Aaaaa.... I really wanted this tape to perform well. After years of getting frustrated with cm+inch measuring tapes, I decided to buy one with cm on both sides. I choose this one because of the ratings, but I should know better. The product description says it comes with a pencil sharpener, and by now I should know that any product that comes with a pencil sharpener added to it, is not worth my money. Basically after two days of use it does not retracts well, specially when you pull just the first 1m. It will retract some 40cm and then get stuck, activating the lock button by itself. I believe that after pulling almost the full length of it, the spring is just to weak to compact the whole tape tightly and then it starts to get caught. Frustrating! You end up having to push the remaining 40-50cm back in the case. Look for some other tape brand. I will, and without a pencil sharpener.<br /><br />Update: All the above is true, but I decided to open the measuring tape to check what was going on. The problem is in the design, and with some fiddling I managed to get it working perfectly!<br />First you have to get rid of the pencil sharpener, as it scratches the tape inside the case not allowing proper retraction. Open the case and pull the pencil sharpener out. Second, at the opening of the case where the tape slides in and out, there's sort of a guiding piece which is the main problem preventing the tape from gliding smoothly. You can either get rid of it, just take it out, as it is not necessary. Or you can get a nail file and get rid of two little plastic &#34;teeth&#34; that scratch the tape on the underside (-- Check my picture, file right at the tip of the pencil, so its flush and smooth --). By doing that the measuring tape works like a charm.<br />!! But beware when you open the case if you have never opened and fixed a measuring tape! If it springs loose you will have hell to deal with!<br />After &#34;fixing&#34;the poor design the product is very good and I would give it 4 stars, but I will leave the two stars as when I buy a product I expect it to come finished.

On first examination, this is a well made tape measure. A little heavier than I expected but nice heft. The markings are very clear and easy to read from each direction. This is the first Metric tape I have found that reads in mm and the markings are numbered on both edges.<br /> If I encounter any problems I will update this review.<br />After using a couple of times the auto retraction stopped working. I am not able to even push the tape back into the housing. Will try to return it for a replacement and see if this is just a one time failure or is it inherent in the tool.

While I am very excited by the fact that I, as a Canadian, have convinced my husband, an American, to buy a metric tape measure, unfortunately this one was not the best choice. The tape does not retract very well (or reliably) and we became frustrated trying to get the tape to go back into the housing just during our initial &quot;testing&quot; measuring basic stuff around the living room. We'll be returning it due to it not retracting properly, so the hunt for a perfect metric measuring tape continues (also doesn't self lock, which we have become spoiled by on all our american tape measures, though I have yet to find a pure metric tape measure of any size that does this).