I always measure with calipers, mark with chalk, and then cut with a hatchet and things always come out fine.

Thanks for the demo. Like others have said, I keep the Mitutoyo for when it really matters. I have also noticed that the biggest differences come from using the thumb knob to roll the calipers tight. The cheaper versions seem to lack the rigidity, so the error seems to come from a "bowing" of the caliper. Using the tips of the calipers worsens this effect. When I seat the workpiece deep and grasp the calipers closed around my workpiece, I get more consistent results, and my cheap calipers stay usable for longer. Thanks again! I'll be perusing through more of your posts to see what other interesting tidbits you have!

Thanks for that Pierre, an honest appraisal of your callipers accuracy. Boy am I impressed with the Mitutoyo's

As a toolmaker for 45 years I mostly used the cheap ones for common everyday use but for close tolerance the Mitutoyo have a better railways, which wear better. But calipers where for .002” tolerance or more. Micrometers were always for under .002”. It all depends on pressure, which calipers do not have unless they are special order, spring loaded inspection calipers. When I started out there were only veneer types, which required proper pressure. Also, temperature can effect the accuracy. SS expands and contracts with temperature.

Good to see the off brand is calibrated perfectly for what I need. Been using those for the last 10 years for all sorts of things like welding, reloading, cutting and random house measurements. That’s 100% with in tolerance of my uses at home. Looks like I’ll keep buying them haha

A very well done review, thank you!. I lerned a couple o things.

Thank you very much I just started a new job in a medical company. It isn't my first medical company it's actually my third. I've been Quality Control, QA Inspector. for all three companies. Yet in different departments from customers complaints to proof reading of manuals. I've been working in manufacturing since the late 80ies. Now I'm in the manufacturing department. Awesome! This video helped me plenty. In my measurements.

hi Pierre, the tape holding the battery lid on the cheap calipers told me all i needed to know without having to turn in the tool. nice shootout video!

Top quality is always nice if affordable but for sure, the ''cheapo'' ones for most part do come out fairly well. I have had to rely on some of those and unless tolerances super tight they do for me. A mic in the end is the most reliable, along with telescope gauges. Now you gotta grow that fungus again!;;

Using my cheap calipers for more precise work and my mitutoyos for the dirty stuff. My harbor freight calipers are more accurate than my mitutoyos. Anything precise gets measured with micrometers. Thumbs up!

I have a 15 USD Chinese digital caliper. I work with it for more then 7 years. It serve me good. For my kind of work I do not need a more precise one. But I really like to see quality tools at work. Thank you for the video.

Best explanation! Great job men!

Back in the day on my engineering training I had a mitutoyo mechanical imp/metric vernier, some years later in the age of digital my nephew was an apprentice at a Kawasaki hydraulic motor factory, I gave him my old fashioned vernier, told him, any time you are stuck with a flat battery the old standby will serve you well. He is now in South Africa servicing those motors, first in the gold fields now offshore oil exploration. Nice to know that tool investment is still with him if he needs it.

`I prefer to use a micrometer because if I make something 4 or 5 thou oversize, I just keep twisting the barrel until it reaches the right size. It saves a lot of machining time.

Very good and quick comparison. I bought my first Mitutoyo 6 Inch x 0.1 Inch per revolution dial caliper in 1970 (and still have it) and a few years ago bought the Mitutoyo 6 Inch Absolute caliper and have been very pleased with their accuracy. Unfortunately the 6" dial caliper has an known error due to wear of 0.001" now between 0.540" and 0.580" but still good for everyday uses. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for that comparison. I guess my cheap ones will do for now, but like you wrote before I will keep my eyes open for a good set of used Name brand calipers.

"Good, not great" - just like like my caliper budget xD

I agree with your final conclusion. I would like to notice that the cheaper one are much more battery hungry and a jaw movement speed can be an issue also.

great video pierre i have been using a mitutoyo caliper for 20 years a great product

Good test, when I get better I will up grade to the not so cheap ones. Good video, thanks.

Here's a thing you might not know about the cheap calipers. They have a port on them that is beneath a plastic cover, that gives outputs from their quadrature encoders. With some very basic wiring and know how, a cheap caliper can be used as a linear encoder, and they are surprisingly good at that duty. My 3d printer project uses three HFT calipers for its X, Y, and Z stages, and it is very precise and repeatable. Food for thought (especially given the price of a real linear encoder - heheh)

Thanks man. I own one of the CDN TIre ones. So it confirms that for the "back yard mechanic" it's good enough!

thanks for the video. Very informative and helpful for my caliper research

Excellent comparison. Thanks a lot

Nice job on the compare.

1-2 ten thousanth of an inch on a vernier caliper, I'd live with that lol

Fifteen to twenty years ago I bought some NSK digital calipers for NZD200 (USD145 at todays rate). I loved them and treasured them, and they are still as new. More recently, I have been doing less engineering, and more woodworking... I noticed the number of people on KZfaq using throw-away cheap chinese calipers, so I bought some rather than use the NSK's. For this purpose THEY HAVE BEEN BRILLIANT! They far exceeded my expectations, with excellent repeatability. Your test with the gauge blocks is the true test of accuracy; for woodwork or checking bolt/screw sizes the cheapies are way more than accurate enough, at less than one tenth of the cost. A HUGE plus for the cheapies... if they time-out, they retain their current position when I turn them on again, and they turn on automatically when I move the slide. The NSK's turn always turn on at zero, regardless of the actual position. A really useful review, many thanks.

in aircraft engineering i had the tesa vernier caliper, and moore a wright micrometer. bought in the 1980's. and still as good today.

Brings back memories of when we had factories and real jobs. wiggle it a little bit. We called calipers “very nears“ for engineers they're worth their weight in gold.

If it's important that a dimension that has to be held within +/- 0.005" , a caliper, no matter who made it is not the tool to use. You can use a caliper if you need to measure closer than that if you do what was done in the video... zero the caliper to gage blocks set to the required and you can get to +/- 0.0005" . It is important to note that even the Mititoyo doesn't read to "tenths" of a thousands of an inch. It can be anywhere in the range of +/-0.00025 of the indicated dimension. Like others have noted, I have both Mititoyo and Harbor Freight mystery calipers. I stoned the sharp edges on the HF's when I got them and it smoothed them up considerably. The batteries last about 3 years of daily use.. I do turn them off every time I use them. The HF calipers are the ones I use all the time.

thanks for the comparison Pierre. great price for those cheap ones.

Hi Pierre's Garage what models of Mitutoyo you got and where you get measuring blocks from?

Good video! As a machinist now for 11-12 years I have a extensive collection of calipers and micrometers. About 2-3 years ago I bought a cheap pair (like in the video) to use around the house for projects and on vehicle repair/maintenance. They are reasonably accurate for most things around the house. But I stopped using them I was never happy with how they were built and the batteries would go dead very often so I ended up buying another 8" Mitutoyo harsh environment caliper for at home. Not everyone needs or can afford Mitutoyo calipers for at home but the fit & finish and hand feel of a quality tool is worth the investment.

Gauge blocks are good if you have them but you can also compare the calipers directly by utilizing both outside and inside measuring arms. Half a thousandth is worth probably $40 to me. Also, a $15 dropped caliper often turns out to be more accurate than a dropped $150 caliper so you'll end up upside down then. You're micrometer is in perfect condition... all is good.

thank you. very helpful comparison!

Well done comparison. When I have to be right I use the regular old micrometer and for the rest the cheap calipers. I always drop the calipers and if they get damaged I don't feel too bad. Keep on keeping on.

I made my own calipers out of wood... They are accurate to the nearest quarter inch...live long and prosper ✌️

I went to harbor freight and spent 20 minutes and 13 dollars US, to find a well made calipers with smooth action. The time and money was well spent.

Recently got the iGaging EZ Cal very happy with it. Large display easy to read with consistent numbers.

Great comparison video.

I think my cheap one even says +/- 0.04 mm. Definitely more than good enough for home use.

The problem with my Harbor Freight digital caliper is repeatability. It doesn't always re-zero when opened and closed or moved around. That gives me an uncertainty of when it's dead on or off by a few thousandths!

Thanks have used cheap ones and for what I have done they have been fine. but as you said at the end micrometers are the best! thanks for your work!

What grade are your gage blocks and how often do you get them calibrated?

