Why bother with MyCal Lite caliper at +/- 0.005"?

greif1 · Oct 1, 2014

I have wondered for some time why Mitutoyo bothers to sell a MyCal Lite 6" Digital caliper (0.001' resolution) ($89.99 sale price) which is accurate to +/- 0.005" when for
only a bit more ($118.99) you can get the regular MyCal 6", accurate to +/-0.001".

It just doesn't make sense to me that they would make such a caliper. Anybody know why?

kustomizingkid · Oct 1, 2014

Never met a cheap sucker before?

moonlight machine · Oct 1, 2014

Ever met a sucker before? One born every day.

Atomkinder · Oct 1, 2014

Because people keep buying them.

greif1 · Oct 1, 2014

Atomkinder said:
Because people keep buying them.

Probably by mistake!

Gordon B. Clarke · Oct 1, 2014

greif1 said:
I have wondered for some time why Mitutoyo bothers to sell a MyCal Lite 6" Digital caliper (0.001' resolution) ($89.99 sale price) which is accurate to +/- 0.005" when for
only a bit more ($118.99) you can get the regular MyCal 6", accurate to +/-0.001".

It just doesn't make sense to me that they would make such a caliper. Anybody know why?

I'm just guessing but it looks as if the Mitutoyo MyCal Lite 6" Digital caliper is made for hobbyists more than machine shops.

http://www.mitutoyo.com/pdf/MyCalLite1856.pdf

"MyCal Lite offers accuracy that is sufficient for most measuring applications" and "MyCal Lite is easy-to-use and ideal for home and hobbies" almost says it all.

I've got a feeling that Mitutpyo has realized that there is a big market out there for others than machinists and who don't feel the need for the same accuracy as "we" do. For what it can do I think Mitutoyo is way overpricing their caliper. Somebody's making big bucks on that.

On the subject of calipers and those that feel "uncomfortable" with the accuracy of a digital caliper how many actually have a good digital caliper newer than 5 years old?

The real Leigh · Oct 1, 2014

Gordon B. Clarke said:
I've got a feeling that Mitutpyo has realized that there is a big market out there for others than machinists and who don't feel the need for the same accuracy as "we" do.

There is a very fundamental law of marketing here in the USA:

Hobbyists will spend ridiculous amounts of money to use the same brand that the professionals use, in any discipline.

That's the whole reason professional athletes get paid big bucks to wear particular shoes or whatever.

Back when Ehrenreich Photo-Optical was the distributor for Nikon cameras, they built up a huge market share by catering to pros.
They lent equipment, had fast turn-around repairs with loaners, FedExed replacement gear to the pros, etc.
As a consequence, most pros used Nikon gear, and EPO carved out a huge market share for Nikon among non-professional photographers.

- Leigh

Gordon B. Clarke · Oct 1, 2014

The real Leigh said:
There is a very fundamental law of marketing here in the USA:

Hobbyists will spend ridiculous amounts of money to use the same brand that the professionals use, in any discipline.

That's the whole reason professional athletes get paid big bucks to wear particular shoes or whatever.

Back when Ehrenreich Photo-Optical was the distributor for Nikon cameras, they built up a huge market share by catering to pros.
They lent equipment, had fast turn-around repairs with loaners, FedExed replacement gear to the pros, etc.
As a consequence, most pros used Nikon gear, and EPO carved out a huge market share for Nikon among non-professional photographers.

- Leigh

That's very true in other countries too including the country I live in. In China someone with money (and there seem to be more and more of them every day) would rather own "western" things even if they could have something Chinese that was just as good.

It's a fallacy that China can't make quality. The problem is that so many in other countries just want "cheap" so that's the really big market to manufacture for.

Walmart would seem to be a good American example of this.

Walmart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've been in a few while in the USA and they looked OK to me as far as what they had on sale is concerned and their prices. We (my wife and I) were only looking for everyday items and there was to us very much to choose between. Now if I was looking for high quality and the price was of little consequence it wouldn't be a Walmart I shopped in.

mach2 · Oct 1, 2014

We have three Walmart in our community. Stopped buying meat and produce there. Not sure where they are getting it but most has no taste and rots fast. Most of Walmart merchandise looks OK on the shelf but in the long run it costs more because it doesn't last. Their packaging is deceiving. Slightly smaller packages than their competitors. Cost the same but looks cheaper. If you shop there carefully some things are good deals. They are always open. No machine tooling. Next time I go there I'll see if they sell calipers. :rolleyes5:

We keep buying from them so they keep selling the way they do.

greenbuggy · Oct 1, 2014

I'm one of those idiots....sigh.

I bought one NIB from eBay for considerably less than $89, figuring it couldn't be *that* bad since I've got some other mitutoyo measuring equipment and its all very nice. This one is terrible. Its repeatability is considerably worse than my $18 harbor freight no-name digital caliper. I don't trust it within an eighth of an inch, nevermind .0005. It can't zero out fully closed and repeat within .0010. I've thought about throwing it in the garbage, but I keep it to remind me to not be a cheapass and trust the "consumer grade" version of professional grade equipment.

