Review on IGaging ABSOLUTE Digital Electronic Caliper by Tony Addis

This is the most used tool on my workbench. I keep it next to my pencil and notepad and have used it to measure, adjust and reverse engineer all sorts of things (toys, electronics, 3D printed parts, replacement parts, etc.). I definitely get my money's worth and it's 10 times better than the ruler (which I also have). The absolute origin function is also great. This means I don't have to zero the caliper every time I use it. I had to reset my absolute zero when I first took it out of the box, but it has since stayed at true zero even after hundreds of measurements. I'm deducting a star because, despite their usefulness and accuracy, calipers aren't very accurate. This is very important for a measuring device! As you may recall from Accuracy vs. Accuracy, accuracy hits the mark, and accuracy always hits the same spot. I'm having trouble reproducing measurements with this caliper depending on how I'm holding the part, how I'm holding the caliper, whether I'm covering the sensors with a gear or shifting the sensors, whether I'm using the tips or the inside of the sensors, etc ! The tool is accurate to within 0.02mm, but with repeated measurements I often have deviations of around +/- 0.1mm, which appears to be caused by the deflection/tolerance between the probe and slide, or the deflection of the metal itself. Regardless, I've still gotten plenty of use out of it and overall measurement accuracy is pretty good (when measuring and printing or cutting parts to fit as they fit). In terms of price and utility, however, this caliper was without a doubt the most worthwhile purchase for my workbench. I would buy it again in a heartbeat, but if I was going to be serious about using it I'd invest in a more accurate one. A little note about USB: This caliper has a USB function. I didn't buy this caliper because of the USB feature, but I later realized that the USB connection cable (sold separately) costs over $100! Keep this in mind if USB functionality is important to you.