Low Noise Packing Tape: BigTape 150m Rolls and Which Gun Fits

Low noise packing tape is parcel tape that unwinds more quietly than a standard roll, so you can seal boxes without the screech that carries across a room. The low noise tape we stock is BigTape: 48mm wide (about 2 inches), 150m long, 43 micron, with a premium acrylic adhesive, in clear or brown, sold in packs of 6 rolls.

This guide explains what low noise tape is and where it is worth having. It then works through the arithmetic on a 150m roll against a 66m roll, so you can see how many roll changes the long roll saves, and covers which tape gun and bench dispenser to use with big tape. It ends with how to buy: pack sizes, prices and delivery.

Quick picks for quiet packing tape

These are the two BigTape low noise rolls and the tape gun in our range that carries the Big Tape name.

Best for taping over labels

Clear Packing Tape

Choose the BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise option for a quiet clear tape that leaves labels and barcodes readable.

• BigTape option: 48mm x 150m, 43 micron
• Low noise premium acrylic
• Pack of 6 rolls

From £3.50 ex VAT (£4.20 inc VAT)

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Best for brown cartons

Brown Packing Tape

The same BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise roll in brown, so the seal blends in on brown boxes.

• BigTape option: 48mm x 150m, 43 micron
• Vibac 835 Buff 48mm x 66m is also low noise
• Pack of 6 rolls

From £4.50 ex VAT (£5.40 inc VAT)

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Best gun for BigTape rolls

Pistol Grip Tape Gun Dispensers

Pick the Big Tape 2in1 Core model, a heavy duty pistol grip gun for 50mm tape.

• Big Tape 2in1 Core takes 50mm tape
• Built-in cutting blade
• Sold individually

From £5.00 ex VAT (£6.00 inc VAT)

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What is low noise packing tape?

Low noise packing tape is tape that unwinds more quietly than standard tape. It seals a box in the same way and goes on with the same gun, so the difference is the sound it makes as it leaves the roll.

A standard roll of polypropylene tape gives a loud, tearing screech as each length peels away from the layer beneath it, and the faster you pull, the louder it gets. One roll in a spare room is a nuisance, but six people taping at once in a unit make enough noise that phone calls and conversation become hard work.

A low noise roll peels away with far less of that screech. You still hear it, so do not expect silence, and we do not publish a decibel figure because we have not measured one. The product pages say that these rolls unwind more quietly than the standard ones and are meant for packing areas where noise is a problem.

We stock three low noise rolls across two products:

• BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise, clear: a 43 micron low noise premium acrylic tape, one of the five options on our clear packing tape page.
• BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise, brown: the same 43 micron premium acrylic roll in brown, on our brown packing tape page.
• Vibac 835 Buff 48mm x 66m: a low noise, high tack buff tape on a standard length roll, also on the brown tape page.

All three come in packs of 6 rolls. The rest of our standard clear and brown rolls are 42 micron acrylic polypropylene and are not sold as low noise. Adhesives, widths and tape types in general are covered in our packing tape guide.

Where does quiet packing tape help most?

Quiet packing tape helps most wherever people who are not packing have to share the room with someone who is. That usually means one of three places.

• Shared offices: if dispatch sits in the same room as sales or customer service, every box sealed with standard tape cuts across somebody's phone call. A low noise roll lets you pack while the person at the next desk is on the phone.
• Packing at home: home sellers often pack in the evening, after work, with children asleep upstairs or a neighbour through the wall. A quieter roll means you can clear the day's orders at ten at night without the whole house knowing about it.
• Busy benches: on a bench where several packers tape all day, the noise from each gun adds to the next. Quieter rolls make it easier to hear each other, a radio or a scanner beep.

There are also places where it makes little difference. A single packer in a warehouse with forklifts and a roller door open will not notice the tape over everything else. Someone who seals five parcels a week gets through so little tape that the noise lasts a few seconds a day. In both cases a standard 48mm x 66m roll does the job, and it is the lowest priced way into either product: clear packing tape starts from £3.50 ex VAT (£4.20 inc VAT) a pack and brown from £4.50 ex VAT (£5.40 inc VAT).

If nobody has ever complained about the tape noise, including you, you probably do not need low noise tape for the noise alone. You might still want the BigTape roll for its length, which the next two sections cover.

What is BigTape 150m and how does it compare with our other rolls?

BigTape is a 48mm x 150m low noise roll at 43 micron with a premium acrylic adhesive, and it is the longest roll of packing tape we sell. It comes in clear and in brown, always in packs of 6, which gives you 900m of tape in one pack.

At 48mm, BigTape is the standard width for sealing ordinary cardboard boxes, the same as most of our packing tapes, so it goes on the same boxes as the roll you use now. You get a longer roll and a quieter one.

The table compares BigTape with the other 48mm clear and brown rolls on the same two product pages, using the product specifications.

Reading across, you have two ways to get a quieter bench. Vibac 835 Buff gives you low noise and high tack on a standard 66m roll, in buff only. BigTape gives you low noise on a 150m roll, in clear or brown. If you want quiet tape in clear, BigTape is the one, because it is the only clear low noise roll we stock.

