Expensive vs Cheap Calipers | Are They Worth the Money?

After reading the comments, I bought a brand new Pittsburgh caliper last night to see if they're any different now.

The new one is DREADFUL. It's nothing like the old one I showed in the video. It looks like it was ground by scraping it on a brick. Even after disassembling, cleaning, and deburring, it still doesn't slide smoothly and I can't get it to repeat consistently within .03mm. The fit on the beam is so bad that the inside jaws often get hooked on each other and they have to be separated to get it to open.

I find the most important thing is how secure the battery cover is. I have lost many and have to replace the entire caliper as I do not know if the cover can be bought separately. So do the battery doors vary with the different brands or are they all sloppy and fall of, never to be found?

I have a Workzone Digital Caliper, which is at least 10 years old. Cost about £15.

I've just checked it against 2 Micrometer standards (1" and 2"), and it's dead nuts. 😎

Outstanding video, congrats.

How about just going old school. I don't need digital.

I find as i get older durability and lifetime warrantees are becoming less desirable to me.

Hi, I have to cheap calipers and one does not forget it's position and the other autmatically starts if it's moved. So it depends from product.

Another thing to note as to the fit and finish, more expensive and smooth calipers will hold a better zero. I’ve worked with 4 different digital calipers (mitutoyo, SPI, Husky, and another cheap one) and cheaper calipers with a rougher finish will lose their zero with repeated use and abuse, now it’s not a problem to just reset the origin, but, I worked with this pair of mitutoyo calipers for 4 years, and I’ve never reset the zero because it was out, I’ve only reset it cause I accidentally held the reset button. My SPI calipers need a new zero every few days to stay within 5 tenths and cheaper ones should be reset for precise diameters.

Mine is a 'Max Measure MM-DV300'. It was the cheapest 300 mm caliper I could find, and it fits the descriptions you gave of the 'expensive' tool. Smooth, not gritty, solid. Doesn't need to be zeroed, you can measure, turn it off, move the caliper, and it retains position. I reckon your inexpensive caliper is not the best choice you could have made to be a good example of an inexpensive caliper. Batteries last well, too. 300 mm measuring distance to 0.01 mm, all metal, it has lasted me over 6 years at time of writing with only 1 battery change.


Don't know about anyone else, but what I'm trying to do with calipers is measure a distance accurately. Knowing the electronic way they measure distance, I know they have almost exactly the same internals, no matter the brand or price. Sure, there may be longevity differences, but I find it simply unbelievable that the price differences are worth it, especially when you could get 6 of one for the same price as 1 of another brand.

When you kept saying there was one big difference between the cheap and expensive, I was expecting you to say it was the quiescent current. The cheap ones always seem to go dead quickly, even when they're not being used much, whereas the expensive ones don't drain the charge much at all when not in use.

Even your thumb placements (which change) during testing is clearly affecting the results

I've got a cheapo pair just like the Pittsburgh in the video and it actually. Does remember it's position. Lucky i suppose!

dont forget as well that mit comes with calibration certificate

The problem I’ve had with the cheaper ones is the reader strip fails and I get false readings up to 10mm. I slide back to 0 and ot reads 5mm etc! I’ve models my parts off these false readings and found out later after printing the parts! So frustrating.

I’ve seen cheap calipers lose steps when you slide the jaws too fast. Slide them from 0 to full open quickly then return to zero and instead of reading zero they show 1.5 inches. Totally lost its accuracy just by moving the jaws to quickly. My mitutoyo never skip like that. This might have been related to a weak battery. But again, there was no indicator the battery was weak. No low battery voltage display, and no fading LCD darkness to indicate the battery needs to be replaced. And I most certainly have seen the battery problems in the cheap calipers. I have a lot of them and it’s common to grab a pair that I might not have used in a year and find the battery was dead because they draw as much when off as they do when on. The mitutoyo per your video draw a fraction of the power and I’ve not had to change my battery in the 5 years I’ve owned them.

Yeah so I love my mitutoyo but I also have lots of cheap ones I use every day. You must learn to use the tool to compensate for its weaknesses.

