Finds: 25′ Tech Tape
By Sean O'Hara
The term “designer tools” to me usually means steel – more specifically, shiny steel. Tool guys dig shiny steel like nerds dig laptops and online gaming. It’s a fact of life that some tool makers are finally coming to recognize. When they produce things like the 25` Tech Tape they must have been thinking, “brush the steel and they will come.”
I think the “tech” in the tech tape is a good way of trying to say that it won’t hold up to hard use out in the shop. The Tech Tape is nothing more than a normal (and probably unremarkable) 25′ tape enclosed in a shiny steel wrapper. The problem is that the chrome approach works and I want one.
For $6 it’s probably gimmicky, cheap gear, though it may be worth it as the “around the house” tape measure; it is shiny after all.
25` Tech Tape [Allied Tools]
Street Pricing [Froogle]
March 13th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
a small tape like this is great when combined with a magneto clip. The tape’s clip is replaced with a steel plate. Keeps people from forgetting to give back your tape because they can’t clip it to their own belt.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
It’s got the graduations spelled out. Those drive me nuts.
do not want.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
$6? It is probably some thin plastic with a shiny coating on it. I hate that.
March 14th, 2007 at 5:50 am
I’m in the market for a ‘quality’ tape measure. Other than stand-out, what ‘features’ should I be looking for. I’ll be using it for woodworking and metal working and will need it to be ‘accurate’ and easy to use.
Anybody have a favorite in the middle of the pack price-range?
Thanks
March 14th, 2007 at 8:03 am
For TimG; I have about forty-leven tape measures and the one I always hunt down is my Stanley Fat Max. Absolutley my favorite.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:47 am
@TimG: The end must move freely and have a solid attachment to the blade.
There can be reinforcement on the blade for the first 6 inches or so.
The lock should be rugged and simple (lever locks typically wear out).
The Fat Max tapes are really nice but man are they heavy! I own a couple and use them for rough carpentry, excavation, ceiling work, etc. Anywhere I need a lot of stand out.
For general use, I don’t think you can beat the regular stanley tape measures (silver case) in 25ft and 30ft. $8-$10 at the big box retailers.
I used to use a Craftsman tape until they stopped honoring the lifetime guarantee on them.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:49 am
whoops..
I should mention that the regular Stanley tapes aren’t nearly what they used to be. I break them fairly regularly now but I owned my first one that I bought 20 years ago for 5 years before the blade developed a crack.
Just cheaper material for the blade these days, I guess.
March 14th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I have a weakness for slick looking stainless steel gadgets. But I have a little OCD about measuring tools–I will stick with Stanleys thank you very much.
March 15th, 2007 at 10:59 am
It doesn’t even have metric. How tech is that?