The 48mm x 132m roll is the other long option. It is twice the length of a 66m roll and is standard 42 micron acrylic tape, so it suits a bench that wants fewer roll changes and has no noise problem.

Both products also list a Proloc 72mm x 66m roll for wide seams on large cartons. It is not a low noise roll and it needs a 75mm gun, so it sits outside this comparison. For help choosing between the colours, see brown tape vs clear tape.

Shop clear BigTape 150m

Shop brown BigTape 150m

How many roll changes does a 150m roll save compared with 66m?

A 150m roll holds as much tape as 2.27 rolls of 66m, so for the same amount of taping you change rolls less than half as often: 66 changes with BigTape for every 150 changes with a standard roll. You can run the same arithmetic with your own numbers.

1. Compare the rolls. 150m divided by 66m is 2.27. One BigTape roll does the work of two and a quarter standard rolls.
2. Compare the packs. Six rolls of 150m is 900m of tape. Six rolls of 66m is 396m. One pack of BigTape holds the same length as 2.27 packs of 48mm x 66m, which is nearly 14 standard rolls.
3. Pick a length that both rolls divide into. 9,900m works, because 9,900 divided by 66 is exactly 150 and 9,900 divided by 150 is exactly 66.
4. Count the rolls. To lay 9,900m of tape you load 150 rolls of 66m, or 66 rolls of 150m. That is 84 fewer roll changes, a cut of 56%.
5. Turn it into your own week. Multiply the parcels you send by the tape each one takes, then divide by 66 and by 150.

Step 5 needs a figure for tape per parcel, and that depends on your boxes. Measure it once: seal a typical box the way you normally do, then measure the strips. As a worked example only, say a small carton takes 1m of tape in total, top and bottom. The table shows what that means at three levels of output.

At 200 parcels a day, the bench on standard rolls loads a new roll about three times a day. The same bench on BigTape loads one about every day and a half, and a pack of 6 lasts most of the week. At 500 parcels a day the gap is around 21 fewer roll changes every week.

Each change is small on its own: you stop, find the next roll, thread it, find the end and start again. With a long roll that happens less often in the middle of an order, and a packer less often discovers the roll has run out with the spares still in the stock room. If loading a roll is where your team loses time, our guide on how to load a tape gun walks through it step by step.

The long roll has two limits. At 50 parcels a day the saving is about two roll changes a week, which few people would pay extra for. A 150m roll also carries more tape, so a full one weighs more in the hand than a full 66m roll. Packers who tape all day sometimes prefer a lighter gun and accept more changes. If that sounds like your bench, the 48mm x 132m roll or a bench dispenser may suit you better.

Which tape gun or big tape dispenser takes a 150m roll?

The gun to pair with these rolls is the Big Tape 2in1 Core model of our pistol grip tape gun dispensers, a heavy duty gun for 50mm tape. BigTape is 48mm wide, so it runs in a 50mm gun, and this is the model in our range that carries the Big Tape name.

Best gun for BigTape rolls

Pistol Grip Tape Gun Dispensers

Select the Big Tape 2in1 Core (50mm tape) model from the menu on the product page.

• Pistol grip, one hand use
• Heavy duty, built for all-day use
• Cutting blade built in

From £5.00 ex VAT (£6.00 inc VAT)

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There are four guns on that page, sold individually from £5.00 ex VAT (£6.00 inc VAT). Three take 50mm tape and one takes 75mm:

• Big Tape 2in1 Core (50mm tape): heavy duty, and the one we point BigTape buyers to.
• HPG50B Pacplus Heavy Duty (50mm tape): the other heavy duty 50mm gun, built for all-day use.
• PG50B (50mm tape): a plain parcel tape gun for everyday use with standard rolls.
• PG75B (75mm tape): for wide tape such as the Proloc 72mm roll. It is the wrong gun for 48mm BigTape.

A 150m roll is bigger across than a 66m roll, because there is more than twice the tape wound onto it. The product specifications give each gun's tape width and do not list a maximum roll diameter or core size. If you already own a 50mm gun and want to know whether a BigTape roll will sit in it, call us on 0161 706 1246 before you order and we will check. The same goes if you found this page by searching for a big tape dispenser with a model number: tell us the number and what you have now, and we will tell you whether we stock a match.

For a fixed packing station, the alternative is a bench dispenser. Our bench top tape dispensers start from £7.50 ex VAT (£9.00 inc VAT) and two of the four models take 50mm tape: the free-standing BD50 and the CBD50 Clamp-on, which fixes to the edge of the bench. Both suit 48mm tape. On a bench dispenser the weight of a long roll rests on the bench and not on your wrist. Ask us to confirm the 150m roll fits the model you want.

Best for a fixed packing station

Bench Top Tape Dispensers

Choose the BD50 or the CBD50 Clamp-on for 48mm tape.

