Aldi,s Digital Caliper $9.99

[Shooter6br]

If you are near an Aldi's Food market you might like this101303

[Catshooter]

I don't know Shooter, you generally get what you pay for. Especially in tools.

But maybe it's just me.


Cat

[6bg6ga]

I'm sure they are fine. I have used plastic calipers and they measured exactly the same as a pair of Brown and Sharp. For what we are doing they are a cost effective tool. Buy em.

[AbitNutz]

It's an odd thing with digital stuff. With mechanical tools, the more expensive tool is usually more accurate and precise as well as being able to stand up to more abuse. With digital, the accuracy is pretty much the same, cheap or expensive. That's just the way a computer works. The problem with cheap digital tools is life span. They just don't live very long...they're fragile. The expensive part of making digital tools is making them robust.

[6bg6ga]

Granted they won't survive the 6' drop test but neither will anything else. Bottom line as I mentioned its cheap and super accuracy simply isn't needed in what we are doing here. Don't need a $300 tool to measure OAL

[Swede44mag]

Buy it and let us know how long it stands up and how accurate it is.

[6bg6ga]

Ok, I bought one today. It measures as good as my Mitutoyo dial calipers do which measure the same as my Starret does. I could keep compairing the different calipers I have which all read the same.

The Aldi has a two year warranty and is a stainless hardened piece. Its not extremely smooth like the higher priced digital calipers are but for something to use on the bench that you don't have to worry about getting dirt in the rack it works very well. With the measurements I have made with it I am satisfied I can rely on it.

[JASON4X4]

Can't beat the cheap ones I have a $10 didgital 6"one from harbor freight and it readers spot on

[bangerjim]

China cranks these out like poo thru a Christmas goose. I have several HF versions (4-12") and they serve their purpose in the field. For the instrument shop, I use name brand units. But the El-Cheeeepo ones are pretty darned accurate for the price!

Never heard of a food store (??) selling tools like that!!!!!!!

banger

[MtGun44]

It is pretty weird when a food store is selling digital calipers.

Where will they show up next? At the drive thru window at Taco Bell?

Bill

[6bg6ga]

It is pretty weird when a food store is selling digital calipers.

Where will they show up next? At the drive thru window at Taco Bell?

Bill

Who cares? The point is they are a bargin for those not wishing to spend a lot of money and still want something capable of reading accurately. I felt the same way 40+ years ago when I was given my first pair of Mitutoyo claipers instead of the usual Starret. My world went upside down but I dealt with it.

[farmallcrew]

Dropped the good German dial calipers off the bench. I think the neighbors 1/2 mile down the road heard me, talking like a sailor. Next trip to harbor freight, bought 2 of the digital calipers. Figuring one would break. Well first one still holds true and works. So these ones from Aldi's should be pretty decent too. We have an aldi's around here, but i don't want 3 sets of digital calipers. Buttttttt i could have them in different tool boxes. hmmmmmm time to get off the mountain and head into town.

[sidecarmike]

I have a Harbor Freight one that I've had for nearly ten years now. I also have a set of Starrett micrometers from my engine building days. They each read the same.

[6bg6ga]

I have a Harbor Freight one that I've had for nearly ten years now. I also have a set of Starrett micrometers from my engine building days. They each read the same.

I learned a lesson a long time ago as a guy behind the service counter pulled out a pair of plastic calipers to measure something. I immediately thought the $4 pladtic calipers wouldn't be capable of a true measurement but when I drew out my Mits and measured the same part and got the same measurement it made a believer out of me. I bought the Aldi set for the work bench in the garage because I always had to figure out the last place I used the Mits.


Maybe what it boils down to is name and cost equates to quality.

[smokeywolf]

Dad always said, "Buy the best that you can afford." If those are the best you can afford, those are the ones you should buy.

smokeywolf

[Bored1]

Looks an awful lot like a set I have from Harbor Freight.

[Skipper]

http://www.amazon.com/Hornady-50080-Digital-Caliper/dp/B001KZ3NOO/ref=lp_2476630011_1_5/176-3699150-4988069?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1396801720&sr=1-5

101566

[David2011]

My only gripe about the digital calipers is battery life. I've read time and time again how calipers don't give accurate measurements and a micrometer is the only way to get accurate measurements. The reality is that the Mitutoyo and Starrett micrometers seem to give the same answer as two different dial calipers and a HF digital. The micrometers do have a vernier to read to 1/10,000th but I rarely need that level of precision. OTOH, the half-a-thousandth readout on digitals inspires no confidence since it's still +/- .0005 from the center of the .001 number. I like a digital for OAL and they're plenty accurate for that.

