came in tied for second place with slightly more damage but less than the pack the rest of the pack the klein came in last because it busted open the case just broke open and it was unusable alright let's talk about price price varies on these tapes the most expensive tape measure was the DeWalt it's around 30 bucks declined the Milwaukee the Stanley fat max all came in around $25 the Tajima 20 the stanley power lock which is the one i've been buying for years the Lufkin the chameleon which I've stocked to starting to like now range from $11 to $16 online so that brings us to the best overall tape measure the best overall tape measure was the stanley fat max the fat max scored highest in magnetic hold debris testing drop testing hook durability and blade thickness it gives it came in second in four other categories securing the number one slot in our testing one of the crew members actually referred to this tape measure is the brick of tape measures and while the stanley marketing team probably won't use that description it certainly is a durable robust well-made tape measure and it's designed for the harsh environment jobsite scoring second only by one point to the fat max in a super close race for the best tape measure was neither a crew favorite nor on anyone's radar during our tape measure testing so this dark horse sneaked by the competition and took the number one slot three times and it through several categories and scored number two in three three times in three categories and number three six times so just snuck up on us no one saw this coming the second best tape measure is the luff game guys look I hope you find this comparison helpful please leave a comment and be sure to subscribe to the video channel and don't forget to reach out to us and check us out on Facebook and our Instagram channels stay well and we'll see you at the next head-to-head testing [Music] [Music]

Channel: A Concord Carpenter / ToolBoxBuzz

Views: 798,856

Keywords: diy, how to, step by step, tools, reviews, carpentry, remodel, construction, tape measure, best tape measure, klein, powerlock, fatmax, dewalt, luftkin, komelon, milwaukee, tool, tapes, stanley

Id: yu7nj_osg_A

Length: 22min 10sec (1330 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 26 2018