Good digital caliper brand?

[Kaoma]

I know there is no such thing....anyway my asian caliper is abused and need a GOOD brand digital caliper to replace it. Suggestions please?

[mechman48]

(01-23-2014, 04:32 AM)Kaoma Wrote: I know there is no such thing....anyway my asian caliper is abused and need a GOOD brand digital caliper to replace it. Suggestions please?

Hi Kaoma

Starret / Moor & Wright / Mitutoyo.. won't be cheap but you gets what you pay for.

Cheers
George

[Mayhem]

I had a cheap one and it worked OK for what I needed until it stopped working!

In August 2012 I bought a new Mitutoyo 500.196.20 6" Digimatic Absolute Caliper and it hasn't missed a beat. Still on the same batteries and I use it a fair amount. I paid US$146 from Global

Yes - for the same price you can buy 10 but I know this will outlast all of them. As George says, you get what you pay for. Of course, it does depend on what you want, what you can afford (or rather justify paying) and your needs.

[PixMan]

I digital electronic measuring tools there is no other product I would buy other than Mitutoyo. They have nailed it on performance, battery life, accuracy and handling.

Having three completely dead Starrett digital electronic tools (No. 721 6" caliper, No.734 1" micrometer and some other caliper), I will not buy another. When they were working, they chewed through batteries in 6 months or less.

By contrast, I have three 6" Mitutoyo calipers that are nearly 20years old and I think I've replaced the battery twice.

[Mayhem]

(01-23-2014, 06:53 AM)PixMan Wrote: ...I have three 6" Mitutoyo calipers that are nearly 20years old and I think I've replaced the battery twice.

He actually told me off for turning them off when I used them! That is how good the battery life is.

[PixMan]

Oh come on now, I wouldn't do that!

Perhaps I mentioned that turning them off would lose an incremental setting if you were using one. That's one of the best features that the Mitutoyo (and most other) digital calipers have is their "Absolute" encoder.

That's the nice thing about digital electronic calipers. Say you want the center distance between to of the same size holes. Open the caliper inside one of the holes to make a measurement, zero it out right there. Now take an internal measurement from one hole to the other and the hole diameter is already compensated. You get a direct reading for center distance.

I love those things and they are my everyday go-to measuring tool. I just wish that Mitutoyo made them in a [b]9 inch[/I] (or 450mm) size like my Starrett ones. For now, the 9" No.723 and the No.753 6" depth gauge are the only working Starrett digital electronic tools I have. I love those 9" ones because you wouldn't believe how often that extra inch of travel has come in handy. The other feature of the 9" calipers is that Starrett actually did what I think is brilliant. Instead of making the blades of the calipers proportionally longer as Mitutoyo and others do as they go from their 6" to their 8", the Starrett 9" has the same length blades as the 6" tools.

I've never seemed to need the longer blades, the tool as it stands is lighter and easier to store or handle.

[Arbalest]

My Mitutoyo is over 25 years old now and the only thing is the display is a bit small compared to the modern ones. I have to say that it lives indoors whereas the cheap one lives in the workshop!

[Sunset Machine]

I've bought a few from Tifco for $45. Battery lasts a year, the thing checks out OK accuracy-wise. My only complaint is the third and fourth decimals are a too-small font, sometimes confusing.

Yankee, Metric, and Fractions:
http://shop.tifco.com/ProductImages/12048.png

[f350ca]

I have the same 25 year old Mitutoyo with the tiny numbers. Its no more accurate than the $10 chinese ones from Canadian tire or who ever puts them on special. If the $10 one falls on the flour I don't cringe, if it gets coolant I don't cringe, I can wipe off the dust and grime and I don't cringe if the bezel gets scratched. In short a calliper isn't a precision instrument, there is a BIG difference in chinese and good micrometers but a calliper is a calliper.

[doubleboost]

I use a Mitutoyo calliper
Imperial with a dial
John