My dad loved the gift. Even though I catch him using his standard tape measure once in a while.

Bought this for my husband and he felt it was just as easy using a regular tape measure as opposed to using the Strait-Line Laser Tape. I thought it would be a neat gift, guess I should have gotten a man's opinion first.

This is not a "Laser Tape". It's an ultrasound distance estimator (based on the same wildly inaccurate echo technology used in those old Polaroid cameras) with a laser sight attached to it. And just like any ultrasound distance estimator, it's inaccurate to the point of being worthless. The laser is essentially a laser pointer slapped onto this contraption, apparently for no other purpose than to be able to print "LASER TAPE" on the packaging, misleading the unsuspecting customer into believing they were buying a laser tape. Not quite: it's an ultrasound "tape" with a laser attached to it. In other words, it's twenty bucks flushed down the toilet.

Spend the money and get a proper tool such as the Stanley TLM11 FatMax. It's amazingly accurate and will really save you time and effort. Or, if you can't justify the expense, just stick to your old tape. You will get nothing but frustration from this "Strait-Line" piece of garbage.

Firstly, it's important to note that this is not a laser measurer. This is a sonic measurer with a projected red dot. The difference in accuracy between the two technologies is striking. When measuring with this device, holding down the measurement button will result in a constant variation of 6" - 15' in reading. While I can usually tell when something is an obvious error, I don't want a measurer that I have to constantly check with common sense. If I know a wall is around 30', readings of 12', 34' and ERROR don't give me a lot of confidence in this device's accuracy, and those sorts of misreadings are the rule, not the exception. This device is horribly inconsistent and inaccurate.

But if you're a glutton for punishment, it's also important to note that you can pick up this particular model of sonic measurer at your local hardware store for 20 to 30 bucks.

HOWEVER, I would instead recommend an actual laser unit. Stanley has a terrific true laser measurer you can find here on Amazon called (appropriately) the FatMax Tru Laser Measurer which is affordable, accurate and consistent.

Because buying this thing would be a mistake.

While product name makes it a little misleading, this is actually sonic measurement device. (Their later model is called "Sonic Laser Tape.")
This device gives fairly accurate reading, but just like any other tools, if you use it wrong, you'll get wrong measurement.

Here are some tips and recommendations.
1) Know the weakness. If surface is not flat enough, you'll get wrong or, error in reading.
2) Use common sense. If you are checking distance between two walls in the hallway, and see 30 feets, unless your house is really big, probably something wrong with that measurement. Sound wave reflects, and you may be getting reading from wave that reflected many times. Be sure it's not angled.
3) Try measuring different parts. If you are trying to measure the hallway, in the example above, try measuring in different part of the hallway, and also do it in reverse if possible. (If you first measure wall A to wall B, try measuring from wall B to wall A. Verify it's consistent.

It helps to know that, just like any tools, this is not a magical tool that solves all the problem.