Digital Calipers that don't eat batteries

[slow-poke]

I want to mount a digital caliper to the tail stock of my lathe to make it easy to zero and measure depth when drilling. So I would like to purchase an economical digital caliper, Mitutoyo seems overkill, but I absolutely don't want one that requires a new battery all the time (the battery in my Mitutoyo's seems to last forever) and all the cheapo calipers I have are basically useless because the battery is dead every other time you go to use them.

Suggestions?

 

[great white]

Hit and miss. I've got some no name verniers that last at least a year, if not more.

Another option might be to "break in to" the caliper where the battery goes and solder in the leads from an appropriate voltage wall adapter (might be hard to find a 1.5v adapter though).

As long as the house has power, so will the vernier....

 

[Aukai]

The Mitutoyo digimatic that came with my mill quill DRO (Oct 21)has been left on for days several times, and is still on the first battery. I'm sure I just cursed myself....

 

[slow-poke]

From what I find via google, the vast majority of made in China calipers eat batteries about 10-20x faster than the Mitutoyo, so I ordered what must be a clone Digimatic ($46 CDN free shipping) and will use that, I have another clone and the batteries seem to last about a year even with the LR44 batteries, time will tell.

 

[davidpbest]

Be careful with "great deals" on Mitutoyo calipers. They are the only brand I buy. Every other brand, including the so-called "long battery life" Aventor from Shars simply do not compare - not only on battery life, but quality of materials and construction. Watch this video:

 

[Nutfarmer]

I must have been lucky. The Harbor Freight one I have only uses a battery a year. I know it is HF , but anything needing a close measurement I use a mic for.

 

[pdentrem]

Actual real Mitutoyo are the only ones that the cell will last for a very long time.

 

[Jason812]

I used Mitutoyo solar powered calipers.

My Cheap Tailstock DRO

I had a solar powered Mitutoyo 6" caliper that had jacked up inside anvils. I don't remember where exactly they came from but were free. I must be fat and cause a solar eclipse because every time I tried to use them, I blocked the light and they would go blank. So I stole other ideas and put...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[mksj]

Igaging seems to last a long time, I have their Absolute calipers and the battery usually lasts 1-2 years, I also used one of their remote reading ones on my tailstock and batteries lasted about 4-6 months.

AccuMarking Digital Wheel Marking Gauge + Depth Ga

Our Digital 3-in-1 Marking Gauge does everything a traditional marking gauge does and more. As a digital gauge, it does it all with an accuracy of 1/1000th of an inch.

www.igagingstore.com

6'' Absolute Digital Readout DRO Stainless Steel Su

iGaging's Absolute Origin DRO uses HIGH ACCURACY ABSOLUTE memory technology. It keeps track of its origin position once set. Whenever the DRO turned on, the easy-view super large LCD displays the actual sensor position ready to start measuring. It's not n

www.igagingstore.com

 

[davidpbest]

I'm on the sixth (6th) year with the Mitutoyo battery and it's still going strong: