Tape measure

[morten]

Bacho makes a sturdy stainless steel one with printing on both sides. I believe they exist in 5 and 8 meter variants, with imperial, imperial+metric and metric marking. Sold at £10-20.

 

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-MTS825E-Auto-Reversible-Magnetic/dp/B001TN62MC]Bahco MTS825E Auto Tape 8m/26ft Reversible Magnetic Tip: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools[/ame]

Edited April 3, 2014 by morten

[gensetsteve]

I bought 10 draper 5 metre ones from asda about 5 years ago and all still perfect cost a £1 ea bargain at the time I thought

[Woodworks]

Bacho makes a sturdy stainless steel one with printing on both sides. I believe they exist in 5 and 8 meter variants, with imperial, imperial+metric and metric marking. Sold at £10-20.

 

 

Bahco MTS825E Auto Tape 8m/26ft Reversible Magnetic Tip: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

 

That looks a top bit of kit

 

Don't rate my Stanley that highly. For starters it is not as accurate as my cheapo Screwfix one. It's only a mm out but when you pay that much it should be better than that. The tape wheres like any other. I find myself picking up my Axminster power tools own brand one. Good strong tape, reasonably accurate with a magnetic tip which is a bonus.

[Mull]

This looks like a good one, maybe a tad pricey!

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=130968623775&globalID=EBAY-GB

[Stubby]

That looks a top bit of kit

 

Don't rate my Stanley that highly. For starters it is not as accurate as my cheapo Screwfix one. It's only a mm out but when you pay that much it should be better than that. The tape wheres like any other. I find myself picking up my Axminster power tools own brand one. Good strong tape, reasonably accurate with a magnetic tip which is a bonus.

 

Just interested , not arguing , how did you find out or check the Stanly one to discover it was a mm out and over what length was it out ?

[bobh]

I guess it depends how important it is to get the measurement right, personally I like a decent quality one, and they need looking after too, if it's covered in crap, wash it and dry it, even give it a slosh of wd40 now and again, just my opinion of course!!

 

I think that's where I'm going wrong, they tend to get covered in wet mud etc and if very lucky get a quick wipe on my sleeve or between fingers as they get chucked back in the vehicle with lots of other tools and a dog onto of them 😁

Will have a look at some of the recommendations.

Tried a Stanley, it was better but not overly impressed for the extra money

The fat Max look more sturdy, see they do a fatmax extreme as well.

Liking the look of the stainless bacho.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Arbtalk mobile app

[Woodworks]

Just interested , not arguing , how did you find out or check the Stanly one to discover it was a mm out and over what length was it out ?

 

I can only check over a meter but I have a precision engineering steel rule made by Rabone Chesterman. On the Stanley the tip is off by most of a mm but the actual tape does not perfectly line up my steel rule. I showed some Reps at a show but they just scoffed as they thought a mm out was fine

[Stubby]

I can only check over a meter but I have a precision engineering steel rule made by Rabone Chesterman. On the Stanley the tip is off by most of a mm but the actual tape does not perfectly line up my steel rule. I showed some Reps at a show but they just scoffed as they thought a mm out was fine

 

Ok . Yes they don't come much better than a Rabone Chersterman I must admit . Have one myself . Legacy of my days in the toolroom .

[Brian S]

The black and yellow Stanley tapes screwfix usually have them at 3 for a tenner

Picked up some brightly coloured Stanley 8m tapes for £4.99 at a local builders merchants (RGB) before Xmas, use it all day everyday on site, no problems, not lost the numbers, retracts fine will probably get another 3 months or more out of it

[harvey b davison]

I got fed up of buying expensive tapes whilst working on site, i love the stanley powerlock, but got fed up of them being pinched, so i bought 3 or 4 b&q 8mtr tapes, and hayho, not one pinched and ok i might only get a year out of them, but at about £4.00 a time, i dont mind.