NEWALL VS. DRO PRO

A friend was just asking for help choosing a DRO for his Bridgeport. The range of prices for what are more or less frangible devices is pretty amazing. He's pretty resourceful, with me as technical backup :) , and if he gets a bad unit, the cost is not much of a factor in his lifestyle. So he's going with the next to the cheapest he saw, about $400 for a two axis with glass scales.

There is an old saying that "in business you can be no better than your dumbest competitor". I fear for the business model of offering better support but at a higher price. The other old saying is "nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of customers".
 
Don't forget: "The Bitterness of Poor Quality Remains Long After the Sweetness of Low Price is Forgotten. "
 
FYI, the magnetic scales is just a magnetic strip, that comes with a holder although some people have used just the strip mounted. You specify the length of the magnetic strip, they have them up to 25 meters. When you order the kit you specify the length, shipping may be a bit higher if it comes in a packaged strip. The UK (and probably SRO) will put together what you what you want. You may want to order slightly longer than needed, the scales cut easily.

Magnetic Tape and support profiles | M-DRO | CNC - Machine DRO UK

Our full range of Magnetic Tape and support profiles
www.machine-dro.co.uk www.machine-dro.co.uk
 
I have DRO Pro and Newall on lathes. Both work just fine. I think the Newall is better quality but I prefer the user interface on the DRO pro. I have Accurite and cheap Chinese on mills. I really like the Accurite. It tells me the ipm of the power feed. It has indicator bars to show I am getting close when dialing in bolt circles. I have not used the Chinese unit enough to form an opinion. I did break a scale, my fault. I was unable to purchase a replacement scale throiugh Amazon or their vendor. I did find a compatible scale from Banggood.
 
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