REVIEW – The first retractable tape measure was invented in 1868, replacing the commonly used folding ruler. It was refined and perfected into the 1960’s. However, little has changed from the design we all know and use. Pull the tape out, measure, and retract the tape back into the housing. Today, tape measures are moving into the digital age, combined with laser distance meters. The ACEGMET DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure is one such device that makes this leap from simple to feature-rich. Does it match the convenience of a conventional steel tape measure, let’s find out.
What is it?
The Acegmet DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure is, as the name implies, 3 tools in one. It’s a conventional retractable steel tape measure combined with digital accuracy displayed on a small color screen, and a long-distance laser measuring tool, accurate to within 1mm! It takes the guesswork out of measuring, especially in imperial units to 1/64th inch accuracy (I wish the US was on the metric system), and to mm accuracy for the rest of the world.
The Acegmet DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure can make quick work of measuring the length of something, the area of a room, and even the volume of a space. It’s an amazing little device that should be put to use in more ways than you would initially think would be possible.
Hardware specs
- 16-foot (4.8m) steel retractable tape measure
- Replaceable blade
- Laser Measure distance up to 330 ft (100 meters)
- Height measurement with the laser
- Incremental measuring
- Smartphone integration with the Smart Life app
- Area and volume measurement
- Removable/replaceable lithium-ion battery
- Extended laser line for marking
- Weight: 1.1 lbs (0.5 kg)
- Made from plastic, metal, and rubber
- Dimensions LxWxD: 8” X 4” X 2” (203mm X 102mm X 50mm)
What’s in the box
- ACEGMET DTX-10 3-n-1 measuring tool
- Carrying case
- Wrist strap
- USB-C charging cable
- Small phillips screwdriver/allen wrench
- Instruction manual
Design and features
Charging
The ACEGMET DTX-10 has an internal battery that seems to last quite a long time. During my testing and usage of the device, I only had to charge it once, and it’s still on 5/5 bars on the indicator. This was a good find because charging the DTX-10 isn’t as convenient as you would think. You have to use a screwdriver to remove the bottom cover to remove the battery for charging. This was a disappointment and something I hope that ACEGMET corrects in a future revision of the tape measure by adding an external charging port.
Keypad
The DTX-10 has a 6-button keypad to access all of the features and settings, two laser buttons, and a tape retract button. The keypad is where you power up and down the device, select one of the seven functions, access the settings menu, capture incremental measurements, and navigate through the various screens.
Two additional buttons above the keypad activate the laser distance finder and the three reference points from where measurements are taken: The green laser line, the front reference, and the rear reference.
The large grey button is for retracting the tape back into the device and resetting the counter back to zero.
Settings
Once fully charged, there are several settings to make the tape measure more personalized. These include:
- Digital tape measure color on screen (5 choices)
- Display mode (on-screen tape measure, simple numeric readout, and list of last taken measurements)
- Measurement units (metric to 3 decimal places), imperial (feet/ fractional inches or just fractional inches), and imperial tick marks (e.g. 5’ 10”)
- Text Color
- Left/Right-hand usage switch
As you can see, there are quite a few personalizations you can use to make the DTX-10 fit you and your usage.
Tape Measure
Taking a measurement with the ACEGMET DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure is exactly as you would do with a conventional (analog) tape measure. Pull out the tape and read the measurement, or mark at a certain measurement. As you use the tape, the digital screen shows you the exact value of the tape up to the green laser line extension.
Laser Distance
The ACEGMET DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure’s laser distance finder is very handy for measuring the length or width of a room, your flower bed, or anything that using a tape measure would be cumbersome or impractical. ACEGMET states the laser is accurate to 1mm over a distance of 330 feet (100 m). The acquired measurement is immediate and very accurate. I verified a few laser distance measurements with another tape measure and found the DTX-10 to be spot on.
Area and Volume
The DTX-10 can also make easy work of measuring and calculating the area of a room, or even volume. When you measure a room’s area, the display instructs you to place the butt end of the DTX-10 against the wall and press the laser button, and then against the second wall. The two measurements are shown and the calculated area is displayed. Very handy!