The real Leigh · Oct 1, 2014

Gordon B. Clarke said:
It's a fallacy that China can't make quality.

I've never claimed that they're unable to make quality goods. Their military and space programs are good counter-examples.

I contend that they choose not to make quality goods for the general market because it runs counter to their employment strategy.

- Leigh

Gordon B. Clarke · Oct 2, 2014

The real Leigh said:
I've never claimed that they're unable to make quality goods. Their military and space programs are good counter-examples.

I contend that they choose not to make quality goods for the general market because it runs counter to their employment strategy.

- Leigh

I've never claimed that you claimed

What I was referring to are those that use derogatory statements about Chinese products off-hand. I've seen and experienced poor Chinese quality but also surprisingly high quality. The difference in price between the two has never been as much as would be expected but those that import quantities tend to have the policy of pressing prices so much that lowering the quality standard is usually the end result.

As in most countries when companies compete against each other "cheap" often wins. By the time the customer (as in user) realizes that "cheap" was expensive it's usually too late. THE REAL CULPRITS ARE THE BUYERS IN THE LARGE IMPORTING COMPANIES. Many of those buyers seem to know very little about what they are buying but know a great deal about buying cheap.

The Chinese I know take pride in what they make and do and I can't imagine any government in any country in the world encouraging "make cheap inferior goods" to bolster employment. In fact it's usually just the opposite as in "We've got to improve quality to compete".

Gordon

I wish more people, when looking at a low priced product would think "If it looks too good to be true then perhaps ................." :eek:

diyengineer253 · Oct 2, 2014

$30 bucks cheaper. Maybe + or - .005 is ok for them.

Eehotaka · Oct 2, 2014

Gordon B. Clarke said:
I've never claimed that you claimed What I was referring to are those that use derogatory statements about Chinese products off-hand. I've seen and experienced poor Chinese quality but also surprisingly high quality. The difference in price between the two has never been as much as would be expected but those that import quantities tend to have the policy of pressing prices so much that lowering the quality standard is usually the end result.

As in most countries when companies compete against each other "cheap" often wins. By the time the customer (as in user) realizes that "cheap" was expensive it's usually too late. THE REAL CULPRITS ARE THE BUYERS IN THE LARGE IMPORTING COMPANIES. Many of those buyers seem to know very little about what they are buying but know a great deal about buying cheap.

The Chinese I know take pride in what they make and do and I can't imagine any government in any country in the world encouraging "make cheap inferior goods" to bolster employment. In fact it's usually just the opposite as in "We've got to improve quality to compete".

Gordon

I wish more people, when looking at a low priced product would think "If it looks too good to be true then perhaps ................."

But then all of the "all you can eat" buffets in this country would go belly up. There's something about the idea of eating 3 pounds of shellfish for $7.99 that seems. Or sushi.

I've got a Mitutoyo digital caliper with 100 micron resolution next to the CMM, but it's only used for rough measurements for fixtures, sanity checks, etc. I can't imagine any other use for them, but I've seen people try (hence they're hidden away).

Gordon B. Clarke · Oct 2, 2014

Eehotaka said:
But then all of the "all you can eat" buffets in this country would go belly up. There's something about the idea of eating 3 pounds of shellfish for $7.99 that seems. Or sushi.

I've got a Mitutoyo digital caliper with 100 micron resolution next to the CMM, but it's only used for rough measurements for fixtures, sanity checks, etc. I can't imagine any other use for them, but I've seen people try (hence they're hidden away).

About time for YOUR sanity check methinks

Gordon B. Clarke · Oct 2, 2014

Eehotaka said:
But then all of the "all you can eat" buffets in this country would go belly up. There's something about the idea of eating 3 pounds of shellfish for $7.99 that seems. Or sushi.

I've got a Mitutoyo digital caliper with 100 micron resolution next to the CMM, but it's only used for rough measurements for fixtures, sanity checks, etc. I can't imagine any other use for them, but I've seen people try (hence they're hidden away).

This is advice you gave in another thread.

"If you want to keep with the quick and dirty method, get a torque wrench and "calibrate" the cordless drill in house."

You seem to know what you're doing. BTW that was sarcasm

Eehotaka · Oct 2, 2014

Gordon B. Clarke said:
This is advice you gave in another thread.

"If you want to keep with the quick and dirty method, get a torque wrench and "calibrate" the cordless drill in house."

You seem to know what you're doing. BTW that was sarcasm

Surprisingly, I make do.

When a complex measurement is showing a difference from nominal of about 0.5, I don't see the need to break out anything more than 0.1 resolution to verify.

Gordon B. Clarke · Oct 2, 2014

Eehotaka said:
Surprisingly, I make do.

When a complex measurement is showing a difference from nominal of about 0.5, I don't see the need to break out anything more than 0.1 resolution to verify.

I agree but I'm also wondering what a "complex measurement" is to you. I'm also wondering what "shows a difference" means too unless you have a part that you know to be correct to compare it to.

Why bother with MyCal Lite caliper at +/- 0.005"?

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