David

[6bg6ga]

Dad always said, "Buy the best that you can afford." If those are the best you can afford, those are the ones you should buy.

smokeywolf

When you don't need the very best then you purchase what will work that is cost effective and put the remainder of the money into the next toy you need.

[smokeywolf]

When you don't need the very best then you purchase what will work that is cost effective and put the remainder of the money into the next toy you need.

It was not my meaning that all available money should be spent on one tool. Projects must be budgeted, to allow for all tools and supplies for that project and indeed for future projects.
It is a given that, if you have a limited amount of money to accomplish a project and you need a number of tools and supplies, it is just common sense that if you spend all available money on one tool, you have spent more than you could afford.

smokeywolf

[Walter Laich]

It is pretty weird when a food store is selling digital calipers.

Where will they show up next? At the drive thru window at Taco Bell?

Bill

Kroger's grocery stores in Texas now have a clothing section. Just opened this week.

[sidecarmike]

Kroger's grocery stores in Texas now have a clothing section. Just opened this week.

Makes sense. Menards Lumber up here sells groceries, dishwashers, and gun safes. :lol:

[dbosman]

Aldi's does what a lot of the very large warehouse stores do.
They call a manufacturer and tell them they will have a trailer in the area on such and such a date. What can the manufacturer fill it with that they can sell at warehouse prices?
The manufactures usually have something taking up space so they cut a deal.

The "store" divvies up the goods to their retail outlets. Customers are thrilled to get a one off deal. Warehouse store gets happy customers. Truck driver gets paid. Manufacturer gets a corner cleared out.

Aldi's and Trader Joe's are the same ownership, by the way. If anyone cares.

[dbosman]

Aldi's does what a lot of the very large warehouse stores do.
They call a manufacturer and tell them they will have a trailer in the area on such and such a date. What can the manufacturer fill it with that they can sell at warehouse prices?
The manufactures usually have something taking up space so they cut a deal.

The "store" divvies up the goods to their retail outlets. Customers are thrilled to get a one off deal. Warehouse store gets happy customers. Truck driver gets paid. Manufacturer gets a corner cleared out.

Aldi's in this area had a storage box/shelve combo at a cost below the cost of the wood.

Aldi's and Trader Joe's are the same ownership, by the way. If anyone cares.

[45-70bpcr]

I love Aldi's. You never know what will show up in their stores. I bought a pair of these last week for my bench. They give the same measurements my Mitoya's do so far. For $10 no shipping I am very happy.


China cranks these out like poo thru a Christmas goose. I have several HF versions (4-12") and they serve their purpose in the field. For the instrument shop, I use name brand units. But the El-Cheeeepo ones are pretty darned accurate for the price!

Never heard of a food store (??) selling tools like that!!!!!!!

banger

[Big Rack]

In the "biz" if your are measuring to .010 you need an accuracy of .001 but you see an awful let of calipers being used for .001. Once you get used to a pair I think you can trust to a couple of thous.
With any caliper always wipe the jaws clean and verify zero, especially digital if you don't some day you will be saying "Oh ****".
Digital calipers are great to measure hole to hole or screw to screw distance just measure one hole or bolt then zero you can then directly measure the spacing. In a pinch you can use them as a simple calculator too.

[Bonz]

I gave up on digital calipers after I wasted over $100 on them. Back to the mechanical dial calipers, just more sturdy and reliable. The digital models are just way too sensitive, especially when they get dropped on a concrete floor...

[6bg6ga]

I gave up on digital calipers after I wasted over $100 on them. Back to the mechanical dial calipers, just more sturdy and reliable. The digital models are just way too sensitive, especially when they get dropped on a concrete floor...

You must not have played with the digital calipers when they first came out. When they were first proto if you closed them too fast they got out of whack and would not zero when closed and if opened too quickly the reading would end up wrong.

As with any tool they aren't meant to be dropped on the floor as none will survive the drop test.