Home Depot also has a really good deal on this 2-pack of Milwaukee compact magnetic tape measures.
It features a low-profile magnetic hook, finger stop on the bottom, and max standout of 12ft, and reach of 15ft.
The tape also features double-sided printing, and an anti-tear reinforcing coating on both sides of the blade for the first 6 inches.
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This is Milwaukee’s latest generation of compact magnetic tape measure. Milwaukee says this tape feels balanced for more control, and I did find it to be a very comfortable tape measure.
The price is $19.97 for two, vs $23.97 each (1-pack via Home Depot). It’s also eligible for an added “buy more, save more” discount.
See Also: Dewalt Tape Measure Deal at Home Depot
Jason
I’d love to see a deal on the 16’ at some point. 25 is just too big for many of my tasks.
Abel
I think these are great deals for anyone in the trades. You can stock up there so cheap. I bought 4 of each.
4 pack of titanium hex shank drill bits – $2.97
Cable Cuff Pro (extension cord holder) – $2.97
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-SpeedLoad-Titanium-4-Piece-Hex-Shank-Twist-Drill-Bit-Set-AR1860G/205193141
https://www.homedepot.com/p/CABLE-CUFF-Large-Cable-Cuff-PRO-CFLP030808/204806549
Rob H
Some fairly low reviews on those drill bits.
Abel
Yup the small bits break often, it just happens. I feel like the reviewers are prob not in the trades and may not know how to use them well, but idk $3 bucks for an assorted pack is great for me.
Bonnie
Yeah, I just need to know the shank won’t break inside my impact. These are great for quick jobs around the house/shop, but I’m not going to push them into heavy use every day.
John
The last two Milwaukee tape measures I bought (both this year) broke within a few weeks of light use around the home. 25-foot with auto-lock stopped locking completely, meaning I had to physically restrain the tape from retracting at all times. 16-foot wide blade tape (non-magnetic) got a cut/rip in the blade for no apparent reason. I’ve also had problems with two of my five Milwaukee M12 batteries, which Milwaukee replaced for me. But I’m seriously down on Milwaukee’s quality, and quality control. For tapes at least, I’m now looking elsewhere.
ElectroAtletico
Would it hurt those guys to build a Feet/Meters tape measure? How hard can it be?
Stuart
There are plenty. Interest and sales volume is so low you’ll rarely see these in stores, and especially not the Black Friday deals that involve hundreds of thousands of tools.
Peter Coffin
Amen to that. This metric system actually seems to be working pretty well in 90% of the world. Maybe we should give it a try.
Rick
Sadly, that will never happen. At least not in our lifetimes.
But even if you don’t need specific metric measurements, it is so much easier and less error prone to use the metric system on a tape for measuring/marking arbitrary lengths compared to feet, inches and fractions of an inch.
For example, I find 4056 mm much easier to process than 13 feet 3 and 11/16 inches.
Metric measurements also give greater precision than tapes that only split an inch into sixteenths (~25 marks to the inch vs. 16 marks to the inch).
For those reasons, I never use tapes without metric measurements.
To be fair, a tape that marked every 1/32 inch (32 marks to the inch) would be more precise than a metric tape (~25 marks to the inch), but I never need that level of accuracy.
avi
For me the real benefit of fractions over metric is when you come to that junction of I need a smidge more accuracy. With fractions if you’re ever in between two marks, there’s always a fraction lower that’s right in the middle, between 7/16 and 1/2 is 15/32.
Also for estimating distance inside a house feet is where it’s at. Meters are too large and you can’t say 223 centimeters unless you actually measured, so I guess you’d use cm in increments of 10
blocky
There are infinite divisions of either unit for a smidge more accuracy.
It’s a matter of what you are accustomed to.
I’m very, very experienced in imperial, and only somewhat experienced in metric, but 10cm (~4in) and 50cm (1/2m or ~20″) increments are also easy to sight.
For me, using feet WITH inches is ridiculous when it comes to marking. I always bust out the calculator and convert to inches. (An Imperial to Imperial conversion!) About the only non-trig time that I bust out a calculator.
Vards Uzvards
FastCap, Komelon, Lufkin and Starrett tapes are your answer! There are a few Stanley tapes as well, but I did not like any of theirs. Milwaukee has a 6ft pocket tape which is also marked in metric system.
blocky
I have a Milwaukee 5m/16′ compact tape. It has impressive standout, but tends to flop over on wall measurements, which is my primary use. It also snaps back a little hard for my liking.
I mostly use a Tajima 5m/16′ for installation work. It has a build that is close to the classic Stanley 25′ but just a little sturdier, and it’s very easy to read.
I’ve had 4 modern Lufkin tapes fail prematurely, although I have a quite old one with a windup mechanism that is still kicking. I find the FastCap and Komelon tapes a little thin, but use them occasionally when coworkers hand them to me. The 12′ Starrett is decent enough, but it’s a small tape measure, about 1/2″ wide.
Craftsman had a 5m/16′, 1″ wide, that was decent a couple years ago, but when I bought the 7m/25′ from the same series, the blade steel was much flimsier.
The HOTO 5m/16′ is good all around but lacks a belt clip!! and I’m not an auto-lock guy.
I can still generally pickup NOS metric/SAE silver Stanleys in shorter denominations at small hardware stores. They are familiar solid build quality.
Tom
They are widely available outside of major US retail. All brands have at least 8M/26′ tapes available in Canada, and most sell them through other distribution channels in the US if you’re willing to do a little online sleuthing. 5M/16′ is also very prevalent in the UK, so you could always try importing them from there if you need something smaller.
avi
No need to even cross the border, home Depot has a bunch of m/ft tape measures, they’re just online only
Nathan
Only real issue I have with metric tape here is most common building materials other than plywood are in imperial/same units.
Nobody I know of sells a 38mm x 90mm stud. Or is it a 4cm x 9 cm. And no hardwood is sold my the board meter here. Or none that I’ve seen.
Outside of that it probably doesn’t matter much
Justin
last year I picked up this same 2 pack and they just did not last for me. The blade is just not as strong. I am rough on them but the other Milwaukee tapes last me much longer.
1 premium tape for $25 vs 2 value tapes for $20 the premium has been a better value for me in the end.
Charles
I love Milwaukee cordless tools but I have given up on Milwaukee hand tools. The tapes in particular are garbage I just trashed 10 this year. Going back to FatMax