In trying to match up a 6″ digital caliper with their new AngleMaster Pro v2 tool (sneak peek here), Bridge City Tools ordered many different models and did some testing. What they found out was that many of the cheaper generic imported calipers were plagued with “choppy resolution, sloppy travel, grungy travel and unreliable results.”
Bridge City Tool Works ultimately goes on to recommend the Mitutoyo Absolute Digimatic caliper, model 500-196-20. I also happen to own and wholeheartedly recommend this exact caliper to all but the most casual users, but I can’t say that I went through $1000 of calipers before choosing it.
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Digital Calipers Surprise: You Get What You Pay For… via Bridge City Tools Blog (also be sure to read through the interesting discussion in the comments)
Mitutoyo Digitmatic Caliper via Amazon
Mitutoyo Digitmatic Caliper via Enco
george
just got a hf 6″ digital on sale for 10.00 . will see how it goes. its rather accurate right now.
Benjamen Johnson
I own a bunch of cheap calipers and haven’t been plagued by these problems. I think either these guys don’t know how to use calipers, or they are using calipers that have been left out in the rain and repeatedly run over. And yes I’ve used expensive calipers before.
Only one set have I had to replace the battery ever and that happens about every 6 months, then again I take the time to turn them off and return them to the case. Except for the plastic ones, then I have to be careful to use the same closing force, every one of them returns to the same reading and they’ll match each other’s readings to within to the stated accuracy. Some of them don’t have ball bearing smooth travel, but never sloppy. I’ve also never understood choppy resolution. Who cares what the reading does in between measurements as long as it gets the right measurement when you stop moving it.
Would I use them on a Mars rover? No. But every cheap caliper I’ve owned has been more than adequate for woodworking and around the shop.
Benjamen Johnson
Alright, maybe I was a little hard on the Bridge City Tool guys. I know that some of the problems they encountered do exist. I just find it really hard to believe that they tested that many calipers and couldn’t find one under $50 that was adequate — especially when I’ve had a hard time finding one that wasn’t.
Sam
I’ve got a cheap $12 6″ digital caliper from Amazon.com. It indicates to 1/1000 of an inch. Would I bet big money on it accurately measuring .246 and not .247? No. Do I need it to? No.
No high-precision machinist would use these sort of calipers for critical tolerances. That’s what top-quality micrometers are for. But for what 99% of people need 99% of the time, they’re great.
JawPaul
Hackaday had an article about hacking cheap calipers:
http://hackaday.com/2011/01/12/hold-fast-and-max-features-on-a-digital-caliper/
Apparently some have undocumented modes (fast, hold min, hold max). Will check on my $10 HF set sometime
Dave
I have a set of Fowler digital calipers at work (about $50) and they have been great for the last 5 years. My home Starretts are smoother but at $200 (back in the early 90s, they should be!
Stuart
It is important to consider the context of the comparison. They weren’t checking out calipers for the sake of a review, they were trying to match up a caliper with their new high-end layout/measuring jig.
In comparison against each other, I have no doubt that a $100 caliper will be of noticeably better quality than a $15 caliper. But for casual use, import calipers should be perfectly fine.
I’m wondering what would happen if there could be a blind study spanning a range of digital calipers.
fred
Many high quaility precision measuring tools have certifications tracing back to NIST standards – none of these would be found in my commercial or home wood shops – just don’t need that level of accuracy for most operations, What you do wan’t however is an instrument that is fairlr repeatable – particularly if you are making multiple parts that all have to fit.
Steve
I would have commented on Bridge City’s site, but it looks like you have to be registered. I wonder what methods they used to test the calipers. I’ve never used the really cheap calipers, but I have Chicago Brand that I think I paid about $65 for. I’ve had them for about 12 years and they have been great. The model I have reads to .0005 and are stated to be accurate + or – .001. I’ve checked them against micrometer standards and they are right on the money.
http://www.chicagobrand.com/index.htm
They do kill batteries, so if I am not going to use them often, I remove the battery.
Stuart
While I can’t say I’m familiar with that brand, their “about us” page portrays them in a pretty good light.
Regarding batteries, my Mitutoyos are about 3-1/2 years old and I’m only on the second set of batteries. I use them a few times per month, sometimes I prefer to use a vernier caliper.
Donald Becker
The H-F digital calipers used to be surprisingly good. The design changed and quality dropped sometime in early 2010, and they now just a good value.
The good ones have an upper cover for the data connector and turn on automatically when moved.
I have also bought one of their plastic composite digital calipers. They only read to 0.01″ precision, and flex enough that you don’t trust that number. It has proven to be unexpectedly durable — it probably gets as much use as the others combined, since it’s the one I would shed the least tears over losing or breaking.
Brian14
My father has been using the Same Mitutoyo for a LONG time and never had a problem with it – I plan on getting one for myself soon. I like how the article gave a specific model to recommend.
Thanks