I was looking at the Pittsburgh line of vernier calipers and dial indicators at Harbor Freight and was wondering are these ok for once in a while usage. These are the ones I'm looking at. Thanx.....

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-...per-47257.html

 

i have a cheep set and they work great.

 

Me too. But mine only go two decimal point. 0.00

 

I have that one. The times I have tested it on a known dimension like a new piston or something, it's been right on.

 

I use them regularly.
They work fine.

 

They work great actually. I have the one that has fractions or decimals. When you're at the store there's a few different ones. I like having the fraction option for bolts and washers and other things. When I was buying my cam shim it was dead on to the indys micrometer.

 

Mine is right with my Mitutoyo mostly..and if I need to get closer Mics are the "go-to".
On mine, if I remove the battery it lasts exponentially longer...like more than a year...
If I leave the battery in it, don't last a couple months..and yes I shut it Off.

 

I have many cheap calipers for quick measurements around the shop. They are good enough for most jobs. But, don't even think about measuring pistons, and such with one of those. When you need a accurate measurement, you need a Mic.

If you have used any caliper before, you will notice that you can change the reading by pinching the jaws a bit loose, or tight. Pic up a cheap Mic set if what your measuring really matters. I have checked the cheap china calipers and mics with precision gauge blocks. Most of the time they are pretty darn accurate.

And yes pull the battery out when not in use, or you may need to use it and the battery has crapped out. I like the manual calipers for general use. No battery to crap out.

 

I have an old set of REAL vernier calipers (no dial-a "vernier" scale) I inherited from my uncle, a Mitutoyo dial caliper at work that's survived two floods and a cheap digital caliper I got as a gift from my brother. They all work fine for anything you'd use a caliper for, but the digital is easier for my old eyes to read. If you need better accuracy, then micrometers are the way to go.


Batteries can be cheaply purchased on eBay. I bought 50 for less than $10.