Keson^® Surveyor’s Rope

I have been using these tapes for 25 years, mostly in desert settings, dragging them around over abrasive surfaces without the numbering rubbing off or fading. I still use lengths of the first one I bought for shorter distances (pack rats and kit foxes had chewed through the original!). You can throw one end to a helper when measuring between objects (try that with a metal or cloth tape), wind doesn't lift them either, and they lay flat. I agree, you do fuss over either laying it out flat or bending to turn it over to read the numbers, which are only printed on one side.

Platform is a tough, re-inforced, flexible plastic ribbon about 5mm wide x about 2 mm thick. Lightweight, strong, and zero stretch, so it works well for pulling a straight line over a long distance. Ribbon is narrower but more dense than reel tapes, making it less susceptible to cross-wind drag plus it can quickly be pulled up in a hank faster and easier than cranking a reel, particularly if it has grit in it. Meter/Foot marks are in red, intervening half-decimeter / inch marks are in black. BIGGEST DEFICIENCY is that graduations are only marked on one side, meaning if there are any twists, which is inevitable in outdoor use, the user has to stoop over to turn and read the tape at interior points along the survey line. This is an acute problem when terrain, vegetation, or instruments in hand do not permit stooping. In response to a query about this issue, Keson stated that they do not make this tape in a double-side version.