Mastercraft 6" Digital Calipers on Sale

I have those all over the house and office, they are definitely ok for the price.

I have to say that the ip67 mututoyo absolutes are better though.

Now, is it worth it to you to get +- .0005 over +-.001 for 200$ more? You decide.

The more you pay, the better you get, but a bit better gets more and more costly the better you go. You have to decide when to stop.
 
I found mine to be very rough. I was going to toss them in the garbarge, but I figured if I was going to toss them, might as well try and fix them first. So I took them apart, cleaning them out with a toothbrush and solvent. You would be amazed at how much garbage the manufacturer left inside the teeth. No wonder it was rough. A good clean and a drop of 3-in-1 and it is buttery smooth and consistent.
 
Dial caliper has dual metric/inch version too. I got mine for about $45 a year ago and very happy with it.

BCRider said:
I have a hobby machine shop and use calipers a lot. I bought a couple of digital ones over the years and soon gave up on them. I keep them around for metric measuring but I don't keep the battery in them. The issue with the cheap ones is that even when they are "off" they really aren't off. They just go into a lower power mode. But the low power mode on the cheapies is pretty bad. A battery only last a few months at best.

So I went back to my beloved dial calipers. With a little attention to keep them clean and not handle them roughly they have stayed consistently accurate to within a half thou for years now. And I don't need to buy batteries and swap them all the time.

You'll pay a bit more for a dial caliper but if you only use them occasionally and are not good at buying batteries frequently then I'd suggest you consider them over the digital style.

With a bit of searching around you should be able to find the dial style for around $30 to $35 these days.
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When the batteries do die go to your local dollar store and grab a laser pointer for two bucks and you get three batteries. Can't beat that price for batteries.
 
Decent but very poor on battery life regardless of any brand you put. Remove the battery after every use or you will replace it frequently. Not very accurate unless you do tool and die wherein accuracy to a 0.001 matters, it will do the job. I have one and seldom use it. I prefer the cheaper slide rule version. Dial is more accurate.

Magellann said:
I just noticed that Canadian Tire has their 6" digital calipers on sale for $13.00, regularly $43.00 Not a bad deal if you need a set, April 8 to 14th
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grumpyguy said:
When the batteries do die go to your local dollar store and grab a laser pointer for two bucks and you get three batteries. Can't beat that price for batteries.
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That gets you cheap china batteries. I got 50 for 2$ shipped from ebay. They actually suck and dont last.
Go to walmart and buy brand name batteries that will last a long time and work well.
 
ambishooter said:
Decent but very poor on battery life regardless of any brand you put. Remove the battery after every use or you will replace it frequently. Not very accurate unless you do tool and die wherein accuracy to a 0.001 matters, it will do the job. I have one and seldom use it. I prefer the cheaper slide rule version. Dial is more accurate.
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I know there are better ones out there, I have Mitutoyo's, Starret dial calipers, and a set of some others I can't remember the name of anymore. Ive compared mine and they all read within 1-2 thou. My brother has the Mastercraft calipers and they read the same when we compared them. For $13.00 you can't go wrong, even if you do have to remove the batteries on some of them.
 
Kryogen said:
That gets you cheap china batteries. I got 50 for 2$ shipped from ebay. They actually suck and dont last.
Go to walmart and buy brand name batteries that will last a long time and work well.
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Bought my last ones there (Walmart) and they have lasted a long while had some Chinese that leaked ..
 
I own a Mastercraft digital caliper and I like it. It may not be the best quality but it meets my demands. One thing I do is keep a sample round, without primer or powder, as a gauge. It came from a run of loads that fed and functioned well. It is mic'd and I use that measure to check my reloads. If I have to change dies or something, I always check against my master sample. I keep the sample round wrapped in electrical tape so I know at a glance which one it is, and never accidentally put it in with finished rounds. My 2 cents........
 
I bought a second because of the sale price. My first one is great! The most recent one i bought i exchanged for another. It was .005 out on most measurements and when opening the calier for measurements it felt gritty and would only open 3" wide. The one i got in exchange was of better quality and accurate as the first.
 
Dyspnea said:
I bought a second because of the sale price. My first one is great! The most recent one i bought i exchanged for another. It was .005 out on most measurements and when opening the calier for measurements it felt gritty and would only open 3" wide. The one i got in exchange was of better quality and accurate as the first.
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Eh.
 
Generally I stray from Crappy Tire's cheap junk, but the positive feedback I've seen here on CGN about these calipers finally persuaded me to pick one up. I also bought some cheap junk..

$74 for a 143 piece socket set. Even if the rachets are junk, the attachments make it a good deal.

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Snakehunter said:
I own a Mastercraft digital caliper and I like it. It may not be the best quality but it meets my demands. One thing I do is keep a sample round, without primer or powder, as a gauge. It came from a run of loads that fed and functioned well. It is mic'd and I use that measure to check my reloads. If I have to change dies or something, I always check against my master sample. I keep the sample round wrapped in electrical tape so I know at a glance which one it is, and never accidentally put it in with finished rounds. My 2 cents........
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Do you use case gauges as well?
 
Bought a pair. Measurements randomly jump ahead by 2 hundredths of an inch and therefore give offset measurements and require constant zeroing. Not 100% sure what CT refund policy is, but from their website it looks like I'm going to have to go through the mastercraft for a replacement. Not worth my time for $13.

No bueno.
 
I bought one last Dec when they were on sale. I found that it would regularly jump the measurement by 5mm. I returned it and got full refund with zero hassle. CT is really good for that. I bough one at Home depot at full price. More expensive but less frustrating.
 
####ty batteries (or inconsistent power and/or temperatures) make for ####ty measurements (or, depending on belief systems, poltergeists.) This follows the standard garbage in = garbage out principal.

Since I'm not rich enough to buy cheap ####, I buy quality batteries. Electronics of all sorts leak power, battery death while off is a concern to be addressed. Nothing worse than having a battery leak in your tool, or tell you that you the COAL of a .308 is 48".

However, in terms of reloading, has anyone ever found that a digital caliper to be unsuitable?
 
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