One thing to watch out for, even Mitutoyo is now made in Brazil or somewhere. You have to buy an old stock one to get made in Japan.

Thanks I'm buying the $12 ones

I just tested my Fowler on the 1-2-3 blocks I have thanks to this video. Although a little rough in measurement they seemed to be no more than half a thou over. Definitely good enough for hobbyist. The Canadian Tire one I had was a piece of crap - it had a problem on the quadrature sensor that caused it to jump some 5mm at random locations - it was the same jump every time. So I just got something a little better.

About when you measured with the newest mitutoyo calipers. I have those too and I never have to reset a zero, when I got it I cleaned the jaws and set the origin. I never had to touch the zero button unless I was making relative measurements. The slight anomalies you saw were most likely caused by a tiny speck of dirt between the jaws when you zeroed the calipers. And just after zeroing the calipers were the jaws cleaned.

I got several Cheap Calipers and a few branded micrometers since i feel there isnt much point in me getting a branded caliper when i will be finishing my work measurements with a micrometer, so even with a very accurate caliper its still not as accurate as the micrometer

For that degree of critical measurement(as he said), it's best to use the micrometers....

Very helpful explanations. Love the clean face.

Thank you for posting this!

The only digital calipers I have had were in the $30 range and I have found them to be within .001" I would trust them no closer than that.

$12 is good value for that level of accuracy.

Best compare I ever seen! Thanks a lot :)

Thank you for this really good information . i now feel i can go into the world of enginnering with this knowledge . You are my idol.

So unless you're building rocket parts for nasa or formula one engine parts it's ok to use the cheaper one. :) Great comparison video, thank you.

I bought one of the cheaper models a few years ago and found it worked great, was accurate and in general no complaints. I recently bought another 2 for general checking (appeared to be identical) for work and BOTH measured OK but drained the button cell battery in a couple of days, even when off. They are only usable if you remove the battery each time you are finished with it. We are binning them. Very disappointing.

point well taken, thanks for your video, totally agree with your thourghts

After 29 years in the machinist/tool room business I've had the big 3 ( Mitutoyo, Starrett, and Brown & Sharpe) for when accuracy matters, when accuracy doesn't matter don't waste your money or the risk of damage from dropping the expensive ones.

Until a year ago. i rocked that haircut but with a 6 inch beard 4 inch mustache and short hair on top. and by rocked it i mean i did that for 2 years straight.. how i still got laid is beyond me.

get what you pay for. the cheaper ones good for rough work where it's not critical

I have the oldest Mitutoyo digital caliper in my tool cart, at my work, after al those years it run as it was new.

Great, clear evaluation

For the type of stuff I do these cheap ones are great buys. I *do* keep a Mitutoyo caliper and a small micrometer on hand that I only rarely use. When I need real accuracy that micrometer has beed great. They were worth the money, despite the small amount of use they get, because when it needs to be accurate and it is not it costs a lot more time, money and materials when you screw it up. So I keep the Mitutoyo stuff very clean and locked away. My cheap measuring stuff just sits on my bench in their boxes. Or just dumped into a drawer. Good video!

I'll use this video in future when I can't sleep, it is beating the old one of paint drying by several inches😂

I had similar results with an older (16yo +) pair from Harbor Freight (HF) vs Mitutoyo Absolute digital calipers... the HFones were either on, or off by 0.0005 or 0.001. as tested like you, with gage blocks, but I used non-whole number sizes. I did try the newer calipers that will also do fractions. but found they would not repeat 100%, while the Mitutoyo's do.

Thanks . I worried that cheap amazon ones would be inaccurate but within 1/1000” of the accuracy of expensive ones I think the cheap ones will be great for me. Accurate to 0.01mm is all I need

calipers to stuff close then micrometers for the last .020"

Cheap or expencive, not see any big difference in accuracy in my experience. A caliper is not a accurate instrument anyway, better use it as 'guidance'. Naturally, for most of us doing this for as a hobby, it's usually more than accurate with a caliper. The biggest difference between cheap and expencive ones are battery life, in my opinion. Like a 1 day vs 5 years. those cheap calipers are EATING batteries bigtime!! at least the ones I'm familiar with.

Where do you get the test blocks?

