As some of you know, Harborfreight has a 6" steel digital caliper that is very solidly made, maybe not quite Mitutoyo class, but at 15 bucks or so it's an incredibly good value. My only two gripes about it are 1) it eats batteries, and 2) being made of metal, it's not so good for measuring batteries, since it can short them out. Well they have an even cheaper caliper made of plastic--excuse me, "composite"--which I figured should eliminate the shorting problem so I went and ordered it. I'd have to say that while it's still a good deal, it's not quite so amazing as the metal one. It's less solid, doesn't come with a hardshell carrying case or spare battery, and displays with 0.01" / 0.1mm resolution instead of 1/10th of that (I guess because the composite construction is more subject to warping). Anyway, for precision or machining purposes I'd definitely recommend the metal one, and I'd say get the metal one if you're only going to buy one, but true to the CPF motto I'm happy to have both.
Micro review, HF composite caliper
- Thread starter paulr
- Start date
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wquiles
Flashaholic
I also have the HF "Cen-Tech" plastic/polimer/whaterver caliper. I use it all of the time, primarily to measure batteries and battery holders (so I can't short them out), and to do some quick measurements where precision is not too important. A great buy indeed, and the fact it can do both inches and mm makes it even better
Will
TigerhawkT3
Flashlight Enthusiast
Put a layer of electrical tape on one of the jaws - no more shorting.
modamag
Flashlight Enthusiast
Figure on using about a battery every month or two with these.
If you're patient just remove the batteries after every use.
Otherwise they're great for the $$$
If you're patient just remove the batteries after every use.
Otherwise they're great for the $$$
