When I found myself in need of a new 25′ tape measure, instead of buying yet another Stanley PowerLock, I bought a Komelon SL2825 tape measure. Here are my thoughts.
Komelon SL2825
I had honestly never heard of Komelon before purchasing this product, but the reviews on Amazon — over 6000 with practically a 5-star average — were fantastic so I went ahead and bought one with no further research.
I paid $9.99 for this tape measure, which means it’s under half the price of a Stanley FatMax, $5 less than a 25′ DeWalt, and about $3 less then a Stanley PowerLock if I was to buy it in-store at Home Depot for the best deal.
Self-Locking Tape Measure
The Komelon SL2825 is self-locking which means that when you pull the tape (aka the “blade”) out it stay in place. An older, more common design would be for the blade to pull back on its own after being pulled out, unless you push down the lock with your thumb. This is the design we have all used basically forever but we all know how annoying it is when a tape measure snaps back three or four times while we are trying to do a quick measurement.
With a self-locking design you need to push the button to get the tape to pull itself back into the housing. The tape measure holds the tape out quite securely when it’s in use and then retracts the tape when you push the big green button, just like it should.
Aside from that big green button there are no other buttons or features on the tape measure. It doesn’t have a laser measure or anything fancy build into it.
Of course, all the features you’d expect are present in the Komelon tape measure, including a floating end piece that adjusts a 1/16″ in order to accomodate for the tape measure to be pushed up against something or put on an end and pulled out. This is standard on any good tape measure. The metal end piece has a nail grab (the little whole where it hold on to a nail head) but the bottom isn’t serrated so it can’t really act as a scribe (for making a mark in wood).
There is also a replaceable belt clip.
The blade is yellow and highly visible with clear markings in inches. The tape measure does not have centimeters on the top and inches on the bottom, but rather 1/16″ markings and 1/8″ markings.
The blade is nylon coated for smooth operation. I have yet to see any wear on mind but usually this isn’t a problem and, if anything, it would take years for the markings to wear off in my experience.
My only real concern with the Komelon tape measure is that the body is made of hard plastic instead of metal. Many other companies have moved to plastic body tape measure bodies, and while I have cracked two or three of them, they generally hold up fine. Nothing seems to last as long as my metal Stanley bodies, but with a metal tape measure the body holds up but the internals wear out/break so it seems like I might as well get plastic ones.
Where To Buy One
I’ve only seen the Komelon tape measure for sale on Amazon, where it goes for $10 if you want the 25′ length. It’s also sold in 12′ and 16′ sizes.
If you want a Komelon and you want a metal body they have the PowerBlade design but it’s 2x the price and it’s not self-locking. I’ve not tried that model yet.