I always thought its normal that the battery drains so fast on my cheap calipers! Thanks, I gonna return it.

I’m sold on the aventor, thanks for the info!

Hmm, I just learned something I didn’t know. I had no idea that any digital caliper had an incremental setting in the electronics or that they retained their zero. I’m not quite ready to pay eight times more for that feature but it’s nice to know it’s available.
One more thing. I just saw that Shars turn itself off, which is important for battery life. I’m assuming that it returns to its former reading with a touch of a button.

Which caliper is most accurate?

Mitutoyo still No.1

There's also a step down from Harbor Freight- plastic for under $10, direct from China. If all you need is occasional, repeatable accuracy to a mm.

I had some cheapo ones for years. Worked ok- but the repeatability of the Mitutoyo was so much better…plus they DO feel so much better to use.

I have owned cheap digital calipers that have one particularly frustrating feature. I know that I am not alone noticing this issue, as a number of Amazon customer reviews allude to this problem. What I refer to is high current draw when the unit is turned off. The caliper, regardless of whether it is manually turned off or shuts down automatically, continues to draw current, although the display is blank. The result is that the next time one goes to use the tool, the battery is dead. This led me to removing the battery after each use, which, in turn, resulted in me using the caliper less, since I had to go through the hassle of installing the battery before I could take a reading. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know which caliper will do this, since a number of brands use the electronics with this annoying property. One potential indicator of this issue is the use of an LR-44, 1.5 volt battery. It is not an absolute indicator, but calipers with LR-44s warrant researching customer reviews for comments on batteries going dead while NOT being used.

For me it comes down to trust, I KNOW I can trust a Mitutoyo set to give me an accurate reading, can't say the same about other calipers without having a Mitutoyo to compare against. That trust alone is worth a couple of bucks especially when it's something that will last an eternity. The craftsmanship alone is worth the extra, they're extremely well made which I can appreciate.

Those are three way measure instruments. Why didn't you see how good they compare all ways.

the video I have been needing ..to have the info . Is an analog as good ? ;-)

I appreciate fine tools. The feel in my hand is so satisfying. However, I have a low budget. I have electronics equipment that is excellent, because I made a living with them. I am a model maker and that's just for fun. While I'd love to own high end calipers, I can't justify the cost. This makes me feel so much better about my harbor freight calipers! Thanks for this informative, practical video.

Cool, I wonder if there's a caliper that has tungsten carbide or harder jaw edge (replaceable even like pliers in high-end multi-tool pliers) coz' it's more accurate to just scratch the material or mark it by pressing the caliper rather than marking with a pencil.

God bless. Proverbs 31

I have a plastic shitsburg caliper and its basically garbage but works if i have nothing else working at the moment. eats batteries like its going out of style.

On the flip side, I'm pretty satisfied with my $25 NEIKO 01407A from the river company.

I found in my $50 callipers the battery died quickly. My remedy was to buy Mitutoyo manual callipers $160 perfect problem solved. Liked your video.

i bought the same exact harbor freight digital micrometer and its already deffective right out of the box. I literally go to close it and it will read different measurments in inches or mm, yes I reset it to zero when it is closed.

I don't think he gave enough examples during his intro. Here's some more he could use. Which plane is the best? Well it depends on if you're shipping tanks to the Middle East or are trying to get Grandma home for Thanksgiving. Which book is the best? Well it depends on if you like reading about a high school full of wizards or need to raise a dead with a book bound in human skin. Which plant is the best? Well that depends on if you prefer a low maintenance desert plant that may purify the air in your home or enjoy that harsh purple northern lights cannabis indica that knocks you on your ass for an entire day. Which pet is the best? Well that depends on if you would like a cuddly companion that cleans itself and uses the litter box or one that looks cool and will eat the neighbor's toddler. Which drink is the best? Well that depends on if you prefer a glass of alcohol after a long day or want to experience ego death after consuming the tea brewed from a sacred amazonian root. Which child is the best? Well that depends on if you prefer having a child with a good chance at a future or want to continue funneling money to that loser who's 26 and is still living in your basement rent free.

