I have probably half a dozen or more tape measures around the house (amazing the stuff people leave inside a pinball machine)but my two favorites are the old school 25' Stanley Powerlock 2, of which I have one here and one at work and I'd like to have another one here at the house. The second favorite is one I can carry in my pants pocket all day long, it's a Zippo (of those I have several just in case I do lose one someday) but what I like about is it's small and I don't even know it's there and it goes out to six foot which is hard to find one that goes out that long and is small enough to carry around. Back in the day Zippo would put a lifetime warranty on the tape itself, all you had to do was send it in and they would rebuild it and return it with a new tape inside of your original case. I bet you my case is at least from the Sixty's judging from the phone number on it. I can sometimes find them at flea markets from guys that collect Zippo lighters, they sometimes have one or two in there display case. I've carried this one 25 years easy, it goes everywhere with me just like my knife that I've carried 28+ years.
John