Calipers that don't have a dead battery

[bob vaughan]

15 seconds to install, and another 15 to remove.

That is if you don't have a 40 year old Fowler set like first one I bought. I have to remove four screws then remove the cover to access the LR44/357 battery that lasts at best 6 months. That set will be headed for the trash can before long. An old Mitutoyo set I have uses the same battery and it doesn't last much longer but it is easy to change.
The Shars Aventor set I got three years ago is still going strong on its original CR2032 battery. Amazing.
A qualifier - I have a metal lathe and milling machine so I use calipers a lot.

Mike says it all. After a while one gets used to going from fraction to decimal to metric.

The nice thing about digital calipers is that they can be zeroed to whatever you want and then measure variations of thicknesses.

 

[Rwe2156]

The more modern device have very easily replaced batteries. Batteries are simply not a reason not to buy one.

I think you need both a digital (mm, tenths of an inch, fractions) as well as an imperial dial type.

I suppose there’s an app for that too

 

[bob vaughan]

The down side of the easily replaceable battery is that the little plastic tabs and slots eventually wear out and don't hold the battery tight enough to make good contact. At that point it is time to replace the calipers. Considering the convenience and speed of the snap in battery cover, I'll accept this potential deficit.

 

[tvrgeek]

Verified against my good Shars digital. 1, 2, 3 inch dead-nuts on both in thou and in mm.
So, now I always have a caliper, fractions, thou, mm, for whatever I am doing without resorting to my vast vocabulary. It is large as having been a systems administrator, you get a real lesson when some mid-grade GS12 who thinks they are important loses their mail file. For every day, the fractions one is on my tool tray.

Dials can also be easily zeroed. Bezel rotates. I still suggest they are easier to use in the ability to see "half a hair" off.

 

[Hmerkle]

Scott (@tvrgeek) both of your recent posts describe why we have the choices we have.

The "Best" tool to use is the one that makes you comfortable.

I purchased my Mitutoyo Caliper and Micrometer combination in a wooden box I keep in my tool box.
I am the most comfortable using it - I have a couple dial calipers and one (cheap) fractional.

I still probably go to the Mitutoyo first since I almost literally grew-up with it!
is it over kill - YUP
is it sometimes hard to read, because I see .362 and have to think about it? - YUP

But usually it is the tool I grab... well right after this one: