Lidl digital calipers

wishitwasallflat

Hi anyone know if these digital calipers are any good?

http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-249 ... l&id=42464

timothyw

They look just like the ones I have, can't recall if they came from Lidl or Aldi - anyway, they work fine.

crankycrank

There are a handful of different cheap Chinese made digital calipers that can be found at various discount sources and these appear to be one of them. Probably more accuracy than you'll ever need for a bike and a good choice for the home mechanic.
Not for building space ships but for 10 quid who cares? I've got a similar version and very happy with it. I check the accuracy occasionally against my 150 quid Mitutoyo micrometer and it's always consistent and accurate within it's parameters.

lincolndave

I bought some about 5 years ago, very good value for money

ayjaycee

I've had some from Aldi for a few years which look to be very similar. They work and give more or less the same readings as some quite old 'mechanical' ones (Stanley, I think) that I also have. They are also one of the few Aldi tools that I have bought and thought they were good enough to keep. Mind you, I'm no engineer and would only ever need anything that is good to the nearest mm. For the price, I don't see how you can go far wrong if the Lidl version is similar.

Sutton_Rider

Take a look at fleebay same thing, but cheaper.

tangled_metal

At £10 they're a bit expensive. For what they are you should only need to pay £7 tops. EBay or Amazon or other discount store.

Just depends on how you are with looking after tools. We have gone through enough £7 digital calipers to have afforded a mitutoyo. That brand is also used on site and we have some that are over 10years old. At work we have people who can break anything unless it's very well made. The only things that really last here include 3 mitutoyos and a metre long spanner (the persuader!).

cq20

I have the Lidl ones from a few years back. They are fine, robust enough for me and appear to be accurate but tbh I tend to use an old plastic set which I inherited (they were free with a 1961 edition of Prcatical Motoring, according to the instructions) and they are also robust and as accurate as I need and are, above all, easy and quick to use.

ugo.santalucia

It depends what you need them for... Engineering-wise they are total shite

If you only need them to see whether your rear dropouts are 130 or 135 mm, they will work just fine (when they do)

timothyw

I think that's a little harsh Ugo, mine is fine to the nearest tenth of a mm (or thereabouts) which for bikes is about as good as you need (working out what diameter a seatpost is....)

I can see a proper workshop would need something better, but for home use it's fine.

If anyone has a bike job that needs more precision than that I'd like to hear it....

ugo.santalucia

TimothyW wrote:

I think that's a little harsh Ugo, mine is fine to the nearest tenth of a mm (or thereabouts) which for bikes is about as good as you need (working out what diameter a seatpost is....)

I can see a proper workshop would need something better, but for home use it's fine.

If anyone has a bike job that needs more precision than that I'd like to hear it....

The only cheap caliper I bought (very much like Lidl's one) didn't even work. The fit between the sliding part and the fixed part had a bit of play. The display kept going crazy.

Basically they are rubbish, just like most bicycle tools made in China are rubbish... precision engineering is not what they do well in the far east, large scale manufacturing is... they are cheap, but in the long run they will round bolts and probably end up costing you more than buying a good one in the first place

flasher

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Basically they are rubbish, just like most bicycle tools made in China are rubbish... precision engineering is not what they do well in the far east, large scale manufacturing is... they are cheap, but in the long run they will round bolts and probably end up costing you more than buying a good one in the first place

They're digital calipers, hardly likely to round off bolts!

I bought some cheap ones off ebay and they're fine for the bike, doubt I'd use them for rocket manufacture.

Sutton_Rider

I got some a few weeks back for £4.89 inc post. They are fine for home / bike use. There's no play in them and they haven't rounded any bolts, but there again I don't use them as an adjustable spanner.

tangled_metal

You'll be very surprised what gets made using cheapo calipers like these. Believe it or not stuff that goes into your nice new car with its 5 year warranty was possibly measured using a cheapo caliper. Not everything but they are used trust me. It depends on level of accuracy needed. TBH anything more than tenth of a mm I'd not use a caliper of this type whether mitutoyo or cheapo generic anyway.

BTW do any of you calibrate your mitutoyo with slip gauges? If you're bothered by the accuracy of a working Lidl caliper then what do you check your caliper against? Ugo if your cheapo caliper wasn't working properly then why not return them for a refund. They might not last long but if they were no good from the beginning then return them. We have done that with a £4.50 calipers and £150+ mitutoyo.

ugo.santalucia

Tangled Metal wrote:

You'll be very surprised what gets made using cheapo calipers like these. Believe it or not stuff that goes into your nice new car with its 5 year warranty was possibly measured using a cheapo caliper. Not everything but they are used trust me. It depends on level of accuracy needed. TBH anything more than tenth of a mm I'd not use a caliper of this type whether mitutoyo or cheapo generic anyway.

BTW do any of you calibrate your mitutoyo with slip gauges? If you're bothered by the accuracy of a working Lidl caliper then what do you check your caliper against? Ugo if your cheapo caliper wasn't working properly then why not return them for a refund. They might not last long but if they were no good from the beginning then return them. We have done that with a £4.50 calipers and £150+ mitutoyo.

Bought it off ebay... initially it did work... stopped working within a few weeks... to send it back was almost the same price I paid for it... not worth the trouble

6wheels

Tangled Metal wrote:

You'll be very surprised what gets made using cheapo calipers like these. Believe it or not stuff that goes into your nice new car with its 5 year warranty was possibly measured using a cheapo caliper. Not everything but they are used trust me. It depends on level of accuracy needed. TBH anything more than tenth of a mm I'd not use a caliper of this type whether mitutoyo or cheapo generic anyway.

BTW do any of you calibrate your mitutoyo with slip gauges? If you're bothered by the accuracy of a working Lidl caliper then what do you check your caliper against? Ugo if your cheapo caliper wasn't working properly then why not return them for a refund. They might not last long but if they were no good from the beginning then return them. We have done that with a £4.50 calipers and £150+ mitutoyo.

Excellent post Tangled, not much to add to that apart from using some old bearings as slip gauges (they're ground within a few microns).

Something you won't get off Mitutoyo- three year warranty.

wishitwasallflat

Thanks to all for the helpful replies, I would need these really just for checking bearing sizes etc. so seems these would do (if they work of course ugo!) thanks again.