Swanson 16 ft. Savage Proscribe tape Measure

Who gets excited about a tape measurer?! Well, I do now! I love this well thought out tool. First, it looks high-end with its shiney orange metal finish. Next, I love the magnetic end that makes measuring anything metal so much easier. I love that it has measurements on BOTH sides of the tape. One side highlights the foot marks and the other side features 1/8 inch fractions. No longer do I have to hear my husband gripe about my lame tape measurer. In fact, I’m hiding this one from him. 🙂

I picked up this Swanson 16ft Savage Proscribe tape measure for general use around the house. I always seem to lose or misplace tape measures so you cannot have enough of them around. This one has a nice feel, it has a good weight to it overall. The scribe guide is small and plastic but it serves its purpose. Not sure if the durability of that part of the unit. Overall seems like it will get the job done for smaller measurements than 16 feet.

Seems basically OK, but the scribe guide is a little small and I don’t think it will provide much bearing or protection. Also concerned about the durability of the thin plastic parts.

This Swanson 16′ savage pro scribe tape measure is pretty nice. At first glance it looks great. The orange and black just pop. Now actual Function and the tape measure is pretty nice as well. Materials seem strong. Tape measure was extended about 8′ before bending or falling down. I’ve never used a pro scribe tape measure but it worked fairly easily. Some of the pieces are made out of plastic like the pro scribe glide and the locking switch for tape. I would like those made of metal for durability but time will tell of the plastic holds up. I would recommend.

This tape measure if very nice looking and had some cool features but a couple things could be improved. The color is fun and it is nice how the measurements are printer large. I also really like how they measurements are printed on the top and bottom of the tape which is really awesome. It even has fractions on the bottom side. The end is very sturdy feeling which is nice for accurate measurements. It’s nice you can measure diameters, radii, standard lengths etc. but I wish the lock that held the point for circle measurement in was stronger. You lock it and use it as a regular tape measure but the lock always comes undone and the sharp point comes out often and gets in the way and can scrape your finger. Also i wish it had a longer 1/2 inch mark instead 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 are all the same lengths which I found if your not paying very close attention you can read and mark things incorrectly. In general I like this tape measure but is it the best I’ve ever used? No.

This is Swanson”˜s 16 foot Savage Proscribe tape measure. This is a tape you will want to scribe your name or initials on to keep it from walking off. It has a “scribe guide” for marking straight lines; the guide extends about 2 inches from the bottom of the tape measure, which helps scribe straight lines, and the guide has a centering pin to aid in scribing in circles. It has a 1 inch tape that the package says has an 8 foot stand out. The tape has large numbers on both sides and it’s also marked at the foot and 16″ stud locations. The bottom of the tape has the fractional increments labeled as well. The end of the tape has strong magnets in it, which if pulling a measurement from a metal surface, such as a steel stud, will act as a third hand to hold the origin end in place while measuring out to the end of the tape. The tape has a belt clip on the back of it, which has a “thumb tab” on it, to open the clip to make it easier to hang on a belt or tool pouch. The tape has a nice heft to it, and will make an excellent “detail” or “close work” tape measure.It does have a few very minor issues. Tape stand out is a big issue for me, I want to see a tape stand out at least 6 feet. I have at least 10 tape measures, most 25′ to 30′, and none of them will extend out more than 4 to 5 feet before they start to bend or curl. While I was easily able to get this tape to extend out past 7 feet, I was unable to get the tape to stand out more than 86 inches, short 10 inches of 8 feet. That being said, by using my inside hand (the hand closest to the starting point) I was able to extend the tape out to 12 feet, something I can’t do with my “big” tapes. The recoil on the tape is just a little stronger than the magnets, requiring one to hold their finger on the bottom of the tape to keep the tape from recoiling as you extend the tape. You will definitely want to keep a finger dragging on the tape while you recoil it, to keep it from going back in too fast and slamming the end of the tape against the case. This tape will join other Swanson Tools in my tool belts and tool boxes, some of those tools being over 30 years old. The tape will work well for drywall and tilework, for layout and installing frame work, and for trim carpentry. It will also be handy for scribing the grand kids heights on the door post where I scribed their parents heights as they were growing up.

The guys in my family loved these tape measures. A great gift for the man/woman who has everything and enjoys the latest unique tool. I originally saw these previewed on This Old House so I just had to order them!!!

16ft Tape measure from Swanson has a magnetic tip and this works great on my metal projects comes with a retractable scribing pin . The scribing guide combines as a barrier when you are scribing to prevent slivers, works great to lay out or transfer lines or a radius Just the right size fits in my shop apron Very clean and easy to read see pictures . Rubber grip and a belt clip keeps this handy and easy to hold.

I like the very large marking on this tape. The numbers are very easy to read, I just with they would have put the fractional markings on the top of the tape instead of the bottom. 16 feet is a good size tape to have in my tool box because I rarely need anything larger. This means it takes up a bit less space in my box. It’s great if you need to scribe straight lines, or you can pivot the tape on the scribe and mark circular lines.It claims and 8′ stand out but I found it to actually be slightly more so the tape itself is very sturdy. The tape lock works very well, but I found that the lock for the scribe would frequently loosen by itself so the scribe tends to come out even when I don’t want it to. Minor issue because I will only use this tape when I need to scribe.

This tape measure is not your norma tape. It threw me off at first, but once i got used to it I’ll definitely be keeping this in my tool box. The tape itself is solidly built and measures accurately. I prefer it over my red branded one (and i love my red tools). The neat feature is that it has an etching marking tool to allow you to make marks on your cutting material without a pencil. I still think you need a normal tape if you are working with fine or already finished material, but this guy has been super handy.