Many moons ago I purchased a tape measure at Lowe's. It turned out to have the perfect combination of features; it was auto-lock which I love, it had fractions printed on the ruler, it had feet markings and stud with markings as well as a metric rule on the back. I liked it so much I bought two and have been using them for years.
Sadly one was damaged during my current renovation project I needed to be replaced. Lowe's, being the hateful cesspool that they are, just discontinued this model from their lineup. Turns out Lowe's made an upgraded, stainless steel version of my favorite tape measure, yeah! Now, I wouldn't give Lowe's my money if my life depended on it, but I received a gift card from Lowes as partial compensation for the hell they have put me through lately, so I ordered one. In typical Lowe's fashion, they sat on my order for a week before informing me that they actually no longer sell this model and canceling my order. Ugh.
I did purchase a Milwaukee tape from Home Depot, but the auto-retract doesn't work so it sucks. I am ordering a few models from Amazon to see if any fit the bill. I'm lucky to still have one of my favorite tape measures, but I like having one tape in the room where I'm measuring and a second at the saw where I'm cutting. I'm always misplacing things, so like the old military saying goes "one is none and two is one".
Goodbye old friend, you will be missed. :(
I stocked up on Harbor freight ones because I got sick of never having one when I needed it. There is now a pair of scissors, a pencil, and a tape measure in EVERY room of the house.
But my daughter surprised me this year. At the Santa store at school, she found a plastic bodied Stanley with lever lock, for stupid cheap.
Whatever you do, however you decide, check all your tape measures against each other, whether they are name brand or not.
Back in the early 90s my dad who was in outside sales for a lumber company, wound up needing to eat the cost of 6 roofs in a neighborhood because his Stanley, made in America no less, tape measure that was advertised as 30 feet was only 27 in reality, which lead to a bunch of short rafters.
I haven't bought a 25' tape in decades, but all the ones I have are pretty well worn out. I guess I have about four. First thing to go is the lock that keeps them from auto-retracting. And the tabs on the end will bend if you step on it. That or the actual steel tape will crack.
Remind me to ask Santa Claus for one at Christmas!
I measure a lot of conveyor belts at garbage recycling facilities or rock quarries. I set my tape down and take notes and leave it by mistake. I once got one all greasy and purposely left it. I lost a cloth 100' round one that I inherited from my dad.
So I would try all I could to get the free Hf ones but that program has passed.
In reply to RevRico :
So, his about 27' long tape read 30'-0"? Three feet off is pretty bad. I've been on a jobsight where the foreman was calling out measurements to the cut guy and all of the top plate boards where about a 1/4" short. We all eventually compared tapes and all of the 3 Stanleys where the same and his different brand was the one that was different, and wrong as far as we were concerned.
