I bought this ruler to replace a hard to read plastic and this ruler meets that need even for my 56 -year-old eyes. However, this ruler is also billed as durable stainless steel, but I almost bent it pulling it out of the (also flimsy) plastic "protective sleeve" it came in. I used a caliper to measure the thickness of this ruler specifically for this. visibility and is LESS than 1mm thick. It bends easily with very little pressure. I can't say exactly how easy it is to bend because I plan on returning it and getting my four dollars back. Perhaps the most useful part of this line is the conversion chart printed on the back. It converts inches and fractions of inches to millimeters, which is faster than using the calculator on your smartphone to do the conversion, but not the function I need. I could and probably will buy a better metal ruler at my local big blue box store.