digital calipers

Not always, but generally one gets what one pays for. I machine for my livelyhood and have several DIAL calipers, and one digital. It was a gift. It, and most of the others are Mitutoyo, 6, 8, & 12". The 8" are my preference, good feel, good balance. Use the digital when needing to measure metric, rarely for anything else.

michael

Stephen, I use several sizes of the Mititoyo brand. They are reliable and consistant. I also have a 6" quill unit mounted in a Drill Press, made in China. The Chinese unit cost around $40. It goes through batteries 3 times faster than the Mititoyo. It does not have the same level of quality nor is not as consistant. In this case, you get what you pay for. Steve

A jeweller friend of mine bought a Starret for $200 plus and it is VERY inconsistent - depending how you hold it it can vary over 2 thou. I have a $30 chinese unit that is consistent to the closest 1/2 thou. Now, the Starret WAS made in Brazil - but he sure did NOT get what he paid for (quality). The Starret NAME is impressive -------

I prefer the Mitutoyo for the "Absolute" encoding turn it on anywhere along it's range and it is correct no zeroing.

Greg

My cheapy Chinese unit (actually pretty good for a Chinese, but about $30.00 Canadian makes it cheap) is also absolute when turned on. I check the zero often, but it's virtually always dead on.

It could be you're confusing consistency with accuracy. If you hold the caliper/mike at slightly different angles, it shouldn't read the same. If it does, it isn't reading accurately.

Also, just because a tool reads zero when it's turned > A jeweller friend of mine bought a Starret for $200 plus and it is

You misread me entirely. You can take a guage ball - exactly .5 inch, for instance, and measure it 5 times and get 5 different readings. You cannot mis-measure a ball. Measure the same ball with another (good) caliper, and it is .500 every time, unless you hold it (the ball)in your hand for a while and warm it up, when it will read something like .502. Or leave it in the garage at -40, and it will be a few thou small.

I've used calipers for years, and so has my jeweller friend.

Again, you misread. I zero the caliper, then measure something, and then lay the caliper down. It has an auto shutoff, so after 5 minutes or so it shuts off. I can pick it up, hit the on button, and measure the part without having to close the caliper and re-zero it. I can pick it up 2 weeks later, turn it on, and the measurement is still accurate without resetting.

I have checked the caliper against both my micrometers (one Mitotoyo, and one british one (browne and sharpe?) and either all three are out exactly the same amount, or all three are dead on. Can't see all three having exactly the same error.