Digital Vernier Calipers

Been on my want list for a long time now, and after a trial and error hunt for a seatpost shim, I'm finally ready to buy them!

Anyone got a set going for a good price? Or can recommend what I should be looking for? I trust you lot to know.

Cheers!
Joe

I keep losing mine at work so buy 6" stainless steel for about £15 off evilbay. All seem to work OK and if I leave it somewhere then not heartbroken. Maybe not the right attitude lol

Ha, nice one! Cheers

If you want it in your hand this weekend, I've been quite happy with the Magnusson branded Screwfix one, they have it in all their locations, and the digital one is £20.

I mean, its that, or Mitutoyo...

Good shout, thanks!

The problem with cheapo callipers is they're on all the time (even when "off") in order to keep track of their position, so the battery is always dead. Genuine Mitutoyos* have a more complicated sensor track that allows them to actually power down.

(* there are lots of shameless fakes)

The problem with cheapo callipers is they're on all the time (even when "off") in order to keep track of their position, so the battery is always dead.

Do you mean the cheaper ones cannot be manually turned off when they are not being used, or just that they don't auto power down when left idle for a while?

They have an "off" button and they may even auto power off, but all that does is blank the screen. They're still tracking the position of the slider and that's what consumes most power. Any time they have a battery installed they're draining it as fast as if they were fully on.

If they didn't do this they'd lose their zero position every time.

Mine has been going strong for about 1.5 years. Not sure this alone is a selling point to justify the 10x price of a Mitutoyo. The quality, accuracy, support etc is, supposedly its a tool for life.

They have an "off" button and they may even auto power off, but all that does is blank the screen. They're still tracking the position of the slider and that's what consumes most power.

For occasional home use, maybe I'll just to get the £20 from Screwfix and remove the battery between uses. I assume setting the zero position cannot be that much trouble.

remove the battery between uses

My cheapo caliper has a little cut-out in the foam just the right size for the battery, and the zero button is easy.

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I would recommend some non-digital calipers, cheap digital are a waste of time. I have Mitutoyo digital at work and they are great but use analogue at home.

Yeah my Mitutoyo analogue calipers are getting on for 40 years old now and still box fresh. Great bit of kit.

Why are they bad? I've had a pair of these for years and they've been faultless, for the few bike related jobs I use them for. Are they that inaccurate?

The cheap ones are fundamentally accurate when the battery works. They don't have a low battery indicator and can start acting up in weird ways when the battery is low or making poor contact - including giving bad measurements -and it's on you to notice something's up.

Avoid the plastic / "carbon fibre" ones as I found them far too bendy to get a good reading.

Mine seems fine; accurate when compared with my old school Vernier one. The digital one is nominally more precise, nowhere near as well built, but easier to read.

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I have the Clarke CM145 (looks like they're rebranded as a bunch of others at a similar price) and they're fine for hobby-ist / bike related things. i.e. what size is this thing.

For professional engineering use it's probably worth investing in a mitutoyo, as others have mentioned. But for occasional use the cheap ones measure things accurately enough for my needs.

I read some online discussions that digital vernier calipers using a larger CR2032 battery retain their power for longer.

However, some of the cheaper digital ones are only accurate to 0.2mm so I don't think that would be sufficient to measure seat-post diameters, which come in increments of 0.2mm. For example, a Moore & Wright Polycarbonate Digital Caliper retails at £23 with an accuracy of 0.2mm, while their IP54 Water Resistant Caliper costs £67 and has accuracy of 0.03mm.

Because of the battery issues, I gave up on cheap digital at home and only use analogue (it is always ready to go!). Like I said, the more expensive digital verniers don't seem to suffer from the same problem.

errrrrr....those are digital calipers. Vernier calipers have a Vernier scale

Actually correct!

The digital calipers’ mechanism is cool