The battery issue is the main reason why I don't like the cheap ones. They don't turn off all the current flow when you turn off the caliper, so they are constantly draining the battery. The Mitutoyo turns off completely.

I can personally verify that the battery issue is a real thing, and a real big problem. I could absolutely see not noticing it and having to scrap a good part at the end of a process. And also, no mention of the USB input for the expensive calipers.

The memory part of not having to re-zero your Mitutoyo 6" is not the same for the older ones. My Mitutoyo 6" is over 20 years old. If I have it at say 0.0590", shut it off and then move it out past 2.0" and then turn it back on it shows 0.0000", just like the Pittsburgh.

I have 2 older Mitutoyo 6" and 2 newer but still 10 years old Pittsburgh 6 inch. They all are just as nice to use. Maybe -0.00005" difference on the Pittsburg but I really don't care, that far out, I'll grab the Micrometer to check.

In reality the accuracy tests are BS if you are going to be taking measurements off EXISTING products, you will basically always have to round the measurement to whatever you reckon the manufacturer intended rather than what your instrument reads

I've had a Harbor Freight caliper for years. Always zeroed it when I turned it on. When I took up reloading, I bought a similar inexpensive 6" caliper from National Metallic. Turns out that one has the memory feature. It works great for comparison measurements. I measure every seated bullet and the tool often turns itself off during my tray of 50 cartridges. When I turn it back on, it has remembered the zeroed dimension of the comparator. I'm able to compare my various bullet seating depths to the known dimension of a factory cartridge. It will remember that value until I re-zero the caliper -- regardless of how many times it has been turned off or powered down on its own.

A caliper is often used for scribing, so thats best done with a cheap set.
One test, tho it might upset some people, is a hardness test of the metal in each of these?
How much scribing would one have to do, to slightly damage the tip of a caliper?
Basically I'm just wondering if the hardness of the metals in each of these is the same. Knowing that might make someone feel more comfortable using one as a scribing tool instead of freaking out at the mere thought of it.
Great video.

Surprised by your experience with the HF. In my experience with HF and other cheap grade calipers, they all hold their measurement when off. I have an HF of what I believe is older age than yours and I've had a similar experience, except it holds the measurement. Not sure if yours has an issue or some were designed like that, but I've been using my HF and others for around 20 years and never had the thing where they don't hold the measurement when powered off. Some of them are pretty poor at holding their zero and need frequent re-zeroing, but that is mostly with age except one that was just inferior. I believe the 'Pittsburgh' branding came later and mine doesn't have that so I expect mine is older than yours but who knows.

One of my favorite uses for my digital calipers after moving to Sweden from the US. Pushing the inch /mm button to see an instant conversion. 😊

I guess you can also zero out the Pittsburg in any position you like, thereby hacking it to work as if it had incremental mode. I have the exact xame caliper btw. sold under a different brand here in Norway of course.

Biggest problem with the older Mitutoyo caliper is there is no auto off function. I believe the newer ones automatically turns off after 20 minutes. As a result, not manually turning it off will drain the battery. Its a common problem. On the other hand, the cheap Harbor Freight caliper is still running on the original battery 10 years later. It looks like the Shars also has the auto off function and turned off quicker than the HF caliper.

Thanks for the breakdown. Just picked up some Mitutoyos recently.

Those advices work for any tool in general. During university I used the cheapest soldering iron, and each time the tip would oxidize too badly I would throw it away.

Later I got a brand name soldering station. I am pretty happy with it and use it every time I repair some electronic thing. But I still have the crazy cheap one for those quick repairs that won't require the best temperature control, like tinning a speaker wire!

I've got the Pittsburgh and it's never failed.

Thanks to your video about how to tell the difference between fake and real Mitutoyo calipers I bought a pair of Mitutoyo calipers that came with a certificate of calibration and they are amazing and just what I need for my jewelry making

My chineese $10 ones do remember position when they turn off

??!? Accuracy is not as important? Thats the whole point of a caliper

Aren’t you a paid sponsor for Shars? Where is the disclaimer?