The modern tape measure has instant metric conversions, optional Bluetooth
After an apparent seven-year hiatus, the electronic tape measure has returned... with a smartphone-era upgrade. If you don't see the screen, the E-Tape looks like any typical tape measure you'd find at Home Depot: a rubberized guard for the tape, a lock, and a hardy metal clip for attaching to your belt as you go about doing... buildery things. However, it does a few things more. Possibly the most convenient feature is the E-Tape's single-button press conversion: to inches, centimeters, inches with a decimal point, as well as distance in feet and inches. (Yay, no more thinking!)
Although you can't quite call it a smart tape measure, it can memorize the distance measured, then you can reset it, and pull the tape farther. There are two slots for saving distances, making it well suited to, say, measuring length and width of a sofa. In a nod to the 21st century, the company also has Bluetooth-enabled iteration that will let you send what you measure digitally, and beam it to smartphone app -- although we didn't see that in person. The tape measure will go to those that ordered already in the next two weeks. Modern-age home improvement will cost you $30, although that doesn't include that Bluetooth connectivity.
Dana Wollman contributed to this report.
