[Metrology] Calipers with 4 decimal places- Annoying.

I have to admit, reading about your frustrations is making me literally lol :)

Maybe you can machine a very tiny stainless door that sits inside the recess, where it covers the last digit but can pop open when you need it? :p

Good one! Or put a piece of polarizing film over that digit. Then get some safety glasses with polarized lenses (you do wear safety squints right?) & when you do need to see the digit in that location tilt the calipers 90° or tilt your head. ;)
 
I can't do it. I try but I just can't ignore the last decimal. I must find a better caliper....search continues.
R

Oh yeah...that Starrett showed up different than the one pictured and it had 4 DECIMAL PLACES! Went back. Maybe Shars.
 
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I agree completely with this frustration. But I've actually had worse. I saw a set on sale at Harbor Freight one day for like $7. "Composite" calipers. Plastic is fine for what I had in mind: throw it in the tool bag for checking drill bits when they do it get put away properly, and other rough construction tasks ("what size is that pipe"; "hugging... looks like 2.5", but it's hard to tell with my tape measure"). But I didn't realize that it only had two digit precision! It's funny enough when a common fraction like 3/16" gets abbreviated as 0.188", but to take that to 0.19" makes things much more confusing for the main purpose for which I bought them.

Incidentally I was playing around on the Banggood app the other day (Banggood, for those who don't know, is a Chinese site that is trying to take on Amazon, and doing a pretty good job of it), and they had at least a dozen different digital caliper models in the 4-6" size range, all of which made Harbor Freight seem expensive. I ordered some for making simple readouts for my drill press, lathe tailstock, etc. There are video reviews of them on YouTube. Might be worth checking out??
 
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