What's a good inexpensive 25' tape measure with at least 12 foot standout?

newbury · Jul 6, 2020

For decades I've been relying on HF freebees - now I'm getting into measuring things around 10' and am getting tired of the tape curling over.
I read Milwaukee makes a good one and they are about $10 to $20 @. I've had some good Stanleys and some poor Stanleys.
Not trying to start a brand war or a "my tool is bigger than yours" fight.
But
YouTube showed Milwaukee bent

Industrial Toys · Jul 6, 2020

I always buy them at Habitat. Maybe they use them on builds and then sell them. I have tried a hundred for stand-out and only buy the good ones. I have a collection of Stanley, Milwaukee, and Dewalt. Usually around ten bucks!

/pine · Jul 6, 2020

I'm sure there will be a few exceptions...but visit just about any commercial or residential construction site and the majority of professional mechanics will be using Stanley Power Lock tapes most of which will be 30'ers...
They were the first to come out with 1" wide blades that will easily extend 8'-10' without bending it's absurd to expect anything more with something you would want to carry around all day...since Stanley revolutionized the measuring tape industry with these tapes everyone copied them...many of the other brands of 1" wide tapes are as wimpy as the older narrower tapes...

On a side note...In the not too distant future I expect to see a new era of tape measures using digital technology with memory alerts and laser indenting that will be read by advanced tech saws etc...possibly eliminating the need to make pencil marks etc...

Diggin It · Jul 6, 2020

^^ A claim of 7 to 8 foot is about all I've ever seen. Can't recall seeing anything claiming 12' free without support.

Industrial Toys · Jul 6, 2020

Oh Great! THAT will be so much fun on a job site! Saw won't sinc, or non user replaceable battery dead! Probably on a day, that nothing else is going right and you need to get the roof on. lol

Got me thinking, so went to look at some of my tapes. Milwaukee and Dewalt went beyond 12 feet and some of the others that don't have a name did 9 - 10 feet and that depends a bit on handling.

downsizingnow48 · Jul 6, 2020

Agree with Pine. During the years I was working it was Powerlok. In those days 25'. It is still the only tape I use, I have about a half dozen. They last forever and cost about 10 dollars. Stickout was about 7 ft. I am sure the bigger is better marketing has passed that by but it was all I needed for a long time.

newbury · Jul 6, 2020

/pine said:
I'm sure there will be a few exceptions...but visit just about any commercial or residential construction site and the majority of professional mechanics will be using Stanley Power Lock tapes most of which will be 30'ers...
They were the first to come out with 1" wide blades that will easily extend 8'-10' without bending it's absurd to expect anything more with something you would want to carry around all day...since Stanley revolutionized the measuring tape industry with these tapes everyone copied them...many of the other brands of 1" wide tapes are as wimpy as the older narrower tapes...

On a side note...In the not too distant future I expect to see a new era of tape measures using digital technology with memory alerts and laser indenting that will be read by advanced tech saws etc...possibly eliminating the need to make pencil marks etc...

The 25' Power Lock only claims 11' reach and 8' standout while the Fatmax 25'er ad states 16 foot reach. These numbers seem in line with numbers at Best Tape Measure - Tool Box Buzz Tool Box Buzz.

deezler · Jul 6, 2020

My dewalt 1" wide will do a good 8 to 9 feet easily, can snag 10 sometimes. 12 is kind of a tough expectation. I think you need a FatMax for that.

The basic chrome stanleys can only do about 7-8' and thats pushing it.

Really its about how you handle the tape to get it to do what you want/need. Still trying to teach my 6-yr old how to handle 'em.

Diggin It · Jul 6, 2020

And like most claims, they're usually more advertising than fact. While you might get 7-8 on a brand new one, indoors, it's far less likely you will outdoors in a breeze, or after the tape has a few years, and bends/kinks.