Inexpensive calipers

T

theoldwizard1

Active User
Registered
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
27
I have an old Craftsman stainless steel calipers, with no electronic readout, so I would like to buy one that does have an LCD display.

There are literally thousands of these available on eBay from a couple of dollars to over $100. Most have no brand name. How do you choose one ?
 
That is an excellent question. I have two 6" Mitutoyo LCDs, one Starrett, one Harbor Freight, and one no name.

Of all, the Mitutoyo's are the best. The Starrett, is old and tired, and needs a rebuild, not the quality of the Mitutoyo in my opinion. The Harbor Freight works, but eats batteries because any movement turns on the display. The no name is about the same quality as the Harbor Freight. I think if you removed the battery between uses, it might be OK.

If I wanted an inexpensive LCD caliper, I guess I would go with the Harbor Freight caliper and buy a few extra batteries. At least they have a pretty much no hassle return policy.

EDIT:

In fairness to HF, I just read through the reviews on their 6" caliper, and it seems they have fixed the battery drain issue in the new units.
 
Last edited:
i have a couple igaging ones left over, they are good calipers and if i remember right they are somewhat under $35. . . . some of the fella on this sight have purchased them from me. . . just ask around like your doing with this post. . .
davidh
the "old iGaging DRO guy"

i also posted some good information about them and comparing them to the "big guys" if your interested i will dig up the information.
 
The electronic calipers are nice but only the very expensive ones will give a read out in less than a half thousanths.
Best thing about em is they are easy to read.
With a quality dial caliper you can read between the lines and with proper use get within one or two tenths and they are/were quit a bit less expensive.
The better of the old slide rule calipers had tenth lines on them.
 
My 3cents.... Many of these guys all import the same thing from 'over there' and have a cosmetic change only. From what I see on this amazon link : http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_36xgr1883w_b

Many range in price yet look identical and some are just sold under a different name. HF has these on a coupon deal all the time. I paid $9 for mine and it was 15-19 or so if I recall. Pittsburg name. Yet I see it in the amazon list from others for more and less.... So I guess you go brand name or one of the clones. And I think HF is a quick, good bet over anything mail order.
 
Shars and iGaging have some nice "middle of the road" digital calipers, some with fractional readout (which is surprisingly useful) and others with an "absolute" function, which I don't quite understand. If you want one to take rough measurements with and don't care about it getting knocked around, one of the HF calipers would do fine. If you want a bit more accuracy/ reliability, the Shars/ iGaging ones (especially with CR2032 batteries) would be worth a look - that's what I'll be getting next time I have some funds. After that, you can pick up a Mitotuyo Absolute on eBay for $40-60 in decent condition, which would be a great choice. Personally though, once you get into making accurate measurements, you'll want to be using micrometers not calipers, so perhaps a better choice would be a cheap caliper and a 0-1 and 1-2in micrometer for the same/ similar money to a 2nd hand Mitotuyo.
 
tertiaryjim said:
The electronic calipers are nice but only the very expensive ones will give a read out in less than a half thousanths.
Click to expand...


Would you please tell me which “ very exspensive ones” you are referring to. I would like very much to know, thank you. To the best of my knowledge the only digital caliper that has a resolution better than 0.0005” was the first generation Starrett ones. They had a 0.0001” resolution, but eat batteries. And the last digit was bars that counted, not a number.
 
I wouldn't trust any calipers reading down to .0005 no matter which ones they are. Calipers, by there nature, will never be as good as a micrometer. For general measurements, within .003 or so, I use the cheap HF digital calipers. I have them scattered around the shop. When I need a "real"measurement, I go for a micrometer, depth Mic, or inside Mic. My 2 cents.
 
Yeah, I'll thumbs up that one! Agreed. A balance of so-so to real accuracy if/when you need it.

xalky said:
I wouldn't trust any calipers reading down to .0005 no matter which ones they are. Calipers, by there nature, will never be as good as a micrometer. For general measurements, within .003 or so, I use the cheap HF digital calipers. I have them scattered around the shop. When I need a "real"measurement, I go for a micrometer, depth Mic, or inside Mic. My 2 cents.
Click to expand...
 
Chips
The Starrett calipers are the first ones I saw, long time ago, and have since only handled one other set.
I made a assumption that other manufactures produced calipers that read in tenths. Especially with the advancements that have been made.
I'm not an expert or fan of the digital hand tools and they seem like unnecessary expense unless you just need them because of bad eyesight.

Yes, if you need to count on a close measurement you will use the correct tool but most times I have found my mic reading is within a "tenth" of the caliper reading on outside measurements when I've checked it.
Most of our work isn't required to be within two tenths anyway.
Also, those electronic sets have to round up or down so could be 2.5 or 3 tenths off just from that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top