# Impulse Buy - Calipers



## Highpower (Nov 15, 2011)

With half a dozen calipers and depth gauges already, I need these like I need _another_ hole in the head. :nono:

But for the sale price of these "tri-readout" tools, I could not pass these up. I think the fractional display could prove to be useful at times.  :biggrin:

Reid Supply


----------



## Uncle Buck (Nov 15, 2011)

Just dirt cheap aren't they. Anymore it is hard to justify spending big money on dial or digital calipers if you ask me. At least not for a HS guy. I have a couple sets of those myself, one set is a little guy like 4" long. I have really grown fond of that small set.


----------



## Highpower (Nov 15, 2011)

Bill Gruby said:


> How much for the Dog please???   :worship:


Sorry Bill, but he's not for sale.







This *last* guy on the other hand..............


----------



## Highpower (Nov 16, 2011)

Rusty said:


> Amazingly cheap.


There is a reason for that Rusty.  LOL.

I received them today, and as I expected they are made in China. Quality is about on par with what you find at Harbor Freight. And like HF - some tools are ok and some are not. I got one of each. The 8 inch calipers are usable and actually better than the $9.00 HF 6 inch calipers I have, that get tossed around a lot. (I don't do that with the Mitutoyo ABSOLUTE models I have of course.) :nono:

But the depth gauge I got is going to be returned ASAP.  The read head feels really gritty when moving and it looks dirty underneath. It almost looks like cast iron dust. :headscratch:
The scale body was cut wrong and the vernier zero is located about an eighth of an inch behind the end of the body. Also the display on the 6 inch gauge stops at 5.9 inches. :nuts:

Oh well... one out of two - is better than _none_ out of two, right? :biggrin:


----------



## jgedde (Nov 16, 2011)

I have the same ones!  But cost a lot more $$, and are branded with "General."  They're decent enough, but most annoying because they lose their zero when they power off.  That's just a mistake waiting to happen...  I also find them a bit heavy.

The caliper I've fallen in love with is a Brown and Sharpe dial caliper purchased from my friends at Long Island Indicator.  It's never let me down, and Rene' at LII gave me a good price.  The B&S caliper and my Compac DTI are absolute joys to work with!

http://longislandindicator.com/  Their website is a little weird in that it appears to simply be a hyperlinked and indexed version of a catalog or some such document.  Nonetheless, their sire is a wealth of information about measuring instruments.  They are heavily biased towards Swiss made stuff.  I'm learning the hard way that appears to be the case. 

John


----------



## Highpower (Nov 17, 2011)

Update:
Reid sent me an email saying they are _not_ going to issue a RMA, but they _are_ going to credit me for the depth gauge. It's not worth the cost of shipping to send it back. I can't argue with that.  

So I guess I'll just cut the excess off of the end of the frame to let it zero correctly, and clean it up best I can. It still won't have the full 6 inch range, but at least now it was FREE.


----------



## Higher Precision (Mar 8, 2012)

*fraction calipers*

A few years ago, Fowler was one of the first to roll out with calipers that measure in fractions.  They are just starting to become a little more popular these days.  Its not a feature that you would use every day but also a nice additional feature to have besides just inch/mm.  These are a bit more money that what you would pay at Harbor Freight but much better quality as well.  I believe they also have a few digital indicators that measure in in/mm/fraction now as well.  The 54-100-330-1 Euro Cal IV seems to be the best quality one I have seen that measures in fraction.  

Hope this is helpful.

Nick


----------



## Tony Wells (Mar 8, 2012)

Several years ago I bought a Starrett fractional readout tape measure thinking I would use it in woodbutchering. I'm not even sure where I put it last. In the shop, my mind does decimals by itself, even when using a tape, so in the shop, the fractional digits were confusing to this already feeble mind. I have gotten used to a Stanley Fat Max while wood working, and I like it.


----------



## kdupuis (Mar 8, 2012)

For critical measurements i have starrets and mititoyo calipers but for the dirty work we have the cheaper General brand digital calipers. I use the right tool depending on the job.


----------