This is the second time I watch this video. But the first time I noticed your beard in half! LOL!

They are all highly accurate now because of the digital capacitance measuring system is so accurate and easy to manufacture. I have a Cheap-Chinese ($11) and a Mitutoyo ($35)... no difference between them.

why does he keep saying .05 when he means .0005 or 1/2 a thousandth with calipers this means nothing

Is there a cheaper way than gauge blocks to check the calibration in a home shop? Would a cheap $15 pair of 123 blocks from ebay or amazon be good enough? I've also read that measuring bearings is another cheap way to check, but I want to be able to check across the range of the calipers from 1" to 6". Any other suggestions?

I keep my starrett No. 425 on me at all times - sometimes I'm using it daily. Love that tool.

These are great till the battery goes flat, when your out on a job. I prefer the traditional job. When will America get out of the stone age and go metric. Good interested test, thanks.

The cheaper callipers are good for measuring drill bits as you have to twist them about in the jaw to get a proper reading. As you know that's how 'twist drills' cut (or mark here) so a HSS bit twisting against the jaws of a device for accurate measurements over time isn't a good thing. The cheap ones are, well they're cheap & accurate enough. Good for college kids training as +-0.25mm tolerance on their jobs anyway.

Splendid video Pierre! Thanx for the test.

Thanks, I use some inexpensive calipers too they are ok for wood.

YES WELL, IF IT CAN'T BE FIXED WITH A HAMMER, IT'S AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM, MAXXAUS.

did you notice that you got 3.1415 on minute 7:14? by chance? hahahaha

Nicely done Pierre! You gotta love those Mitutoyo calipers. ATB, Robin

Great vid! I found that most frustrating thing cheap digital calipers is the battery life! Where as Quality caliper manufacturers batteries last years. I a set of Tesa calipers that I have owned for 8 years are still on the original battery

as long as you're using the inch as a unit, it doesn't matter which caliper you use! period!

What's wrong with a regular non digital vernier guage? Bloody lazy youngsters these days!

hope you will answer, I have a caliper that does not move smoothly, how can I fix this issue ?

Thing that messes me around is the amount of pressure applied. All my calipers measure different. Operator error I guess. I’ve tried a blind test and that had better results, I tend to push as hard as the number I’m looking for.

If you measure in inches your opinion is irrelevant.

That's not a very good review of calipers. Go over to the channel for AvE and see that review of calipers. He actually tears them apart and you understand the difference in the electronics and you'll know that your batteries will die very very fast in the cheap one.

Good Video i have the same Crappy tire one tried to sell the mitutoyo dial gauge at garage sale not even $20 bucks folks would not buy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chinese Quality improved alot I have Snap on Tools , waisted my money Canadian Tire Pro series looks the Same Craftsman just sold to Stanley Tools

Great info. Thank you for sharing.

Just a question from a dumbbell, does the gauge blocks need to be at a certain temperature?

I am a woodworker and I don't use calipers every day. I have a cheep digital one but I have to remove the battery when I put it away because it kills the battery if I don't. My favorite caliper is the dial type, easy to read accurate enough for me and always ready to measure.

Merci Pierre, excellent video! J'ai plusieurs appareils de mesure de marque Mitutoyo pour mon laboratoire mais je n'etais pas tres confortable a les apporter a mon atelier (vol, saletes, inattention des collegues, ...). Grace a votre video, je peux me permettre d'acheter quelques micrometres d'occasion sans avoir a craindre d'y laisser mon porte-feuille. Merci encore, Ciao, L (excusez mon clavier Anglophone).

Great video, thanks.

Good video. So if one is taking measurements where being off by 1/1000 is of no significance you feel the lesser priced digital calipers will work fine? I take it that even a cheaper caliper will last given that you've had yours for 7 years. Good tip on checking for light between the jaws. What's the intentional small gap in the caliper jaws for?

hey do you have a used curved crystal cover lid for a test indicator i can buy from you? and a dial arm

Most things I have to machine are +/- .005. Harbor Freight calipers are good enough most of the time. If I am doing high tolerance machining I always use a micrometer. You can make a caliper read whatever you want. Mics are more accurate in my experience. Good vid.

Awesome test Pierre!! Kind regards from São Paulo - Brazil