Product Description
Strait-Line Rolling Tape, Is A Quick Measuring Tool That Automatically Divides & Marks Surfaces, Rolling Tape Features A 1/6" Resolution For Accuracy, An Interactive, Easy To Use LCD Screen & Auto-Marking Tool, Rolling Tape Is Menu Driven With Intuitive Function Selections For Units, Memory & Mode.
Amazon.com
It takes quite an innovation to make us dance in the warehouse aisles. But we're dancing. And measuring everything in sight, while we're at it. Strait-Line's incredible Rolling Tape measures, calculates and even tells you where to hang your pictures. We want to emphasize here that this gadget actually does the math for you. Say you're ready to install a chair rail in the kitchen. You have two choices: You can get out your tape measure, pencil and paper and measure, add, check your math, fix your mistake, then measure and add some more—that is, if you can wrangle the tape by yourself. Your other (and far more attractive) option is to press the Rolling Tape to the wall and push the button. Do the same thing on each surface, then read the total on the big, clear screen and buy that length of molding. Want to hang five pictures evenly on a 22-foot wall? Just tell Rolling Tape how many pictures, roll, hammer and hang. It even has a little dimpler to mark the spots as it determines them. Incredible. Our only complaint: It ought to come with the batteries.--Kris Jensen-Van Heste
This is Not a Precision Instrument.
This is not a precision instrument. Use it for rough estimates only. It is good for what all of the other 9 reviewers used it for, however, it can be off as much as a half inch. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my unit, other than I get varying measurements. If the measurements were at least consistent, then it wouldn't matter what the numbers were, but I measured the same wall 6 times and got 6 different results. Like I said, if you are just hanging shelves or pictures and want them evenly spaced, or even if you want to find the center of the ceiling, this unit will work as long as you don't mind that it will be a little off. If you are making the shelves yourself, use a tape measurer.
My Straitline
I have used this product for 2 years. It is innovative and very useful. The unit is very accurate and very good on either flat or round surfaces. It's ability to measure and divide a measurement into equal parts then mark those measurements is truly useful and a time saver especially if you are not good with fractions. I have used it to measure circumferences like drums and divide them into equal parts. If I had to suggest one improvement it would be to make the rollers that do the measuring run the full length of the unit. That way you could measure narrower objects.
Really like it
Really great product. The marking buttons on either side are accurate and leave a discreat indentation in the wall. Not difficutlt to use and well worth the $8 I paid, would pay alot more. I'm good at math but this is still alot faster and more accurate.
Excellent, but room for improvement
My mother-in-law recently purchased this item, and I've used it for several projects around her house. Overall, I'd say it's pretty good, but have two minor and one somewhat bigger quibble: 1) It's a little too light. When you reach the end of your measure and want to mark or change settings, the light weight makes it a bit too easy for the device to move around on you in a random fashion, throwing off your measurement. 2) The markers aren't particularly useful. They only work on drywall, and the dimples they make are difficult or impossible to see if there's a texture. Also, the shape of the markers combined with the unit's light weight makes it difficult to use the markers as a stopper to help measure right against an edge (as instructed in the manual). 3) My bigger complaint is that the unit uses roller bars for measuring. Like older ball-type computer mice, these rollers tend to get gunked up with use (and while mice are generally used on a somewhat clean desk or pad, this device will typically get used on walls, ceilings, and other materials that are quite dirty and may even have a loose texture). Better would be to go with an optical LED system, just like computer mice did. Heck, they could even have a higher-end version that uses a laser pick-up. All-in-all, I think this is a great device. I have absolutely no problem doing the math involved in hanging things, but this device just makes the process so much quicker and easier - almost fun. Now, when I have a project at my MIL's, this is one of the first tools that I grab. That said, for my own money, I think I'll wait for an updated version with an optical scanner instead of a mechanical one.
No one star rating here
For the person who rated this a 1 star i would suggest you pay attention. I went to the Christmas Tree Shop to pick this "Exact Same unit" as you said in your review. Turns out it is laser measurement device but very severly short of features and accuracy compared to the unit in review here. It is only good to 1/2" compared to the 1/16" of this unit. You caused me to waste a trip. I ordered from Amazon the same day and the unit is awesome.