Looking for an outside mic set

I've used both Starrett and Mitutoyo mikes a fair bit at work and I much prefer Mitutoyo . Having said that, my 0-6" and 0-100mm sets are both Polish VIS. It's much nicer to use the right size mike instead of changing the anvil like I have to do with my 6-12" Lufkin. After cleaning and adjusting them, the VIS ones are good, they zero. They are friction thimbles instead of the more common ratchet. Nicer in use but a real pain to adjust. Something about the price affected my choice, chuckle. My son uses the Chinese copies of the Swiss made ones, also with no complaints, in fact he's quite happy with them. At work ,he had to buy his own, so may be price had something to do with his choice, too.
 
My mics are Moore & Wright 0-25mm and Tesa 25-50 & 50-75 I love the Tesa.

I also have a Chinese set I picked up at an auction $50 (closure of an engineering firm) this set covers 0-200mm and were calibrated as they were used in their testing area. These mics although not as nice as the Tesa still do the job and are within spec.
 
Almost everything I see on eBay for precision instruments is way overpriced. It's turning in to the worst place you could possibly buy something like that. Buy from a dealer that has NOS, recertified, or lightly used units. Some of the local tool dealers have NOS sets for less than that seller wants for used in unknown condition.
As much as I like my grandfathers old Starrett stuff, in current mics, Mitutoyo is clearly the best available. Rare exceptions are some Swiss units that can be nicer at shocking prices.
I recently bought a 103-220, which is the 6" unit from that set above. It was new, still sealed in the plastic but the box had clearly been sitting around for a while. It was $90.
Do you actually need to go to 6" for your automotive work? I'm beginning to think I don't need anything over 5".
 
I also have the Polish 1-6" set, and have no complaints, other than I had to adjust them all to the standards provided, as it apparently wasn't done at the factory. I have Mitsu's in 1 and 2" that I've had for 50 yrs and they are nice, but then I got them free from Uncle Sam. As the others have said, It's hard to justify that kind of money when something at 1/4 the price will do exactly the same work. Mike
 
Opps, I made mistake, after reading this I went looking at my mike sets ,my Polish metric set only goes to 75mm , the 75mm to 100mm is a Kanon, a little known Japanese brand. I did recognize the name though, their verniers were fairly common then. It also had been on sale on a clearance shelf at a machine shop supplier . It is also labeled Bestool , isn't that one of Brown and Sharp names?

When Peter retired , he gave me his 1" mike, it's Starrett. In his memory , he passed a few years back, I try to use it, but it's small numbers have me grabbing my 1" Mitutoyo. It's much easier to read. Old Starretts are neat, but the new mikes are much easier to read.
 
The only difference between my Tesa and Chinese mics (the calibrated ones) is the clutch mechanism on the Tesa is far superior (even to the Moore & Wright), this gives much better repeatability, absolute accuracy is the same.

eBay is too over priced for most stuff. I go to a lot of machinery auctions. Machinery House has mics better priced than eBay. I would look around.
 
No mention of Scherr-Tumico? You can get these in outside mic sets of 0-4" or 0-6" NOS or issued, unused on fleabay for $100-150 a set. I have a 0-8" outside mic set and a 0-12" depth set for my inch sets. They are made in USA and on par with the other name brands on quality. It's nice stuff.
 
No mention of Scherr-Tumico? You can get these in outside mic sets of 0-4" or 0-6" NOS or issued, unused on fleabay for $100-150 a set. I have a 0-8" outside mic set and a 0-12" depth set for my inch sets. They are made in USA and on par with the other name brands on quality. It's nice stuff.

I have some of the nearly antique Scherr mics, before the merger with Tumico.
I absolutely love them
I also have a whole bunch of antique J.T. Slocumb mics that were purchased for pennies a piece, but required recalibration
i took the time to restore them to operating condition without disturbing too much of the original finish.
i left paint chips and scratches be as they were
i remove all the rust and recalibrate them with standards and then cross check the recalibrated mic against other standards,
just to make sure they are dead nuts.
it's not a quick process, but i have mics that will last another 100 years if maintained well

P.S.
i love Mitutoyo anything....
 
I will be getting these from Dave to add to my 2 Mits 0-1, and 1-2, NIB Starrett T436XRLs . 3-4 , 4-5 , and 5-6 inch. 1 more to go. Thank you all for the replies, a learning experience seeing what the good name brands are.

I also picked up a Compac 214GA DTI from Long Island Indicator.
 
Mike , here are the mics ready to roll ! Sprayed up , and in their pig mats . :) The other things are also ready . Dave .
 
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