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Rant: Starrett disappointment

PixMan

Diamond
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Location
Central MA USA
This has probably been beat to death already, but I need to vent.

I have bought many Starrett tools over the years for several reasons. Their hand tools such as punches, bench blocks, V-blocks, and others are really good and still as square, flat or round as the day I got them. Scales are so good you can split hairs and (now with a magnifier for me) gage between the 50ths and 100ths marks. My traditional micrometers are all still perfect, and if I drop one I can still get it repaired for a fair price and quick turnaround.

My disappointment lies in the electronic stuff. I have a No.723 depth gauge and a No.734 1" micrometer that are now expensive and unwieldy paperweights. They say they can't fix the failed electronics because their OE supplier no longer has parts. When they did work, these things chewed through bigger and more-expensive batteries 10x faster than the cheaper smaller ones in my totally reliable Mitutoyo Absolute calipers that I bought for less money.

I still have a working No.721 9" caliper and a No.723 6" caliper, but I know it's just a matter of time and luck before those expensive and bulkier tools are also junk.

This is so frustrating. I want to support a local (to me) tool maker. I want to have good, accurate and reliable measuring tools, keep a fiend employed, and contribute to the local economy. However, I can't waste another nickel on their electronic crap. They've offered me some small "trade-in" value, but its SO small that I could (but won't) buy the replacement tools from one of their distributors for less money *without* their trade-in offer.

I'll continue to buy anything non-electronic from them, but Starrett has destroyed any faith I may have had with them in anything that requires voltage.
 
I think anything electronic is prone to obsolescence. I would just avoid electronic instruments when possible. Starrett is not the only manufacturer to not be able to source electronic replacement parts. Their supplier probably moved offshore, or went out of business.
 
If you look at the way that they've been hemorraghing money, you realize that they've been under pressure to go with the low bidder and have made some partnerships that damaged their brand image.

I've the 733 and 797 (US made) versions of their 1" mike and their 6" caliper, and both work pretty good.

Jim
 
Back in the 80's I bought a USA made Starrett dial caliper. It was .008" off of the inside measurement jaws,which caused me to mess up a job. I sent it back for adjustment,and it came back only .004" off. Somehow I got hold of a vice president,and told him I could see it getting out of the factory once that way,but now that it had gotten special attention,I didn't see how it could still be off. He had me return the caliper,and sent another one.

I haven't had even a cheap Chinese caliper be that far off. Now,I always check calipers that I buy,and hone the inside jaws myself if necessary. AND I ONLY BUY OLD STARRETT TOOLS. Too bad. Starrett is/was my favorite tool brand.
 
You No.733 is one that'll eventually disappoint you. The No.797, maybe not.

Sure, all electronics age and are superseded by newer technology. The point is making something that'll LAST. My Mitutoyo's are older than the Starrett, and still work perfect. I haven't replaced the batteries in 4 years!

Know why a Starrett micrometer case has room for an extra battery...because it needs it.

IMG_0043_1.jpg


That "err04" showing is deceptive. In real life, it's scrolling at 15 cycles per second or so.
 
My disappointment lies in the electronic stuff. I have a No.723 depth gauge and a No.734 1" micrometer that are now expensive and unwieldy paperweights. They say they can't fix the failed electronics because their OE supplier no longer has parts.

One problem in the last few years has been the European requirement of RoHS compliance (elimination of lead and other less desirable metals from electronic components). The chip manufacturers needed to make their chips to RoHS compliant and in the process a lot of chips were discontinued as the manufacturer decided that it was not worth it to spend the money on lower volume parts. I know a number of engineers who spent a lot of time redesigning circuit boards to accept alternate available parts.

Charles
 
I understand that RoHS thing, and that's why I can't understand why Starrett hasn't re-engineered their tools for retrofit. Given the size of their housings for it, seems to me they should be able to do something. I think it would be a wise business decision, given the huge existing base of tools they've sold. Getting customers as ticked off as I am certainly isn't helping them.

So disgusted I am that I made my problem into an avatar!
 
I had an earlier set Starrett electronic calipers. They were inaccurate because of a bad connection at the far end of the scale (grounding to the frame). I never even knew that electronic scales could have error, but they did. I fixed that and they were accurate. Unfortunately the auto shutoff circuitry didn't work right, so they chewed through batteries. I ditched 'em.

I have a new set of Starrett electronic calipers at work. No trouble with them yet, but the overall quality doesn't seem any better than the ones I got at Harbor Fright for $20. About the only good thing I can say about them is the numbers are big.

My Mitutoyo electronic stuff is flawless, with perfect fit and finish. I've never seen Mitutoyo electronics fail in the couple decades I've been around it.

I only buy older Starrett tools and have several of their #120 series calipers. They never let me down.
 
I have both a 733 mic and a 721 caliper. Bought both slightly used from a local pawn shop. Within weeks of getting them they needed new batteries. New batteries lasted about 4-6 months and I rarely used these as I mainly only bought them for the metric function.

By the 3rd set of batteries (somewhere in the range of me having these about 18 months) BOTH the caliper and mic died. I call Starrett and send a boatload of displeasure their way and they quote me a price of repair that was just a few dollars less than buying a different brand, brand new. Fast forward about 7-8 years and I get the mic and caliper out and give starrett another call, this time they quote 50 on the caliper and 70 on the mic to fix. They are still sitting here.

As much as I hate to buy chicom stuff I have bought several of the Harbor Salvage digital calipers. They have outlasted the Starrett high dollar pieces of garbage and if you knarf one up take the battery out for a spare on your next set of HF calipers and pitch it. For roughing work the cheapo calipers are fine otherwise I use mics.

tim
 
At one time I had obtained a pair of starrette electronic dial calipers at work.
I gave them away because I litereally could not keep batteries working in them
for a week.

I think they might have been OK with a 6V lantern battery wired into them, but
what the heck...?

Jim
 
Sorry to say that I have to agree with those stating all of the bad things about Starrett tools. It seems that anything that they had introduced in the last half of the previous century was designed by committee with no attention given to ergonomics or maintainability.

For me this started with the mechanical dial calipers. Has anyone ever had one of those apart? They are a disaster with three parts to do the job of one and you need 2 men and a boy to have enough hands to reassemble. Especially when compared to the Mitutoyo version where you can reset the hand to 12 o'clock position and maintain backlash preload with less than 40 hours work or a trip to the factory.

Then we move on to any of the electronic marvels that eat batteries at a rapid rate, and much larger batteries to boot. And when they see that it is possible (eg. Kanon, Mitutoyo) to do it differently, would we consider modifying the design or maybe even a new model?? The results speak for themselves.
It is a sad day when the slogan "Buy American" is at odds with "Buy the Best" or Buy What Works"

Dave
 
Why does anyone need electronic calipers anyway?

Simple, they're instant-reading, and so very useful for relative measurements. Wat I mean by that is that you can "zero" them out on one measurement, then go to the next and see what the relative distance.

For example, lets say you need to know the center distance between two holes of the same diameter. Measure one, zero it out. Now take a measurement from the outer edge of one to the outer edge of the other, your reading is the center distance. No math required.
 
Why does anyone need electronic calipers anyway?

I'm might fond of a pair of old B&S dial calipers. Silky smooth operation.

However, it's three pairs of Mitutoyo digitals scattered around my shop that get used all the time. The instant US/metric conversions are a big plus. Having an SPC output is another plus in some production situations. It's also easy to do +/- measurements.

In my experience, Mitutoyo has always made far better electronics that Starrett. I have one of Starret's electronic mikes and the best thing I can say about it is it looks cool. Not a bad mic, but not the equal of the clunkier looking set of Mitutoyo's.
 
As I understand it, all the Starrett tools are made overseas now. If you want the battery to last take it out when you put it away for the day. It stays on all the time even when you turn it off.

I don't like or trust the electronic measuring instruments except the DRO's.
 
My very small collection of Starrett dig/elect stuff has been to the Starrett Repair shop way too often.

I called to find out what it was that I was doing wrong.

"Oh, you need to use Renata batteries."

:eek:
 
+1 on the mitutoyo digitals.

Why electronics?

It dispenses with the rack and pinion used in the dial type. Just that simple.

For a clean room environment, the regular dial type works fine, and honestly
I have a total jones for the starrette mechanical dial calipers, I just really
like the feel.

However they do NOT tolerate any kind of foreign object debris in the mechanism
at ALL.

I was a convert, in terms of reliability and practicallity, to the mit digitals when I
was working a night job, in a shop that machined tons of nylon per year.

Basically they bought one new pair of them per year. The pair on the lathes, went to
the milling machine. The pair on the milling machine moved to the table saw. The
pair on the table saw moved to the cutoff bandsaw (flood coolant).

There was a HUGE amount of fine nylon swarf everywhere, and this did not bother
the mitutoyos at all. We never replaced ANY batteries in them in the three or so
years I worked there, as far as I could tell. The ones at the end-of-life stations
always kept working, albeit at a somewhat reduced accuracy, which was BTW
simply from wear on the sliding mechanisms.

Rough and tumble environment, the electronic digitials work best.

Jim
 
I don't particularly mourn Starrett. I just see it as evolution in action.

I am with the earlier post in this thread in following the rule that the only Starrett tool I will buy is an old Starrett tool, and, ever since my new "Starrett" hacksaw literally burst apart from metal fatigue, that goes for mechanical as well as battery-fired tools.
 
I love my Starretts (all non-electronic) measuring and small hand tools.
I love my Mitutoyo electronic calipers and micrometers.

I also really like the Mahr 16-eX line of electronic calipers and Mahr digital indicators. You can find new or near new Mahr digital calipers on eBay for less than $40 (sometimes less than $20). They are made in China.

Starrett electronic calipers are made in China (the ones made in the past 4 years anyhow.)

-DU-
 








 
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