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Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Although it's pricier than most brands, Black Gorilla Tape has powerful adhesion, seal, durability, and weather resistance. Read More
Duck Tape's Max Strength brand isn't as adhesive as the name might imply, but it makes up for this with durability and weather resistance. Read More
This duct tape from T-Rex is so strong and sticky that it's likely overkill for the project most people might need it for. Read More
IPG Anchor 36 DUCTape is okay, in terms of its stickiness and durability. That said, it's not easy to work with, and its seal doesn't hold water in. Read More
Duck Tape is good for smaller indoor jobs, and it holds water, but the adhesive doesn't last too long, and it is not weather resistant. Read More
To start, we’ll answer the obvious question. Yes, there is a difference between good duct tape and bad duct tape. Quite a big difference, as it turns out. The best duct tape we’ve tested is Gorilla Tape (available at Amazon) , an easy-to-use, heavy-duty duct tape that gets the job done head and shoulders above the competition.
That humble, ubiquitous little roll of gray (or black) tape can be found in everyone’s toolbox, garage, or junk drawer for good reason. For nearly a century, it’s helped bind together and patch over pretty much every repair job you can think of, transcending its original wartime purpose to become something of almost cult-like reverence: If you can’t fix it with duct tape, well, it just can’t be fixed.
We looked at several top-pick brands (plus some intriguing plastic tapes) to determine which was the strongest duct tape, most durable, most waterproof, and easiest to work with. We got wet and dirty while doing it, but we got some answers, too.
Comes in large rolls
Decent strength
Tendency to tear along the strip length
Duct tape’s primary function is to hold fast to whatever you’re taping together, so we put grip strength to the test and weighted it heavily in our scores. An eight-inch piece of tape was applied evenly across two pieces of one-inch-thick pine board. A person stood on top of one board while the other board was pulled—horizontal to the tape’s surface— slowly and evenly using a hand winch. The force was measured using a crane scale.
While duct tapes aren’t necessarily billed as waterproof, most people expect duct tape to handle temporarily patching a leak. That’s why it felt important to put that to the test.
We took a garden hose and drilled nine 1/16th-inch, evenly spaced holes down the length. A six-inch length of tape was wrapped around each hole, which allowed for about three layers of tape. We then put a spray head on the end of the hose and turned on the faucet. We measured performance based on how long the tape could hold the water back without leaking.
We expected the test to last for hours, but actually called it after five minutes when all but two tapes had failed.
The water resistance of the tapes were measured by how long they could contain a small leak in a pressurized garden hose.
We put a three-foot length of each duct tape on a sheet of plywood and left it outside to endure high heat, humidity, and torrential downpours for four weeks. If it wasn't already falling off after that time, we then tested how much adhesion strength remained.
A length of each tape was placed on a sheet of plywood and left out to the elements for four weeks.
Handling tape has to count for something, so we scored how easily and cleanly each duct tape rips. We deducted points for ragged bits of string left behind, or for excessive difficulty pulling a piece off the roll. We also scored how easily a three-foot length of tape twisted and stuck to itself when waved around.
Originally designed for World War II shipping purposes, both the material design of duct tape and the name itself changed many times over the twentieth century. In the 1980’s, the “Duck Tape” brand finally took off, and a genericized “duct tape” was applied to anything off-brand.
True duct tape has a woven fabric or scrim, with colored polyurethane on one side (typically grey or black) and adhesive on the other. It should be easy to rip by hand and is usually expected to have high adhesion (“stickiness”) strength. The fabric imbues the tape with a good deal of flexibility, while the rubber-based adhesive will stick to a variety of surfaces, including wood, masonry, and irregular surfaces.
The thread count and thickness of the tape can, at a glance, indicate the quality. However, our tests found that the thickest tapes were not necessarily the strongest.
Duct tape is great for small jobs like securing your bumper to your car until you can get it into the shop for repair, or holding pieces of wood together until you find a more permanent solution with glue or nails. Musicians use it on stage to keep cables from becoming a trip hazard. If you need a quick, temporary fix, reaching for a roll of duct tape is the way to go in most situations.
The operative word here is temporary: all the tapes we tested for this guide will stretch and tear over time. None are waterproof or heat resistant. That means that whenever you’re using duct tape as a stopgap for an issue, it’s best to properly correct that issue as soon as possible.
What is duct tape not suitable for? While water-resistant to a degree, most brands are not truly waterproof (boy, did we find that out the hard way!). They’re also not great for actual duct repair, due to the extreme temperature variance. (Try foil tape for HVAC repairs instead.)
Duct tape is sticky stuff, and that means it can damage surfaces when removed. It’s best to avoid using it on painted, stained, waxed, and fragile surfaces, as it could tear part of the surface off or leave behind a sticky residue. Among other things, that means you should probably keep it off the furniture and finished wood floors.
Ironically enough, you should not use it in air ducts, as the adhesive on these tapes doesn’t deal well with extreme temperature variances. Instead, you should use foil tape, designed for HVAC repairs.
You should never use duct tape on your own skin or clothing: it is stronger than both, so you might end up tearing your skin or clothes when you remove it. And that, believe me, is even less fun than it sounds.
Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.
David Kender oversees content at Reviewed as the Editor in Chief. He served as managing editor and editor in chief of Reviewed's ancestor, CamcorderInfo.com, helping to grow the company from a tiny staff to one of the most influential online review resources. In his time at Reviewed, David has helped to launch over 100 product categories and written too many articles to count.
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