Decent brands of measuring tools for beginners?

+ what Ulma said; I like Lufkin too
I picked a nice old mike up on Ebay for around 12$ and he threw in a Starrett #40 thread pitch gage, both with original boxes
 
I have Starrett, Lufkin, Brown & Sharpe, Tumico, and Mitutoyo instruments. They usually stay on the shelf except for critical work. I routinely use Harbor Freight digital calipers. Yes, they eat batteries. Yes they crap out in a couple years. It is better to use up the cheapies than to risk wear or damage to my good tools when their accuracy is not required.
 
Here is my contribution
I have bought many different tools from the very low end harbor freight
, Fowler, igaging, mitutoya, shars, b and s and reconditioned tools. For me I had the best luck with mitutoya and igaging absolutes. Fowler's were no better than harbor freight. The reconditioned I purchased were good, not great. I have gotten a couple used height gauges off ebay for good prices (b and s).

The igaging are not too expensive, far more pricey than Hf but I figure they will last a while of my light use.
I bought 2 mitutoya dtis, I really like them, I have a couple igaging abosolutes mics 0-1 and 1-2, a mitutoya 12" caliper and an igaging absolute 12" caliper and several 0-1" dial indicators from fowler, mitutoya, igaging.
Ymmv, everyone will have their own criteria of what is good.
 
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I have at least 4 sets of digital mikes from 0-3, tumbler style. Bought them all off eBay for anywhere from $30 - $100 (really good deal on a 0-3" set of Mitutoyo's). Have used Mitutoyo and some import dial calipers in 4", 6", 8" and 12" sizes. Mostly used off eBay.

Ditto the experiences above with $10 digital calipers, battery-sucking "you get what you pay for" tools. I've got an iGaging 4" and a couple of Clockwise tools 6" which work well. The iGaging "remembers" zero; turn off the power, move the jaws, turn it back on and it knows the move. The Clockwise ones ($21 for a 6") do not.

Bruce
 
BGHansen said:
Ditto the experiences above with $10 digital calipers, battery-sucking "you get what you pay for" tools
Click to expand...
I bought two Harbor Freight P/N 47257 6" electronic calipers more than five years ago. They were right at $10 each on sale, and were additionally each bought with 25% off coupons, making them right around $8.00 out the door each, including taxes (and came with a couple HF freebies as a bonus.) I have used one of them just about every day since then, and that one is still going strong, and is still way more than accurate enough for a quick and dirty measuring tool. They are the single most used tools in my shop. They both still have the original batteries in them, no sign of failure yet. Decent batteries to fit them can be bought for well less than $.25 each, but I still have the unused spares that they came with. I used only one of them until a few months ago, and then put the other new one on a new to me rolling tool cart. It has only been used a few times, still working fine, still accurate, and is a bit tighter than the well use one. Almost all of my work has been done using the first one. I have not been highly careful with them, but have never dropped one. I have used them for measuring rusty stock, as a scribe and hermaphrodite caliper for layout work, and for all kinds of quick and dirty work. They do not get handled like calibration tools, they get the job done. Still, I do not abuse them, for what they are. They are amazingly tough, reliable, and accurate (about plus or minus .001" for sure.) For fussy work I dig out my higher precision measuring tools, which are very carefully cared for and kept calibrated religiously. Why wear them out on everyday home shop work? The only thing they are missing is absolute measuring capability, holding the setting between sessions. It is pretty easy to turn off and zero the calipers, and then start over, which also gives a chance to make sure the working surfaces are clean. I have absolutely zero use for the very, very nice Mitutoyo 6" calipers, they don't do anything that mine won't do, and I don't have to worry about damaging them, at their cost. I could throw one across my shop any time I want, but I don't want.
 
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Wow Bob! You must have some HF unicorns/gems! 5 yrs & on the original batteries!!! Definitely keepers! I wasn't so lucky, I've had 3 HF digital calipers, two 6"rs & a 4". None of them would last more than 6 months on fresh batteries & I use silver oxide batteries, not alkaline. I gave both the 6"rs away but kept the 4". Everytime I go to use the 4" (used around the house, not in the shop), either the display is blinking (indicating low batt), weird fluctuating readings (also indicating low batt), or it's dead. My Mitutoyo's last years without having to change the batteries, even my 4" Mitutoyo & mill quill DRO scale that don't have auto shut off that I forget to turn off a lot.

