Generally, you think that if you pay more for something, it must be better, right? But that’s not always true. Even if it is true at the lower end, sometimes premium brands are just barely better than the midrange. [Project Farm] looks at a bunch of different calipers — a constant fixture around the shop if you do any machining, 3D printing, or PCB layout. The price range spans from less than $10 for some Harbor Freight specials to brands like Mitutoyo, which cost well over $100. Where’s the sweet spot? See the video below to find out.
The first part of the video covers how much the units weigh, how smooth the action is, and how much force it takes to push it down. However, those are not what you probably care most about. The real questions are how accurate and repeatable they are.
If you just want a summary of the first part of the video, skip to the ten minute mark. The table there shows that the three instruments that have the most consistent force on the slide range in price from $27 to $72. The $454 pair (which, to be fair, included a micrometer) was number six by that measure. The smoothness factor, which is somewhat subjective, came in favor of the most expensive pair, but there was a $25 caliper that was nearly as good in the number two slot.
Using a calibration block and some special techniques, he attempts to see how accurate they all are. We wish he’d used millimeters instead of inches, but in the inch range, none of them are bad. Only one set had a real problem of not making consistent readings.
If you want to jump right to the tables again, jump to the 17:20 mark. With two exceptions, they were all mostly accurate and fell into three groups. We wondered if there are three different chipsets involved. The cheapest caliper in the first group cost $27 and was as good as the expensive Mitutoyo. The second group ranged from $18 to as much as $40 and were only 0.000675 inches (only 0.017145 mm) off from the higher group.
Which was the best? That table is at about the 18:00 minute mark. In all fairness, the best, by his estimation, did cost $144, so it was the second most expensive set in the review. But that’s still cheaper than the Mitutoyo, which placed third. The fourth-place set was good, too, and came in at $27. For a few bucks less, the sixth-place caliper was also good.
Do you know how to do all the measurements your calipers are capable of? Ever wonder what’s inside those things? We did too.
“Generally, you think that if you pay more for something, it must be better, right?”
Wrong. If you must pay more for something it means 1 thing, and 1 thing only. The company wants to charge more for their product. We’ve lived our entire lives with mega corporations being able to ignore micro-economic factors like customer satisfaction for economies of scale, monopolistic practices, market protectionism, government subsidy, political corruption and promo manipulation to think that way.
It always takes comparative testing, communication, and diligence to get to the better products. Can they be better? sure. But thats essentially coincidence.
Do we have to watch the video? Even wading through the write-up was tedious. Just post the results and move on.
And since I didn’t watch the video, who is today’s sponsor?
As mentioned in the article, the results table is at the 18:00 mark. Project Farm doesn’t accept sponsorships
Yeah I guess you get what you pay for with HaD articles too.
I really like project farm, and support him on patreon, but I think he missed the mark with this video. Yes a cheap pair of calipers can be fairly accurate and feel smooth. But this is a tool that an engineer or machinist often uses every, single, day. All the time. $250 is really not much to pay for a solid tool that’s trusworthy, reliable, and lasts for decades of heavy use. I have a pair of Mitutoyo calipers on my desk that I bought back in 2007 USED. I’ve been using them all through college, and for my entire career since then. 18 years of daily usage and they’re STILL working perfectly.
I’ve owned several other pairs of calipers, and they have been accurate enough, but the plastic and metal parts are lower quality and they often break. They also eat batteries. I have a cheaper larger pair, and the batteries are always dying. Extremely annoying. When someone I work with has a cheap pair and I try to use them, they’re invariably dead. Or you have to push the battery cover on just right to get them powered, the slightest jiggle turns them back off.
So my advice is this, if you’re working with mechanical things often, buy the Mitutoyos. It’s a BIFL purchase and you will not regret it. If you only need calipers once in a blue moon. Buy some cheap set with a good rating on amazon, then take the battery out when you’re not using them. Also store them in the case. If you do that, they should be ready to use if you need them.