Rolson Tools Comfort Grip Tape > Reviews (9)

We moved in to our own home together a couple of years ago and recently we have been spending our money on some new pieces of furniture to improve our homes and hopefully last for a number of years too. For some of these pieces of furniture we've needed to measure where they will go (such us our sofas and chest freezer) and therefore we've needed to use a tape measure to ensure that we get accurate measurements and don't order a non-returnable item that is too big or small for the space we want it for.

This Rolson tape measure is one that my Mum passed on to me when she was moving house a year ago and was trimming down her toolbox of non-essential items. She already had a couple of tape measures and this was a spare as she had a 5 metre one already with a better handle on it and so she passed this on to us. If you're looking for this tape measure, perhaps after reading my review, you can pick one up on eBay for just £2.49 including postage and packaging.

A 5 metre tape measure is the ideal size for the two of us as we are never needing to measure full walls or anything like that as our home is a new build and we have all the dimensions available to us should we need them. The longest space we have used this for at present is 1.7 metres but we DO have a larger 10 metre tape measure from another company available should we need that.

This tape measure is quite standard in design, it is a plastic tape measure case with rubber on the outside and the tape measure is metal that can bend slightly in places once you've extended it very long. There are centimetres, metres, feet and inches on this tape measure and the markings are very simple to see and read. This tape measure can be clipped on to your belt but this is not something I've ever felt the need to do, I guess this would more be for workmen or people doing a very large amount of measuring in one day. There is a strap that makes this easy to carry and the strap is thick and sturdy. I've had no worries about the strap breaking off, even if I am silly and swinging this tape measure around like an idiot. There is a lock on this tape measure and all you need to do is pull and push the tape measure out to its required length and then press the lock in to place and it will keep the tape measure extended so that you can record down your measurements or even just set the tape measure to a particular length and then measure numerous spaces if you're looking to fit a piece of furniture somewhere.

As with all tape measures I will say to be very careful when you take the lock back off as the tape measure can reel back in at quite a speed and if your fingers are in the way you could really hurt yourself, I've done it just once and it was very painful and resulted in quite a deep cut on my finger that I had to have glued, although that wasn't with this particular tape measure.

This tape measure is quite heavy and is a reasonable size. I feel confident using this that the measurements are accurate and that the lock will always work very well for me and it has never malfunctioned on me yet and I don't worry that it will.

I like knowing that I can measure spaces and order items myself without having to wait for my husband to give up 2 minutes of his valuable time off work to do it himself and then I can feel confident about ordering an electrical item or a piece of furniture and know exactly where I am going to put it in my home. I've knocked this around a few times and it's received no damage at all yet apart from a few scratches and marks on the plastic.

Overall I will give this tape measure 5 out of 5 stars. It has never let me down, it is simple to use, easy to work and easy to put away after, as long as I'm careful while using it. I have never had a problem with misreading this and the furniture that I recently ordered has been fantastic and fit in the space where I wanted it to go perfectly. I didn't have to worry about getting my radiators moved either and I saved myself money by getting it right first time! This tape measure is comfortable to use and the added features of a lock, carry strap and belt clip are very handy.