Volume measurement is the same with the addition of the third value of height, measured from the floor. No calculator is needed. All the math is performed by the DTX-10.
Auto-level Distance and Auto-height Measuring
These two features are very similar in operation but provide different values. The first is Auto-level distance finding. This will give you the measure of a distant object (think wall, tree, etc.) if the view of that object is obscured. Let’s say you want to measure the width of a space, but the space is full of furniture or boxes. You can point the laser finder at the wall above the furniture or boxes, and press a button and viola, the distance to the far wall is displayed. The value is calculated using geometry using the angle you held the ACEGMET DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure at and the hypotenuse, or distance to the wall above. Pretty ingenious.
The second similar feature is the DTX-10 can measure the height of a wall without putting the DTX-10 on the floor. By taking two laser measurements of where the wall meets the ceiling and floor the DTX-10 can calculate the wall height, again by using geometry using the angle you moved the DTX-10 and the two distances it captured. Math!
Smart Life App
The DTX-10 has Bluetooth built-in to connect to the Smart Life app (free download from Apple and Google app stores). The app will capture the measurements as you take them. Kind of like a digital notepad.
The app also has a fun feature to roughly sketch a layout, and then you would use the DTX-10 to supply the measurements. I could see this would be very useful in measuring a floor plan to calculate flooring. The app integration is quite powerful and extensive.
Durability
I found the ACEGMET DTX-10 3-in-1 Digital Tape Measure to be very durable. Made of heavy-duty plastics and rubber. In the time I was testing it, I dropped it several times at different heights. From hip height up to off of a ladder onto my hardwood floor in the living room. Although dropping it is not desirable, the DTX-10 did withstand the drops without a scratch. The digital display is protected by a clear plastic cover and is recessed in the unit to protect it like a good phone case would do. I would think the screen would not crack under normal use and an occasional drop.
What I like
- Wicked accurate (that’s a good kind of accurate)
- Very easy-to-read color digital display
- Well-built and durable
- The display is instructive in the different modes
- Many functions that cover all uses of tape measures and laser distance devices and more
- Smart Life app integration is top-notch, although it does drain the battery a bit faster
What I’d change
- Ability to charge the battery without having to remove it
- Pressing the clear button too many times changes the selected function back to the single measurement mode.
- The price is a little high for some budgets when separate tape measures and laser distance finders are much cheaper
Final Thoughts
The ACEGMET DTX-10 is a powerful next-generation tape measure. Its accuracy and ease of use make it a valuable tool in anyone’s toolbox. I loved the geometry functions that make measuring walls and spaces super fast and easy. I found myself using it more and more around the house as I got comfortable with the numerous features and functions. Although there is a little bit of a learning curve, the design of the digital interface and its accuracy soon proved to be well worth the time to master its use.
Price:$249.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by ACEGMET.
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This is a Chinese-made knock off of the REEKON T1 Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure….
They are very similar. I like the screen on this one more than the Reekon. Would love to use both of them side-by-side.
Doesn’t really count as a knock-off if it’s superior in one very important way—Reekon doesn’t sell the T1 in most countries, including Canada.
For 95% of the world’s population the Reekon is only some pretty pictures on a website, whereas I can actually buy this.
Jebuz cripes, America. Leave it to you to drag those units of measure into the 21st century. What a absolute mess.
12/20/23 Unavailable at Amazon. Does anyone know of an alternate source?
It is available now
In theory i like this tape measurer. I got it for christmas and thought it would be amazing to use. However, it has not worked since day one. The measurements are completely wrong, in fact it will not measure anything correctly. I have read through the manual and have been so completely frustrated with it. This thing is very hard to use, not user friendly, and because it is only available on amazon i cannot find anywhere to find help. I feel bad that my wife spent so much on something and i cannot get any use out of it. If someone could assist me on figuring out how to operate this, that would be very helpful.