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Counterfeit Mitutoyo calipers on epay

MZ

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
Location
Providence, RI
Just a heads up, I bought a new "Mitutoyo Absolute Digimatic 6" caliper (p/n 500-196-20)" on the Bay and it turned out to be a fairly sophisticated (but still obvious) counterfeit. Selling price was about 25% off going "sale" prices from MSC, Travers etc.; so I was seduced.

I could see watches, iphones, and other consumer goods; but machine shop tools? Come on.

Packaging, graphics and molded parts were dead copies of a real Japan-made article. Owners manual/sheet looked graphically OK but appeared to have been folded and jammed in the box by a child.

On close inspection the works and metal details were also pretty rough; crooked rivets, visible burrs and tool digs, a peeling and wrinkled scale cover. Battery cover was missing one retention tab.

They took care to include a blister-packed battery (stapled to the fake "inspection certificate") but it turned out another battery was already installed. Both batteries are Chinese brand, stamped LR44 (alkaline), whereas the card on the "new" one claims it's an SR44 (silver oxide) and Made In Japan.

As a caliper, it sort of worked. However the "Origin" button does not work as described in the manual, and in inch mode, it is missing the tenths digit (only three places show to right of decimal). If you open it fast and return to zero, it can lose count and gives a nonsense dimension (so it's "absolute" all right, absolute crap). Of course, under extreme duress a real Mitu can also lose the count sometimes; but it will always show Err to warn you.

Getting my money back, also encouraging ebay to clean house. I contacted Mitutoyo USA with the guy's address.

Caveat emptor,

mike
 
Just do a search guys, case is still pending and I want the guy run down. But given the elaborate investment, it's not just him; you can bet good money every "new" one offered on the bay way below "low market" (reckon about $120, give or take) is likewise a scam.

Visually the fake is good enough that it's hard to photo most of the flaws without better camera equipment. Here's the buggered scale cover and end stop, and the display with the unit set to inches (count your decimal places).

BTW the display as shown was in so-called "absolute" mode, after first initializing to zero, then quickly sliding the jaws open to ~5" and closed again. You'd do better by counting off the width of your knuckle.

DSC_0028.jpgDSC_0030.jpg

Got a picture of it?
 
Interesting, and it does have a few little differences with the 6" mits I'm holding now.
I wonder if they're factory rejects?

any pic of the label on the back ?
 
Didn't think any came out, but this one kinda shows the sketchy/jaggy printing. Not so obvious but there's also black goo oozing
out under the label a couple places. Notice also the scratches, this is untouched directly from the heat-sealed pouch it arrived in.

Forgot to add, the buttons are off color too. Refurb or factory second also wouldn't show the wrong number of digits, different
button functions, or visible machine marks/burrs (read above).

any pic of the label on the back ?
 

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That is a pretty crappy label indeed.

I wonder how much of a market for counterfeit Mitutoyo's there can be to go to such lengths to make a fake, they must really be running out of ideas of what to copy.
 
That is a pretty crappy label indeed.

I wonder how much of a market for counterfeit Mitutoyo's there can be to go to such lengths to make a fake, they must really be running out of ideas of what to copy.
Well, they counterfeit Crosby shackles, this looks like a bigger margin item.
 
On that label, "Patented" is abbreviated "PAt." and the lower case "G" doesn't descend. The Japanese got Western typography down ages ago, the Chinese still haven't. Seems like an unusual item to counterfeit. Wouldn't you assume somebody using a precision measuring tool tends to look closely at things?
 
Wow, I wonder if my coworker who buys EVERYTHING on there will show up with a pair of these the first day of the new year. There was some knock off comparisons (Walbro fuel pumps and HKS Blow Off Valves) on an automotive forum that I am on a few years ago. With the counterfeits next to the real McCoys, you couldn't tell which was which unless you really looked. Even the instructions were perfect facsimiles. They are getting better at it everyday, it just seemed like it was yesterday that they were selling turbochargers with glued on compressor covers...
 
Didn't think any came out, but this one kinda shows the sketchy/jaggy printing. Not so obvious but there's also black goo oozing
out under the label a couple places. Notice also the scratches, this is untouched directly from the heat-sealed pouch it arrived in.

Forgot to add, the buttons are off color too. Refurb or factory second also wouldn't show the wrong number of digits, different
button functions, or visible machine marks/burrs (read above).

Thanks for the warning.. caveat emptor indeed. Mitutoyo sometimes put up guides to identifying fakes, but I guess these are just appearing recently.

Can you think of any differences that might show up on ebay pictures?

I can see dozens of auctions at the moment for 500-196-20's $99 with free shipping from HongKong, which makes me think they'll be the fakes, but there's no way I could tell from the pictures...

Ray
 








 
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