Spurtar Vernier Caliper Measuring Tool 6", 0-6Inch/0-150mm Manual Non Digital Calipers, 0.001"/0.02mm High Precision Durable Micrometer

Seems to be made of good material, easy to read, and with a little mineral oil for lubrication and it should slide smoothly. The carrying case it came in was also nice.

Very impressed when I first open up the box. Great for the garage and fabrication of parts for cars. Works very well and for the price it is a great value.

Pros: (1) Mine lines up on 0 pretty well when fully closed.(2) The plastic case seems fairly protective. (3) The slide feels snug, not sloppy.((4) It came with a decent, separate, 6 inch / 150 mm metal ruler.)|||Cons: (1) The ad says "smooth slide with no grittiness" but the slider movement on the caliper I received definitely feels somewhat gritty. Lubrication helped a little bit.(2) The Inch scale does NOT look like the scale in the ad pictures. The whole-inch numbers on the caliper I received in June 2024 are unnecessarily small & hard to find. I improved the situation a lot by putting a red dot (with an Extra Fine Point Sharpie) above each whole inch number. (See my picture.)(3) If the printed markings are etched, they are not very deep, so the ink may wear off prematurely.(4) The "user manual" is a single 7x10 inch piece of paper with some helpful info, but their example for reading the metric vernier was poor (not helpful). Their online metric vernier example is much better than their printed one.|||Notes about certain other reviewer complaints that I feel might be unjustified -(1) Some reviewers complained that this caliper can't be stainless steel because it is attracted to magnets "and stainless steel is not magnetic". However, there are over 50 "standard" formulas for stainless steel and some types (hardened martensitic stainless steel for example) are indeed attracted to magnets. (Unfortunately, the ad doesn't specify the type of stainless these are, it only says "hardened stainless steel".) These calipers may or may not resist rust well, but that ability cannot be judged strictly by how well they stick to magnets.(2) Some reviewers complained that the marks on the inch rule are at 0.025ths (40ths) of an inch instead of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc. If you want fractions and you don't need to be more precise than 16ths, you should get a different caliper. However, many metal workers work to decimal inch specs, so this scale is right for them. Plus, getting a precise value from fractional inch vernier calipers involves nuisance frational math because you have to add x/y (from the bar) to z/128 (from the vernier) where y can be 2, 4, 8, or 16. Then you'll probably want to try to reduce the resulting fraction to have a smaller denominator (if you can).(For example, you might read 5/16 + 6/128. (That's 5/16 from the bar + 6/128 from the vernier.) Some math: 128/16=8, so multiply 5/16 by 8/8 to get 40/128. 40/128 + 6/128 = 46/128 = 23/64.)Decimals are MUCH easier to work with than fractions with different denominators are. (E.g. you might read 3 x 0.025 + 0.008 = 0.075 + 0.008 = 0.083.) If you must convert from a decimal inches caliper to fractions, using a chart is pretty easy (you just have the nuisance of keeping the chart close by).

Most of the other reviewers complains about various issues with this caliper: accuracy, oily, possibility of rust, roughness of edges. All right complains, but they need to be put in perspective. If you are considering the purchase of a vernier caliper you know at least something about mechanics. How many parts made such a device? Building that many, with highest quality material, to the highest possible standard for accuracy (hence sharp) on one side of the part (the "internal") and for user friendly (hence smooth) on the other side (the "external") cannot be made cheap. All manufacturing procedures have tradeoffs. So for the price, this is an excellent product. Is it accurate enough? Yes, mine is accurate to the level of the vernier scale, however a tiny bit wobbly at that level, hence one less star in accuracy. Easier to read. Is it oily? Yes, but for most use that's minor problem. Is it rusty? No, but the manual says that if you clean the oil completely it might become so. Is it smooth? No, it's a bit sharp. If I had time to spare and would use it more often than I do, I'd try to smooth it with a file. But for occasional use it's totally usable. At this price, it totally deserves five stars. Granted, if you compare it with a similar one costing 10x its price, it would barely get two stars, perhaps it'd get even just one. But that would be an unfair comparison, like a race between an accomplished world champion and a random kid in middle school.

very solid product