Been using a digital caliper. It quit today. I think I will go to the mechanical dial type. They were fine except when battery ran down.

What is your preference and why? Is one more accurate? Looks like I will spend about 40-50 bucks.

Terry

Have used the same dial calipers that I got used over 30 years ago. Still accurate and never will need a battery.

I've never used a pair of dial but I think if you buy Starrett of the like you'll be glad you did. I have a set of mituoyoto digital and I'm very happy with them.

Mine are digital and the only failure I've had is a broken screen.

Love my Starrett dial caliper. No screen to break, needs no battery.

I also have a Helios vermeer (I think) they have no dial. You must have exceptional eye sight to use them!

I like dial. I'd like to buy a nice set, but I know I would just drop it on something hard and you know how that goes.

I have a set of their solar powered and it does a great job with no batteries to replace. I will say that outside of getting an extra digit the Pittsburgh brand from Harbor Frieght always measures the same as the Mituoyoto, which surprised and impressed me.

I like digital, just easier for me to read quickly.

I've gone through about 4-5 calipers, and I get the basic $30-$50 standard dial one's. They work very well.

Thanks for the comments.

Best advice you will hear is to ask a machinist.

good advice

digital are quicker and having large numbers are easier to read

dial like digital will last for ever if taken care of.

really comes down to what one you like best, i prefer dial.


mitutoyo, brown and sharpe, are some of the better ones

Dial, and mitutoyo's are worth the extra $.

This ^^^
I've been using the same ones for 15 years every day for work.

I have a cheap dial set I keep out in the shop, in a drawer with sockets and end wrenches. I try to be careful but they are my beater set. I have a mitutoyo I use for loading, it's a dial set. I had a digital set, but liked the dial better so I got rid of the digitals. For some reason I just like to see the needle.

Digitals definitely have their place for certain jobs such as checking bolt circle diameters, bore depths from different datums, etc. But for basic reloading a good old dial is all you need. In my opinion mitutoyo, and Brown and Sharp are the best, but for reloading a cheaper brand (15$-$30 range) is all that is necessary.

John

While I agree on the durability of the dials, I have used both and prefer the digitalis. I can take a measurement like a cartridge headspace, zero the digital at that point, and then measure my sizing die to bump the shoulder back .00x and see that bump as -.00x.

Easier for my old eyes to read too. I just upgraded from a cheaper digi to a Mitutoyo.

I messed around with the old digital set that wasn't working. Put small piece of aluminum foil under battery for better connection and the blame thing works fine.

I am not cheap but I am tight so I will keep using these till they die for real!

Terry

Have both but use dial mostly.
TC

The "old school" dial calipers are made better than the digital unless you buy the expensive digitals, so they will be more accurate. And it's all about the accuracy!

Ask a machinist what he uses every day! It will probably be dial calipers.

Back in my machinist days I bought these Mitutoyo calipers back in Feb 81 and it has taken a licking and kept on ticking. This was before digital came along and they were $100 cheaper than Starrett. Making $7/hr at the time it made a difference but at my Dad's advice I bought Starrett No. 436 OD micrometers 0-6, inside and depth mics 0-12 inch. Indicators for close inspection work were Brown & Sharp. I did have a Mitutoyo 1 inch dial indicator and it was typically put in harms way to guard against inadvertent mill table movement especially up and down on a Bridgeport type mill. Which meant it got dirty, hit with chips or coolant spray.

When your in a situation where scrapping a part might mean losing your job then you buy quality. I never really trusted digital - I'm hard on tools and felt digital were likely to fail in dirty environment - but for occasional reloading purposes whether dial or digital or expensive or cheaper I recommend having a calibration standard by which you can check your tool for accuracy before use. I have a pair of precision ground 1, 2 3 blocks which I calibrate against as a check. My two cents.

Snap-On dial is what I use at work so I brought them home. Took the dial back to work. Decided I needed digital to be quicker at home and got some cheap stainless ones. I'm not sure the digital ones are very consistent or accurate. I'll be taking the digital set to work (I don't have to be perfect to 0.0005" there) and bringing the dial back home.