• BD50 and CBD50 take 50mm tape
• CBD50 clamps to the bench edge
• Pull and cut with one hand

From £7.50 ex VAT (£9.00 inc VAT)

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If you are still deciding between a gun and a bench unit, tape guns vs bench dispensers compares the two, and the bench tape dispenser guide goes through the BD50, CBD50, PD351 and B2 one at a time.

When is low noise tape or a 150m roll the wrong choice?

Low noise tape on a 150m roll is the wrong choice when you use little tape, when your boxes need a wider or stickier tape, or when what you need is desk tape. In each of those cases another product does the job better or for less money.

On the last row, we cover the difference in cello tape vs packing tape. The narrowest roll on our clear tape page is 24mm x 66m, for small parcels and light office jobs.

Low noise does not mean stronger. BigTape is 43 micron against 42 micron for the standard rolls, which is a difference of one micron, and we make no claim that it holds more weight. If your worry is whether a seal will hold on a heavy carton, look at how you tape the box before you change the tape. Our guide on how to pack a box for shipping covers sealing methods.

If you are thinking about paper tape for environmental reasons, that is a separate decision from noise. We sell kraft paper tape in packs of 6, and it is not sold as a low noise product. BigTape and the standard rolls are plastic tapes, and we make no environmental claim for them.

How do you buy low noise packing tape and what does it cost?

You buy BigTape low noise packing tape by the pack of 6 rolls, choosing the BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise option on the clear or brown tape page, and the minimum order is one pack. The pages start from £3.50 ex VAT (£4.20 inc VAT) for clear and £4.50 ex VAT (£5.40 inc VAT) for brown. Those from prices are for the lowest priced size on each page, so select the BigTape option to see its own price and tiers.

A sensible way to order:

1. Start with one pack. Six rolls is 900m. Use it on one bench for a week and see whether the packers and the people around them notice the difference.
2. Add the gun at the same time. One Big Tape 2in1 Core gun per packer, or a BD50 or CBD50 for a fixed station. Guns and dispensers are sold individually.
3. Work out your weekly use. Use the arithmetic above: parcels a week, times tape per parcel, divided by 900, gives packs a week.
4. Move up the volume tiers. The price per pack falls as you buy more, and the tiers are shown on each product page. If you know you use two packs a week, ordering a month's worth at once usually costs less per roll than ordering weekly.
5. Open a trade account if you order regularly. Details are on the trade account page, and a VAT invoice comes with every order.

Delivery is free by Royal Mail Tracked 48 on every order, with no minimum. Orders placed by 2pm Monday to Friday leave our Manchester unit the same working day. If you are nearby, click and collect from Cheetham Hill is free and usually ready within 2 hours, and we run same-day van delivery within 10 miles.

You can add cardboard boxes and labels to the same order, and the whole packing tape range is in one place if you want to compare. If you are not sure which roll or gun to pick, ring 0161 706 1246 or use the contact page.

Shop all packing tapes

Frequently Asked Questions

What is low noise packing tape?

Low noise packing tape is parcel tape that unwinds more quietly than standard tape. It seals boxes in the same way and fits the same width of tape gun. Pack Solution stocks BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise in clear and brown, and Vibac 835 Buff 48mm x 66m, all in packs of 6 rolls.

Is low noise tape completely silent?

No, low noise tape is not silent. Low noise tape unwinds more quietly than a standard roll, with less of the screech, and you will still hear it. We do not quote a decibel figure for our low noise tapes because we have not measured one.

How much longer does a 150m roll last than a 66m roll?

A 150m roll holds 2.27 times as much tape as a 66m roll. To lay 9,900m of tape you would load 150 rolls of 66m or 66 rolls of 150m, which is 84 fewer roll changes. A pack of 6 BigTape rolls holds 900m, against 396m in a pack of 6 standard 66m rolls.

Which tape gun fits BigTape 48mm x 150m?

BigTape is 48mm wide, so it needs a gun made for 50mm tape. The model we recommend for BigTape is the Big Tape 2in1 Core, a heavy duty pistol grip gun for 50mm tape, sold individually. If you want to use a gun you already own, call 0161 706 1246 and we will check whether the 150m roll fits.

Does BigTape come in brown and clear?

Yes, BigTape 48mm x 150m Low Noise comes in both clear and brown. Each colour is an option on its own product page and is sold in packs of 6 rolls. Both BigTape colours are 43 micron with a premium acrylic adhesive.

Is low noise packing tape worth it for a home seller?

Low noise packing tape is worth it for a home seller who packs in the evening or shares walls with neighbours and sends parcels most days. A home seller who sends a few parcels a week will get through tape slowly, so a standard 48mm x 66m roll costs less and the noise lasts only seconds. Buy one pack of low noise tape first and judge the difference before ordering more.

Shop for This Job

• Packing Tapes
• Cardboard Boxes
• Labels

Related Guides

• Packing Tape Guide: Parcel Tape Types, Widths and How Much You Need
• How to Load a Tape Gun: Step by Step, Plus Fixes for Common Problems
• Tape Dispenser Guide: Tape Guns vs Bench Dispensers

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