My trusty old Taiwanese dial caliper finally bit the dust. Or more accurately, the concrete. That's getting to be a problem now that my hands have turned into crows claws with age and abuse. So, one day I left an Aldi store with coffee, milk, onions, and a $14 dollar digital caliper... it should have been priced at $3.99, and I could've thrown it away and kept the batteries.
Whatever I buy should be at least a little shock resistant, if that's even possible. I'm now hot on the shopping trail and of course went straight to Google, where the only filter I checked was Stainless Steel, and on one page I checked Dial, on the other, I'm looking at Digital.
I like the dial calipers, but I'd have to buy two of them to switch between inch and metric. So I'll probably choose digital, and it would be nice if it had a hold feature for measuring in low visibility areas.
The big question is price range vs. quality. I don't need contractor grade, but I still want reasonable reliability that'll measure a piece the same every time. I assume stainless is the material of choice over aluminum. How much should I expect to pay for a tool that I use a lot, but won't rattle around in a toolbox or get wet, hot, or cold? Any preferred brand names?
We have a Grainger in town, as well as a couple of other professional tool suppliers. I'm leery of counterfeits and unusually good prices on eBay.
Thanks for any advice,
Rusty