I notice that the price of a 100 foot steel tape can range from around $20 for something from the hardware store up to $250 for a name brand tape intended for surveyors (including reel). I'm curious what the difference is. The expensive ones have a better reel, but what else? More accurate? Stronger? More durable markings? Is it mostly a matter of less common markings leading to lower economies of scale?
I very rarely use a steel tape. I do, however, have one in the truck. It is a CST nyclad 100 foot tape on a reel. I have used it a few times on the hospital project I worked on for a few years, but not since then.
Actually, I haven't done very much construction layout in the past year or so. What little I have done has been site improvement type stuff where the EDM and checks were plenty close enough.
I think it was about $28 from Hayes Instruments.
I just don't do the type of work that would require a steel tape. What type of work are you doing that would require one? It is pretty cool to look at the different types of work that we do.
Good luck.
Ashton,
I know not of the $20 steel tape you mention, those that apply to surveying anyway.
I rarely hand measure anything anymore, but when I need more than a pocket tape, I prefer a Steel “Western” Chrome clad ¼” wide Tape with clip end, leather thong & Reel.
We did everything with them back in the day. I learned the care and feeding of the tool and refuse to use anything else, i.e. rag tapes.
I left one on a job 18 months ago and had to replace it. SoCal dealer price about $300 plus $75 for a reel.
Worth every penny.
IMHO
JA, PLS SoCal
My use for a steel tape would be personal home improvement, and layout of amateur radio antennas at our local Red Cross chapter. Obviously a cheap one will be good enough for my purposes; I was just curious what the difference was between the good ones and the cheap ones.
Durability. Especially when used by college kids ...
When I set up shop in 1993, I bought both a 100' and a 200' Lufkin Pioneer add tape. These were the kind I'd been using since the late '70s, and I figured that my truck wouldn't be complete without them. However, I quickly found that I rarely needed them, and I can only recall one instance in the last 10 years when I broke out the 100-footer to pull a distance to a railroad centerline. I finally took the 200-footer out of the truck last year to free up some space. The 100-footer is still in there, but I don't expect to need it any more on the next decade than I did in the last.
I rarely use steel tape myself but I do carry a Spencer loggers tape on some jobs... $80 for 75 ft. there about but they are durable and very handy if your doing boundary work with alot of Bearing tree recovery.
> My use for a steel tape would be personal home improvement, and layout of amateur radio antennas at our local Red Cross chapter. Obviously a cheap one will be good enough for my purposes; I was just curious what the difference was between the good ones and the cheap ones.
The feature that probably has killed most of the inexpensive clad steel tapes I've bought has been the crummy reels that they are typically sold with. Typically, the handle on the winding mechanism becomes unserviceable after some event that wouldn't bother one of the better reels. As for the tape itself, the way that the hook is constructed and how likely it is to break is worth looking at. If you view a 200 ft. tape as a disposable item that will have to be replaced at least yearly if you use it much, you probably will be realistic.
> My use for a steel tape would be personal home improvement, and layout of amateur radio antennas at our local Red Cross chapter. Obviously a cheap one will be good enough for my purposes; I was just curious what the difference was between the good ones and the cheap ones.
For home improvement, I would stick with a 25 or 30' carpenter's type tape. For ham radio stuff, I would think a cloth tape would be good enough.
Spencer Tapes
My "rear chainman" often is a bent horseshoe nail on the end of the Spencer. Works great for solo recon, and the flip side of the tape has a handy diameter measure. :stakeout:
