Which Tape Measure Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 11 tape measure options head to head. DeWalt came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
DeWalt
Price shown in test: $33
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Craftsman
Price shown in test: $25
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Kobalt
Price shown in test: $15
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The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“The DeWalt really surprised me with just how good it is, easily dominating the showdown.”
Best in 3 of 5 measurements, including Retraction speed before/after 5 min in sand/sawdust/screws, Belt clip design rating and Blade lock strength.
Placed top three in 2 of 5 measurements.
Best in 1 of 5 measurements, including Belt clip lifting force.
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Stand-out/reach test
- 1DeWalt
claims 13 ft (156 in) stand out, measured 154.5 in (1.5 in short), 2nd place in the top-5 recap
- 2Craftsman
claims 156 in stand out (192 in reach), measured 154 in (2 in short of rating), 3rd place in the top-5 recap
- 3Stanley FatMax
claims 132 in stand out (168 in / 14 ft reach), measured 127.5 in (came up short), 5th place in the top-5 recap
- 4Kobalt92 in
not in the named top-5 recap (would rank roughly 7th among all 11 brands by raw value)
- 5Klein Tools
claims 156 in stand out (13 ft), measured 167.5 in, better than advertised and the best of all 11 brands, 1st place
- 6Milwaukee
claims only 108 in stand out, measured 121 in, better than advertised, not in the named top-5 recap
- 7Lufkin
claims 144 in stand out (180 in reach), measured 132 in (12 in short), 4th place in the top-5 recap
- 8Kutir
claims 84 in stand out, measured 90.5 in, better than advertised, not in the named top-5 recap
- 9Komelon82.5 in
the lowest of all 11 brands, not in the named top-5 recap
- 10Ming Hao89 in
took the lead from Bauer at that point in the video, not in the named top-5 recap
- 11Bauer84 in
(about 7 ft), thinnest blade of all brands tested at 0.15 mm, not in the named top-5 recap
Abrasion resistance (60 passes, 800 grit)
- 1DeWalt
no fading, looks as good as new; rated a perfect 5 out of 5 (tied with Klein Tools, Stanley, Craftsman)
- 2Craftsman
moved across the sandpaper as freely as Stanley and Klein Tools, no visible fading; rated a perfect 5 out of 5
- 3Stanley FatMax
held up very well, looks as good as new; rated a perfect 5 out of 5
- 4Kobalt
numbers slightly faded but still very easy to read; rated 4 out of 5, the only brand besides the four perfect-5 brands to get an explicit rating
- 5Klein Tools
slid across the sandpaper effortlessly with no apparent fading; rated a perfect 5 out of 5
- 6Milwaukee
did not hold up very well, quite a bit of fading, some numbers very difficult to read; described among the more expensive brands that underperformed on this test
- 7Lufkin
quite a bit of damage, wore right through the paint in several areas; the coating is described as not as good as some of the other brands
- 8Kutir
a lot of resistance/damage moving across the sandpaper, but not as bad as Ming Hao
- 9Komelon
did better than Ming Hao, but not as good as Bauer
- 10Ming Hao
numbers completely worn off after only 10 passes; a lot of damage compared to Bauer, did not hold up well at all, the worst performer of the 11
- 11Bauer
still in great shape after 10 passes; after all 60 passes, did fairly well with only a couple of worn-through areas, numbers still very readable
Retraction speed before/after 5 min in sand/sawdust/screws
- 1DeWalt1.16 seconds
both times before, unchanged at 1.16 seconds after exposure; best performer in this test, maintained its retraction speed
- 2Craftsman1.6 seconds
both times before (same as Stanley), slowed to 1.97 seconds after
- 3Stanley FatMax1.6 seconds
both times before, slowed slightly to 1.76 seconds after (about 9 percent loss per the narrator's recap)
- 4Kobalt0.85 seconds2nd
both times before, slowed only slightly to 0.9 seconds after; tied for 2nd place with Lufkin, losing about 6 percent of original speed
- 5Klein Tools1 second
both times before, slowed noticeably to 1.87 seconds after
- 6Milwaukee1.2 seconds
average before, slightly faster than Lufkin; sand and dust got in through the finger-stop hole and 'really hurt' the Milwaukee, though no specific after-exposure number was spoken
- 7Lufkin1.4 seconds2nd
before, a little faster than Craftsman and Stanley, only slightly slowed to 1.5 seconds after; tied for 2nd place with Kobalt, losing about 6 percent of original speed
- 8Kutir
baseline value ambiguous (transcript reads 'The The brand averaged 1.18 seconds' immediately after the Komelon paragraph, likely a caption garble that belongs to Kutir rather than Komelon); after exposure, sand and dirt caused significant problems and the tape stopped around 5 ft short of fully retracting both times, one of the brands that failed to fully retract
- 9Komelon1.16 seconds
both times before, slowed to 1.36 seconds after; recap states a 15 percent loss (raw figures given imply closer to 17 percent, kept both as stated rather than reconciled)
- 10Ming Hao
averaged 1.05 seconds before, took nearly twice as long after exposure and stopped almost 8 in short of fully retracting, one of the brands that failed to fully retract
- 11Bauer0.85 seconds
both times before, slowed to 1.1 seconds after
Magnet strength
- 1DeWalt
does not have a magnetic end hook, not tested
- 2Craftsman
one magnet, held the full 25 ft extension, pull force of 4.8 lb, the strongest magnet of any brand tested
- 3Stanley FatMax
one magnet, held the full 25 ft extension, pull force of 4 lb, 2nd place
- 4Kobalt
just one large magnet in the center, held the full 25 ft extension, pull force of 3 lb, 4th place
- 5Klein Tools
one magnet, held the full 25 ft extension, pull force of 3.8 lb, 3rd place
- 6Milwaukee
one magnet, held the full 25 ft extension, but pull force was only 2 lb despite being a one-magnet design, weakest of the one-magnet brands
- 7Lufkin
held the full 25 ft extension (one of the brands with magnets that held), not given a specific pull-force figure in the recap
- 8Kutir
two magnets, held the full 25 ft extension (sometimes requiring more than one attempt), pull force of 2.6 lb, 5th place
- 9Komelon
two magnets, held the full 25 ft extension, maxed out at 1.6 lb pull force, one of the weaker magnets tested
- 10Ming Hao
two-magnet setup, only able to hold for 17 ft 3 in of the full 25 ft extension (failed to hold the full length); did not have enough strength to move the pull-force scale off zero
- 11Bauer
no magnet mentioned or tested (like DeWalt)
Belt clip lifting force
- 1DeWalt14.6 lb3rd
to remove from belt, 3rd place in the top-5 recap
- 2Craftsman8.2 lb5th
to remove from belt, 5th place in the top-5 recap
- 3Stanley FatMax6 lb
to remove from belt, not in the top-5 recap
- 4Kobalt21.8 lb1st
to remove from belt, the strongest hold of any brand tested, 1st place
- 5Klein Tools5.8 lb
to remove from belt, not in the top-5 recap
- 6Milwaukee8 lb
to remove from belt, not in the top-5 recap
- 7Lufkin11.4 lb4th
to remove from belt, 4th place in the top-5 recap
- 8Kutir4.8 lb
to remove from belt, not in the top-5 recap
- 9Komelon3.6 lb
to remove from belt, the weakest hold of any brand tested
- 10Ming Hao6.2 lb
to remove from belt
- 11Bauer14.8 lb2nd
to remove from belt, 2nd place in the top-5 recap
Belt clip design rating
- 1DeWalt
described as having the best belt clip design of all brands tested
- 2Craftsman4
out of 5
- 3Stanley FatMax4
out of 5
- 4Kobalt4
out of 5
- 5Klein Tools4
out of 5
- 6Milwaukee4
out of 5
- 7Lufkin4
out of 5
- 8Kutir
not given a specific rating; described as having a poorly designed belt clip with not enough gap between the leading edge and the tape measure body
- 9Komelon
not given a specific rating in this section
- 10Ming Hao
not given a specific rating in this section
- 11Bauer
not given a specific numeric rating; described as having a small bump-out design that keeps the tape measure secure unless pulled outward
Blade lock strength
- 1DeWalt12.4 lb1st
- 2Craftsman7.8 lb3rd
- 3Stanley FatMax
not given a specific figure in the blade lock strength recap (only DeWalt, Milwaukee, Craftsman, Kobalt, Komelon and Klein Tools were given explicit values)
- 4Kobalt4.2 lb4th
- 5Klein Tools3.6 lb6th
tied for 5th/6th place with Komelon
- 6Milwaukee9.8 lb2nd
- 7Lufkin
not given a specific figure in the blade lock strength recap
- 8Kutir
