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I'm not a machinist or anything like that so I tried to make a video to help y'all out. I think the bad reviews were just duds, or maybe even use error, because mine seems to be very nice for 36 bucks. I don't know anything about dial calipers but my old digital ones were acting up and I got sick of having to zero it out before every measurement. I just didn't trust it enough not to. And so I got this and I think it's great. It's mechanical so the measurement can't possibly be off. Plus it just feels cooler.
I did loosen the two set screws on top to loosen the slide up a bit. It wasn't too tight but I like it better looser. I didn't notice any difference in the function. If I introduced a little slop I can't tell and don't really care. It's more than accurate enough.
As you can see in the video it lines up at zero very reliably. I measured a 16mm Miutoyo gauge block, the 2 inch side of a 123 block, and the side of a mini anvil thing. It can be hard to hold calipers perfectly. The slightest angle or twist can throw them off. And the phone in my face didn't help but I think I did it good enough for you to see it's accurate.
The jaws are perfectly flat and parallel. If I didn't know there were gears on the inside I would never guess. Can't feel or hear them. I bet the gears are pretty complex too. What else... The thumb wheel is very smooth.
Cons: The lens is plastic. I'm not sure how to take it apart. I'll have to watch a YouTube video.
All in all I'm pretty happy. I'm sure a professional should skip this one and pay 2 or 3 hundred but for me it's so cool to have such a cool looking and precise tool. I say these are way better than digitals. No fuss no hassle, just measure, easy as a ruler. I'll be sure to update if anything happens.
Thanks.
Update:
I've been playing with it a lot and have gotten comfortable with it. I took the battery out of my digital and stored it away. I compared them to the digital a lot measuring feeler gauges and various objects. It can measure one thousandth of an inch accurately. It measures cigarette cellophane at one thousandth. And held up the light, when open to .001 or even .0005 you can see rainbow colors come through and the slit is perfectly parallel. It's very well machined.
I watched YouTube videos how to disassemble and you simply pop the top bezel off. Then remove the hands and face and there are screws. I didn't go past popping the bezel off. There's a beveled white ring in there to hold the face down. It was just tight enough to be secure but not hard to remove. One of the videos was a Miutoyo and even it had a plastic lens so I guess that's normal! Shouldn't be too hard to find a replacement if it ever broke.
The depth measurement seems to be accurate.
Long review but I think it's worth it because having calipers this nice for $36 is just awesome. I take care of it like it cost $200.
Common sense tells you that a Miutoyo or starett would be nicer but to be perfectly honest idk how they could be. I'm sure the steel is polished better but other than that? Idk... Maybe they look and feel smoother, but it's obvious that modern manufacturing has gotten to a point where high quality accurate precise dial calipers are accessible to anyone. Pretty impressive. So I recommend giving these a try before you invest hundreds of dollars in big name brands with big reputations.
Thanks a lot.
