This tape works great mechanically speaking. The tape pulls out easily and smoothly, the brake (which feels like it’s made of rubber) stops the tape in its tracks when you let go of it. The release button jiggles a little when I brush it with my finger but that doesn’t affect the brake. When I push the button the tape immediately starts retracting and the spring inside is strong so the tape picks up speed very quickly and releasing the button grabs the tape and stops it with a jolt. It’s best to hold the tape between your fingers to slow it down while it’s retracting. I can extend the tape horizontally in the air out to about 5’ before it starts to sag and about 7 1/2’ before it sags so much that I have to support it. The tape is 25 feet long by one inch wide. The hook moves in and out 1/8th of an inch to compensate for the hooks thickness and the two magnets on the hook are quite strong, they stick to magnetic surfaces very well. There’s a removable belt clip on one side and a nylon wrist strap on the back (which I can’t figure out how to remove, might have to cut it off). The tape has two types of measurements on it, American inches (and fractions) on the top three quarters of the tape and metric (centimeters and millimeters) on the bottom one quarter of the tape. For the American measurements every inch is shown (e.g. 1”, 2”, 3”, 4”,…15”, 16”, 17”, etc.) except at the foot mark where it’s displayed as the foot number (e.g. 11”, 1’, 13”,… 23”, 2’, 25”, etc.). Each foot number is shown inside a black rectangle with a small triangle on top pointing to the marking line. The first foot measures fractions down to thirtyseconds of an inch, after the first foot it only measures down to sixteenths of an inch. The eight major fractions of each and every inch are displayed vertically under each of their respective lines and in alternating colors (e.g. 1/8th is black, 1/4 is red, 3/8th is black, 1/2 is red, etc.). Every sixteen inches there’s an elongated black diamond showing the distance between studs and the inch numbers for those are shown inside a red rectangle. Every nineteen and three sixteenths inches there’s a small, symmetrical black diamond indicating the distance between joists. The centimeter numbers are shown in black and repeat every ten centimeters (e.g. 1-9 then 10, 1-9 then 20, 1-9 then 30, etc.) and every tenth centimeter number is red instead of black. All the measurements, both American and metric, appear to be accurate as compared to a ruler that I’m confident is accurate and also another tape measure that I’m also confident is accurate. I remember at least one reviewer mentioned the back of the case is rounded instead of flat and it doesn’t sit square against a flat, vertical surface and also there is no case length shown on the case for making inside measurements. These are true however, I sat the tape down on a window sill and pushed the tape against the side of the window and it sat nice and square and, the tape case length is a standard 3 1/4” (I measured it) so making an inside measurement with this tape is the same as with any other tape, just add 3 1/4” to your measurement. Except for the slightly jiggly release button, the whole thing looks and feels solid and well made (it is made in China) and the tape itself looks and feels clean and solid and well made. I’m giving it 3.5 stars and the reason for the lower rating is the metric numbers are small but thick and easy enough to read and the inch numbers are twice as big as the metric numbers and easy to read. However, both the metric lines and the inch (and fraction) lines are kind of thin and they’re packed fairly tightly together making it kind of difficult to see them and it can be difficult, especially if you’re in a hurry, to differentiate the lines and be sure your pencil tip is on the line where you want to make your mark. It takes longer to find and set your mark and increases the risk of making an inaccurate measurement. I have an older Stanley and the lines are much thicker and easier to see on that tape. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from buying this tape but you might want to take this into consideration when thinking of buying it. It might be better suited for home use (which is where I use it) than professional use where time is more important.