not given a specific figure in the blade lock strength recap
- 9Komelon3.6 lb6th
tied for 5th/6th place with Klein Tools
- 10Ming Hao
not given a specific figure in the blade lock strength recap
- 11Bauer
not given a specific figure in the blade lock strength recap
Impact/drop resistance (12 ft drop with 1 lb PVC pipe attached)
- 1DeWalt
held up really well, only a few scratches, works just fine
- 2Craftsman
still functions properly, but the hook has been bent
- 3Stanley FatMax
not explicitly named in this section of the transcript; an unattributed sentence ('just a few scratches on the outside of the tape measure') appears between the Klein Tools and Craftsman results and likely describes Stanley's outcome with the brand name dropped by the caption process, but this is not certain
- 4Kobalt
case broken and hook bent from the impact
- 5Klein Tools
held up fairly well, but the hook became bent
- 6Milwaukee
held up really well, only a few abrasions, no damage
- 7Lufkin
held up fairly well, but the hook is bent
- 8Kutir
blade lock button badly damaged, hook bent
- 9Komelon
held up just fine, only a few scratches on the outside
- 10Ming Hao
blade lock button broken
- 11Bauer
no visible surface damage, but the blade lock no longer works after the drop
How it was tested
- stand-out/reach: blade extended at a fixed 16.5 degree angle with a 10in bearing applying downward pressure, maximum extension before buckling measured
- abrasion resistance: 60 passes across 800 grit wet sandpaper wrapped on a 1in PVC pipe under 10 lb of pressure, rated on a subjective 1-5 scale
- retraction speed: 12 ft recoil time measured before and after 5 minutes tumbling inside an ammo can with sawdust, sand, and drywall screws
- magnet strength: ability to hold the extended blade to half inch by 3in mild steel across the full 25ft, plus measured pull force in lb before detaching
- accuracy: hook slide distance checked against the expected first-inch measurement
- belt clip: subjective 1-5 design rating plus lifting force in lb required to remove the tape measure from an inch-and-a-half belt
- blade lock strength: force in lb required to break the blade lock
- impact/drop resistance: dropped from 12 ft with a 1 lb PVC pipe attached to direct impact to the most vulnerable part of the tape measure
“The DeWalt really surprised me with just how good it is, easily dominating the showdown.”
Brand head-to-head scoreboards featuring this test
Data notes and caveats
11 brands tested: Bauer, Ming Hao (transcript spells it 'Ming Hou' throughout), Kobalt, Komelon, Kutir (transcript spells it 'Kuter' throughout), Klein Tools, Stanley FatMax, Craftsman, Lufkin, Milwaukee, and DeWalt; all resolved against the video description's product list. Closing verdict names four distinct picks rather than a single strict ranking: DeWalt as the overall winner (most expensive, no magnet), Craftsman as the best pick if a magnet is required, Stanley FatMax as a great all-around choice, and Kobalt as the best value/budget pick; winner/runnerUp/budgetPick fields capture the first, second, and fourth of these, with Stanley's 'great all-around' callout preserved here since the schema has no fourth slot. Two brands (Bauer, DeWalt) have no magnet and were excluded from the magnet strength test. The impact/drop resistance section of the transcript never names Stanley FatMax directly; an orphaned sentence ('just a few scratches on the outside of the tape measure') sits between the Klein Tools and Craftsman results and most likely describes Stanley's outcome with the brand name dropped by the caption process, but this is flagged rather than treated as certain. A likely caption garble ('The The brand averaged 1.18 seconds') appears between the Komelon and Kutir retraction-speed results and is tentatively attributed to Kutir's pre-test baseline. Komelon's retraction-speed loss is recapped as 15 percent, but the raw before/after figures given (1.16 to 1.36 seconds) work out closer to 17 percent; both numbers kept as stated rather than reconciled. Only the top five results are explicitly named in several test recaps (stand-out, retraction speed, belt clip force, blade lock strength), so several brands lack an explicit final-rank position even though their raw measurements are recorded above.
