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Mitutoyo or Brown & Sharpe

Any of the high end ones are more than good enough and will last a lifetime. The crappy Chinese ones are good enough to be honest. But they’re rough and especially for the mechanical (dial) type, the good ones are appreciated.

when I think about a lifetime purchase like good measuring tools, the price winds up way down on the list of things to consider. In 20 years you won’t even remember, but the tools will still be there. Might as well get the good ones.

Do NOT buy anything nice on Amazon from any vendor. You are liable to get a counterfeit even from the reputable lens because amazon mixes inventory. Use MSC, Granger, McMaster Carr (my favorite), or another reputable source.
 
On Amazon I bought a highly rated $19 (I think) Chinese digital caliper and it is not rough at all.

I've bought Harbor Freight digital calipers and they were dirty and rough. I managed to clean it out and smooth it up a bit but it's still rough by comparison.

One reason why digital calipers are cheaper and pretty smooth is that they don't have any gears, just a smooth electronic scale and the body of the caliper.

If a manufacturer makes that body without burrs and rough edges, a tiny amount of lube will really make it butter smooth. They can do pretty well on $19 calipers so I see no reason to spend more.

Another thing, as a matter of principal, I don't order calipers that look like copies. Lots of the China calipers look like those 20 year old Mitutoyo calipers. When you buy a caliper that doesn't look like a copy of something else, they are actually trying to make a caliper, not a lookalike.

Another positive: my non copy calipers have a bigger display, better battery door and good buttons.
 
More like Kia vs Mercedes.

I don't think anyone is saying a Kia is better, just that it gets you from point A to point B just like a Mercedes and for Mercedes money you can use up and discard several Kia'.

Also, no one is talking about how it feels to drop a $$$ caliper and bend a jaw, turning it from treasure to almost trash in an instant.

With a $19 caliper I really don't worry about it.
 
IMO a dial is better than the digitals. I have 3 dials that are as good as new after 15, 20, and 30 years. I have had 4 digitals of different flavors and they all only lasted about 5 years. You will generally get what you pay for.
 
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waltkrafft said:
IMO a dial is better than the digitals. I have 3 dials that are as good as new after 15, 20, and 30 years. I have had 4 digitals of different flavors and they all only lasted about 5 years. You will generally get what you pay for.
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I love mechanical as well, a little math never hurt anyone. ;)
 
Do NOT buy Harbor Freight dial or digital caliper.
Dial Caliper; About 10 years ago, I bought a dial caliper there that was great. The surfaces were polished, it operated smoothly, and it's as accurate as my Mitutoyo. I've gone back to try and buy more in recent years and have found that the surfaces are now rough, gritty, and harder to slide. It is obvious that the Chinese manufacturer has cut back on production costs and kept the price low by eliminating the polishing step. It's a damn shame that they don't go back to the the same smooth finished quality it once had 10 years ago for the stinking $3 or $4 more that it would cost and which I'd gladly pay!

Digital Caliper; The only way you can find an accurate Harbor Freight digital caliper is to open 3, 4 or 5 boxes in the store!!! I had to take the cellophane off of a few boxes, and open the boxes and remove the calipers from the box to try them. I brought a .2245" bullet along with me that I already measured the diameter at home. I used both my Mitutoyo dial caliper and my dial Harbor freight caliper to confirm the true diameter at .2245". I bought the Digital Caliper which indicated the same .2245" The other 3 or 4 digital calipers in the store were off as much as a full .001" to .0015 " . It's not my intent to have to feel sneaky to open a bunch of new boxes in their store. I would not do that again. I would never order a caliper from them via online to get an inaccurate POS.
 
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MOA said:
As a full time machinist and now a instructor I have a soft spot for B&S. That said I use Mit Mike's and Starrett calipers. I actually tried to trade another student my Starrett digi calipers for his Mits. I just liked the feel of em. Cant go wrong with either.
I run MIT vernier calipers exclusively. They just feel better to me. They have the right tension.
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working in and being around machine shops for over 25yrs i have yet to see vernier calipers in person except one pair a carpenter tried to give me one time. I think they were general brand and rusted chrome.
 
Years ago I think Rutland Tool had lots of specials and one of them was 6" stainless vernier calipers in a plastic caliper case for a ridiculous price like $0.67 each. So cheap I thought it was worth it just for the case.

It turned out that the calipers were not that bad if you didn't mind reading a vernier. They probably were not the smoothest but they were not bad. I think I bought 10. I should have bought 100, they made great gifts and I never worried about messing one up until I was down to just the 3-4 I kept for myself.

I also got a nice granite surface plate, some cast iron angle plates and a nice 12" vernier height gauge for the surface plate. All are pretty nice, they were dirt cheap and I had them drop shipped to the local retail store for free which is great for granite and cast iron.

Unfortunately they closed the local retail store and I think their specials became less special. I'm not sure if Rutland Tool is a thing anymore.

So verniers are out there but not as fashionable as dials and digital. They still work just fine.
 
Being a cynic I rally wonder how many of us can use a sliding caliper to the proposed accuracy level of 0.0005". Especially in a noncontrolled environment like" most" shops. What do we think.?
 
I have at least one of every brand over the last 40 years. I bought some sets of harbor freight only for lending out. I got curious and had all three checked in our metrology dept. They passed easily. The inspector was shocked to say the least. They are not as accurate as a set of mics but for reloading they are just fine unless you like spending lots of money. The good thing is if you drop and ruin them you spend 14.99 when on sale or they might even warrantee them for all I know.
 
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Dusty Stevens said:
working in and being around machine shops for over 25yrs i have yet to see vernier calipers in person except one pair a carpenter tried to give me one time. I think they were general brand and rusted chrome.
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Concur. I have a vernier caliper but have found that my near vision, even corrected, makes it difficult to read. Besides that, I pretty much gave up on "slide rules" in 1975 and reading a vernier caliper is quite similar.

I generally use a 30 year old Sears dial caliper, but a digital sure is handy for so many other measuring tasks, and dang handy for converting between inches, mm and fractions.
 
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