Figured I'd post this here seeing as how it's sort of on topic.
Product can be seen here...
http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-33-116.../dp/B00002X2GE

After going through several other different sizes, brands and styles
of tape, I've pretty much settled on this one for my day-to-day user
in the shop. At 16' it's the perfect length for what I do - very
rarely do I encounter wood longer than that. It clips on my belt in
the morning and is with me all day, every day. A 25-footer is just too
bulky for me. The fit and finish are pretty nice on this tape too.
It's solidly built, accurate and repeatable - the latter being very
important. The hook is darn accurate for both inside and outside
measurements - at least until you drop it on it! And since we work in
Imperial measurements only, not having the metric scale on the other
edge is an absolute MUST. What if you need to measure from the other
direction?! Gotta have the marks continuous across the width of the
tape IMO.

There are a couple of small things I'd like to see. First, they need
to get rid of the 1/32" markings on the first foot. There's no way a
tape is going to be accurate to 1/64", nor would a tape - any tape -
be the tool you'd use if you were working to such a machinist's spec.
I wish they would just have the 1/16" marks like they do for the rest
of the tape. This allows you to work to a 32nd" (split the lines), and
is much, much easier to read than trying to figure out which little
hash mark is which. The more I think about it, the more I'd really
like to see this. The other thing might be a small rubber shock
absorber where the hook of the tape hits the body upon retraction.
Right now it hits flush on the hard plastic body. I don't know if this
is severely detrimental to the hook over time, but it certainly can't
help.

Overall though, this is the best tape I've found. Yet. If they got rid
of the 32nds I'd give it 5-stars, instead of 4.




That said, if anyone has a good 16' tape that doesn't have the 1/32"
markings, please give me a call. (so to speak)

JP
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You use a TAPE MEASURE?!!!