Thread: What's a good brand of digital caliper?

Hi All,

I'm looking for a recommendation for a reasonable quality mid price range, 150mm digital calipers. (say around the $100 mark or so)

I've got a bucket full of $5 cheapies, that the various suppliers offer as give aways, and that's about the right price for most of them.

I like Anyi, the one I've got has been good for ages, but started doing strange things recently.

I have a Mitutoyo Digimatic Absolute, I'm happy with, but they are too expensive, generally they seem to go for $200 or more .. second hand on ebay. And, I'd prefer to buy new, that way at least I know that it hasn't been dropped or abused.

Top of the list so far is the Mahr Federal Mahr-Federal MarCal 16 EWR Digital Caliper

Anyone got ideas for a better alternative?

Regards
Ray

No idea on that one Ray, but I have seen the Mitutoyo ones go for $120-$150 on US ebay.

Dave

I read that Starrett's are particularly bad, poor battery life and made in China yet with the fancy price tag.

For all things like this I put a lot of stock in what the boffins at Long Island Indicator have to say. Here's their discussion and brand comparison:

011 : Dial Calipers

Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Q

I read that Starrett's are particularly bad, poor battery life and made in China yet with the fancy price tag.

For all things like this I put a lot of stock in what the boffins at Long Island Indicator have to say. Here's there discussion and brand comparison:

011 : Dial Calipers

Greg

Greg that's one very interesting website - their opinions and advice are illuminating! Thanks for the new reference.
Mark

Hi Ray

I did a fair amount of research before agreeing with John Economaki that the MITUTOYO 6″ ABSOLUTE DIGIMATIC is the best value of the best digital calipers. The model is the 500-196-20



Two things I like: the 3+ year battery life, and the reliable repeatability of the gauge returning to 0.00 when closed - I hated my cheap Chinese copy not doing that!

I kept an eye on eBay and picked up a couple at about half the retail price.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I've got a Kingchrome 6" that seems to work well. Good battery life, I've had it over 3 years and not replaced the battery yet. Mind you I don't use it a lot either as I prefer my 30 year old Mitutoyo vernier calipers. Main time I use a digital is machining stuff to metric dimensions on my inch calibrated machines. One day I'll get a DRO.

PDW

I have a measuremax.. I really like it... Had it several years and it still perfoms very well.. Once I need very accurate measurements (accurate by my standards) then I go to a micrometer anyway as no caliper would be adequate...

Originally Posted by Greg Q

I read that Starrett's are particularly bad, poor battery life and made in China yet with the fancy price tag.

For all things like this I put a lot of stock in what the boffins at Long Island Indicator have to say. Here's there discussion and brand comparison:

011 : Dial Calipers

Greg

Thanks for the link to that comparison, very interesting...

I went looking for Etalon, and found the Tesa Shop-Cal they referred to, what's more it's identical to the Brown&Sharpe Shop Cal...

Regards
Ray

Here's the new club house leader... 185 : B&S Shop-Cal Digital Calipers
Not far behind. is.. 135 : Mitutoyo Digimatic Caliper
And here's a better price on the Mahr. Mahr 16 EX without data output 5% Off

Hi Ray,
I went to the local Sun. Market, early last year, & a Chap had these Calipers For Sale, @ $15.
Sontax by make, big read out, no battery, so I took a punt, & bought it.
Took it to a Engineering friend, who has these bars that are very accurate.
So he tried his, 0000, great. Tried my new one, 0000, terrific.
The thing I found is to buy GOOD Batteries. I now see that these Calipers are $20.
They are all the same if you drop them, so I would rather drop my $15 job,
than that $150 lot. You are going to lose both.
My Sontax works very well for me.

The major reason I went looking for the Mitutuyo was that it returned to Zero every time. Every time. No resetting. Ever. That weighs heavily with me.

All my past ones could not do this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

This is an interesting discussion. I own a Mitutoyo 500-196 which I have never really liked only because it never starts at zero...instead it likes 220.78mm as a default setting. They were cheap on ebay, have had them for about 4 years. Apart from the zero setting thing which I am investigating right now (prompted by Derek's posts) I like them just fine.

Greg

Upon investigation and finding the manual on Mitutoyo USA's site I discovered that you really need to press the origin button way down with a pin. Now it works beautifully. It is again in the top drawer and I imagine my vernier skills will start to vanish.

What I'm seeing consistently, is that second hand Mitutoyo Digimatic's 500-196 on ebay are going for more than the new price from Long Island Indicator?

Dunno about anyone else, but why buy second hand (pre-dropped) from ebay, when the new price is $139 from 135 : Mitutoyo Digimatic Caliper

Regards
Ray

I agree. Mine were new in a sealed box etc, but I always wondered about the zero setting. It turns out I had to push the origin button down much farther than the others into its recessed hole.

I'm over the used metrology stuff. I have a 2nd hand Tesa dial caliper that is +/- 0.08mm, so its for fabrication work only. (Don't tell anyone my fab tolerances). I should send it into Long Island Indicator for repair but I really like it in its current role.

Ebay is full of buyers who do no research and pay over the odds for junk. Except when I'm selling my stuff

G'Day Ray,
I've got a set of Moore & Wright similar to this lot on ebay
moore wright | eBay
I bought mine at a tool supplier in Lidcombe, Sydney.
I've been very happy with them for the past 2 years.
cheers, crowie

Do you really need a digital one? I use a manual one for my timber work, wouldn't be without it. Easy to read, even upside down. My most used tool