Digital calipers

[Ed Labadie]

If one is going to pony up for Mitutoyo calipers, spend a few bucks more and get the solar powered ones. Never, ever, ever have to worry about dead batteries.
Had mine for years, no regrets.

Ed

[David Kumm]

If one is going to pony up for Mitutoyo calipers, spend a few bucks more and get the solar powered ones. Never, ever, ever have to worry about dead batteries.
Had mine for years, no regrets.

Ed

Do they work in a shop with no direct sunlight? Dave

[Ed Labadie]

Do they work in a shop with no direct sunlight? Dave

Yes.

I keep mine in a toolbox, pull them out, ready to use in a few seconds.

Ed

[Ole Anderson]

I have a no name (other than Made in China) dial caliper bought probably 25 years ago. For what I do it is fine. Always goes back to zero, except for the two times I dropped on a concrete floor. Now the dial is rotated about 190 degrees to get it to zero out. Not sure a digital would have survived. Still works for me and I use it all the time. Checks within 0.001 against a 3.000 inch standard that came with an OLD Lufkin micrometer by BIL gave me 30 years ago.

[Kevin Jenness]

One problem with dial calipers in a woodshop is that that the rack and pinion can get clogged with sawdust. No such problem with a digital unit.

[David Kumm]

i have been watching ebay and CL and have picked up two Mitutoyo 196-20 new in box at about $75-80 each so the upcharge wasn't too bad. Took some watching though. Dave

[Steve Milito]

One problem with dial calipers in a woodshop is that that the rack and pinion can get clogged with sawdust. No such problem with a digital unit.

The I prefer a fractional dial for most woodworking. I have a digital Mitutoyo, but usually I just reach for my no name fractional dial caliper.
It's plenty accurate enough for woodworking.

[William C Rogers]

I have a mitutoyo dial inch caliper (about 25 years) and the HF digital (about 1 year). Also a mitutoyo dial. Both mitutoyos are nice calipers. The dial doesn't get use as much because as stated before dust in the rack and pinion. For wood working I use the HF. I have never had a problem with them returning to zero. The mitutoyos are not automatic shutoff but the HF are. If was doing precision metal working I would use the mitutoyos, but I believe the HF would also work fine.

[phil harold]

20 dollar one here
15 years old
I do have an old Starrett straight one
digital is just easier to read And I dont have to change scales like i do on Starrett just push a button on the fly

[Dave Anthony]

+1 On the HF dial caliper, except I got mine for $1 Accurate, easy to read and no batteries.

[Jery Madigan]

I have had 6" and 4" Mitutoyos for over a decade. Cheaper ones have come and gone. I got them for building bamboo fly rods that require .002 accuracy, but I use them for everything. The 4" model is on front of me - CD-4" CS.

[Mark Burnette]

I do calibration work and have handled the best & worst for many years. I can tell you the cheapest ones are just as accurate and repeatable as the most expensive. The electronics are dirt cheap and likely the same circuit in all. The real difference is in the look feel of the caliper. The real cost is in setting up the machines that do the grinding and the time spent fitting the parts. The Mitutoyo, Starrett, Fowler without exception are silky smooth, no dragging along any part of the beam, with flat parallel jaws, ID jaws and depth rod all come back to the same zero. You can often find smooth units in the $20 bin and you'll know right away if it's good or poorly made from the feel.

[Mike Heidrick]

I do calibration work and have handled the best & worst for many years. I can tell you the cheapest ones are just as accurate and repeatable as the most expensive.

I just went through buying 4 cheapies and a 8" Mit and I will tell you NO way is what you just said accurate. Not in digital calipers. Open and close and open and off, on and close - None of the 4 would zero correctly.

[Mark Burnette]

Best advice I can give is dont buy sight unseen. A caliper that doesnt repeat at zero has a mechanical problem that is easy to feel. Close the caliper and hold it up to light to see if the jaws close without a gap.

[Mike Heidrick]

The last cheap one i sent back you could run your finger across the back and get it to change the readout with no movement at all. That was NOT mechanical. Good advice buying only what you can test. The Mit was also bought sight unseen and is perfect so maybe I got lucky there. Almost too nice - I found myself marking with a dial caliper from Holbern today as I wanted to keep the Mit 8" nice.