Funny, Mr Pete/Tubal Cain has a video where he went to HF to buy digital calipers, told the cashier that he was going to the car to see if it worked. Sure enough it was dead but they gave him a new battery. I've had similar results. All the HF calipers I bought had blinking displays right out the box but at least they give you 2 batteries. But they did read perfectly fine with fresh batteries.

Every China digital caliper/scale I have used, home & work ate batteries like crazy. I've never used iGaging, Accusize, Insize, or Shars Aventador though. AvE has a video showing the current draw on most typical China digital calipers compared to Mitutoyos. The China ones, when turned "off" is not really off. They really just only turn off the display & still draw alot of current.

Even the older Starretts & really old Mitutoyos ate batteries. I took the manual machining courses at the local CC with my lil brother. They had only 2 digital calipers, both older USA Starretts. Randy the tool room guy would always keep the batteries out of them. When I asked him why he said cause he was tired of changing the batteries on them so often. :D
 
Yep, I've had it with battery-eating calipers. Sure, SR44 batteries are cheap (Amazon for pennies each) but in spite of that, I really *hate* being forced to replace them when I really just need to get a quick measurement and stay in my flow of work. So I went back to dials. My current bench caliper is the Helios with a fine adjustment barrel. Never needs batteries, measures to .001, and is solidly built unlike the HF noodles. I have my great-uncle's Mitutoyo dial calipers at the mill. HF calipers are reserved for the welding table these days.
 
I reach for my Mitutoyo dial calipers more then my digital. I just like using it.

Lately I have been using an old B&S Vernier caliper. It is just good practice to remember how to read it.
 
An afterthought if I may; There's been a number of good responses to the question here. I wish this site had been around when I was learning.(teaching myself) Of course, in my day, a computer usually took up a couple of rooms and had a pretty healthy power bill. I know, 'cause I worked on 'em.

Oh! the afterthought, I almost forgot. What came to mind last night was that on eBay there are a number of sellers that don't know what they are selling. I saw a "Globemaster" vernier caliper selling for almost as much as a Mitutoyo. In the 70's, Globemaster tools were in a bin by the check out counter for $0.99. That in the days before plastic tools. And the shaper gauge that was called an "angle block". For $20 bux. A shaper gauge is usually $40 or better.

The name brands listed here are mostly of the good stuff variety. But I have a problem with any battery operated tool. Batteries always seem to quit at the most inconvenient times. Say, at 11:00 PM when a trip to the store is out of the question. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me. Absence of evidence in not evidence of absence.

Personally, I tend more toward Brown & Sharpes, with Mitutoyo running a close second. Starrett is good stuff, no question. But resellers charge as much for the name as for the tool. And then others sell the tool and want as much for their low end tool as for a Starrett. And, lastly, I am concerned that with eBay fees so high, those fees are often calculated into the pricing. And if you're buying new, be aware that Starrett has moved much of their production overseas.

All in all, take pricing with a grain of salt. Nay, a pound... ... Yes, I base my purchases on price. But I still appreciate good tools as worth the cost. I wouldn't ever buy a Globemaster, even if it was less than a dollar today. But by the same token, if what I want is only available in Starrett or B&S, I'd look long and hard at it, and the price, before committing to it.

Well, I've had my say (rant) and apologize for the amount of time it's taken up.
Bill Hudson​
 
When I took the lathe class at Techshop, the teacher was a brash young fellow with a pair of calipers. One of the lessons was a press fit (refrigerator magnet). He told us there were all kinds of measuring tools and that the conventional wisdom was that calipers weren't good for accurate measurements. He then told us that we would be lucky to hit a good press fit, no matter what fancy tools we had, if we did not understand the lathe. He said that one of the biggest mistakes that beginners make is that they try to sneak up on the measurement, especially with a poorly ground tool that cuts mostly on the periphery, and end up sneaking right over it. He illustrated a method in which you divide the remainder by 3 and cut two test passes , then a final, to adjust for the spring. This will get you closer than any fancy tool. For some odd reason, I didn't learn this lesson from him. Instead, I bought inside leg calipers, telescoping gauges, micrometers, all name brand, and proceeded to ruin a lot of metal sneaking right over the bore sizes. Very frustrating, especially, since I could almost hear the teacher's nagging voice every time I went oversize. Often, we stress tools over technique. It's hard to see the big picture sometimes.
 
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