Customer Reviews

General Tools 143 6-Inch English and Metric Digital Caliper

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This caliper just doesn't feel right. I'm much more comfortable with the standard metal caliper... this thing is too light. also no thumbwheel or jaw lock feature.

It is accurate, though, and doesnt seem to have a lot of backlash error. This thing would be better in the hobby room than in the shop. For shop use, I'd get a nice metal one with a covered rack and plan on paying closer to $100. Suggest you do the same unless you are a hobbyist or model builder.

mm to inches conversion is nice, though.

I have tried every caliper available from Amazon.com that can provide measurements in millimeters. This caliper is unquestionably the best, and I have bought several of this caliper so I could give some to friends. This caliper is very lightweight, made of high-quality plastic. (Don't be put off by the plastic -- I've tried the metal calipers, and they are heavy and not nearly as portable, with no additional benefit.) This caliper is highly accurate, to one-tenth of a millimeter or one-thousandth of an inch. It can be used for inch or millimeter measurements. This caliper is sturdy -- some of the pricier metal calipers are very delicate come with their own expensive protective display case, almost like you are going to display the caliper in a museum or something. This caliper is sturdy, not delicate, it doesn't need (or come with) a protective case, and I carry it around with me and toss it into my desk with no worries about breaking it. I am a token collector, so I use the caliper exclusively for measuring the diameter and thickness of coins (a task at which this caliper is extraordinarily well suited.) My only slight qualm with this caliper is that, unlike some other digital calipers, the display on this one does not turn off automatically after a time. If you accidentally leave it on, or accidentally turn it on, it will stay "on" forever until you turn it off. However, I don't think this really matters, because it uses one of those long-lasting watch batteries, and the LCD display is just like a watch, so leaving the caliper "on" is probably no worse than leaving a watch "on" (and a watch is on all the time). Buy this caliper, it's terrific!

I work for an industrial supplier and bought this caliper last year for measuring bore sizes and Outside diameters etc of sprockets, pulleys, and bearings. The good feature is that it converts metric to inch with the touch of a button.
Bad: if you turn it off while calipers are opened and then turn it on it starts at 0 and I cannot figure out why this is a good feature.
Bad: after less than a year the readout went whacko and turning it on caused the numbers to change arbitrarily about a thousand times a minute! This is too expensive if it is a throwaway, but i learned i cannot be without one. Next time I'll try a more expensive one like Starrett

Contrary to a couple poor reviews, I have found this caliper an excellent value for the money. If I were a machinist, I'd take a pass, but for woodworking it's plenty accurate. The fact that it's digital and converts metric to english is nice, you can easily register it at other than 0" and it does have a thumbwheel; or at least mine does. It has held up quite well the couple years I have used it.

Although I didn't buy it at Amazon, and paid quite a bit more for some time (years) ago, I've been very pleased with this instrument.

Mine is stamped "Made in Switzerland", and although parts are plastic, the quality is quite good. I like the long battery life, it is very easy on batteries, and access to the battery is simple. The display doesn't automatically time out and turn off, but that doesn't seem to be a problem.

The caliper reads in millimeters (.1 mm) or inches (.001 in), it doesn't feature fractional inches like some of the newer ones. When powered on, it does zero itself, which may irritate some users.

I have no complaints with consistency of zeroing and reading accuracy, and in spite of what some others have said, I like the feel of it. It operates smoothly and precisely; it's a quality mechanical mechanism.

There are times I might like it to be longer than 6 inches, or have the fractional inch reading, but otherwise I recommend it highly, considering its low price.

I needed a caliper that wouldn't mar the surface of my work and this type is just the answer. Smooth action and accurate enough for my needs.

If I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes, I'd go to a shoe store to get some not a book store. Same thing goes for a calipur. If your looking for a an accurat high quality caliper, go get a industrial supply manual. Contrary to what the ubove person thinks, good metal calipurs do not come in a pretty display case to be shown in a museum. They come with a pretty case to protect them, and because a good metal calipur usualy cost $150+ dollars. My advise to everyone is that you get what you pay for and if you want a crapy plastic cheap calipur then get this one, otherwise go look for one in industrial supply catalogs. P.S. a good brand for calipers is mitoyo.