CP9806-TF Titanium 0-Inch to 6-Inch Electronic Fractional & Decimal Digital Caliper

Make no mistake, these are great for the money and perfect for the average hobbyist's tool box! I am an engineer and use them at work and it's nice to have a one for reference so I don't constantly have to find one of our calibrated calipers. When I first purchased them I checked them out using some gauge blocks and found them to be both accurate and repeatable (a set from work however, was off by .002" and needed to be recalibrated).Pros- Very capable- The battery lid is held in with a screw! This is a great achievement; I've used so many nicer calipers (read, more expensive) that have tape holding the battery in because the battery cover was only retained by a crappy plastic snap and has gone missing.- Great display and the screen automatically turns off (some people complained about battery life, I've had them for a few months now and haven't had a problem yet)- Fractional option is nice when working with things of standard sizes- Durable metal bodyCons- I'll let you know when I find oneI'd like to clear up some of the more concerning complaints I read in other reviews:#1- "not titanium jaws..." First off it clearly states in the description (which Amazon may have changed after complaints) that the jaws are stainless steel and that the body is titanium... I don't know about you but I still highly doubt that even the body is titanium considering titanium is expensive and the thing in total only costs $26. Regardless, I've never seen a metal bodied digital caliper before titanium or otherwise so I find some comfort that it might be more durable when I inevitably drop them (no matter the metal).#2- "Not accurate to 1/1000th of an inch..." It totally is, not sure what this person was thinking so ignore them.It's to be seen how well they stand up over time, my guess is they might not stay calibrated as well but if you don't need a high level of precision then you probably don't need to spend the dough on a more quality piece. Over all a nice tool and a great addition to the average user's arsenal of tools, I completely recommend!

For a long time I used an old school non digital caliper, and while it worked for most projects, I recently found myself having to measure out very small components on a circuit board to a high degree of accuracy. That's where this beauty comes into play. This caliper is very sensitive, and so far, from the work iv done with it, it seems to be very accurate. I also really like that inches can be viewed in fractions or decimal points,. (Saves me from having to do the conversion sometimes). And the unit turns itself off after a few minutes of non-use, saving the battery from draining out. The case it comes in is very sturdy and slim, and fits in a pocket of my bucket boss perfectly to keep the unit from grinding up against other tools when stored.This Caliper is a little on the heavy side,. But it is very sturdy construction, personally id rather have heavy, than flimsy. I have no idea why this is called a titanium version,. Maybe one screw somewhere on it is titanium,. But as far as I can tell I think it's mostly stainless steel, which I am perfectly happy with.. Plus a caliper truly made of 100% titanium this big would be at least in the 100-200$ range, just for the raw titanium.To my eye, build quality on this model looks on spot, i don't see any mis alignments or small gaps one of the other reviewers mentioned. The unit does occasionally wander off of "0" (fully closed) sometimes reading a .01 at fully closed. This will happen to even the best of models, when this happens you simply close the caliper, touch the "zero out" button,. And the unit is re calibrated again. very simple.This has turned out to be my favorite tool purchase of the year so far, if I broke this caliper in a freak accident, id very likely re order the exact same one.

To be honest, I never even knew what a "digital caliper" was until a few weeks ago, when I figured out that I needed one to make some very precise measurements in installing an under-saddle pickup on an acoustic guitar. Once I figured out what it was, I also concluded it would be a nice precision measuring device to add to my tool box.As near as I can tell from the research I've done on these gizmos since then, digital calipers (that is, a vernier-type caliper with a battery-operated, digital display built into the slide) come in two basic categories: 1) those made in China, and 2) those made elsewhere. This caliper is of the first variety.The Carrera CP9806 comes in a hard, black plastic case with a black foam bottom liner, cut out in the shape of the caliper to protect it from rattling around inside, and two additional cutouts for storage of spare coin-cell batteries. The lid is fastened to the bottom with a real pin-hinge, not a molded plastic one, so you don't have to worry about the lid breaking off the case. There's a color leaflet in the lid cavity (also lined with black foam) with instructions on how to use the caliper. It's a nice, durable case, that snaps shut with a reassuring "click." A tiny Phillips screwdriver is included, for opening the battery compartment on the face of the slider.The caliper itself is made of high-grade stainless steel, and feels very heavy and sturdy in your hand. The slider casing is also made of steel, not plastic. The graphic measuring gauge on the face of the rule is set into a recess that runs the length of the rule, and looks like some kind of imprinted polymer, set over a film made of some kind of metal ... probably copper, judging from the cross-section of the material that's exposed at both ends of the rule. It's a very nice graphic display, but you will not use it for making anything but "macro" measurements, because, e.g., why would you bother buying a digital caliper to do a job you could do with a simple ruler? You're going to use the digital display, the jaws, and/or the depth gauge.The slide is very well-mated with the rule ... no discernible sloppiness or play. I found the slide very smooth and simple to move, either by hand, or using the thumb roller. There are three little buttons on the face of the slide. One to select metric, inches (decimals), or inches (fractions); a second to turn the display on and off, and the third to re-set the display to zero. The digital display turns itself on automatically when you start moving the slide, and gives you a "real time" readout of the measurement, as you move the slide. The digits on the LCD screen are large, crisp and easy to read. It also has an "auto-off" feature that turns the display off after a few minutes of inactivity. That's a life-saver on coin cell batteries, which aren't exactly cheap, especially if you're having to replace them frequently.The blades of the top jaws face outward, for measuring inner dimensions (e.g., the distance from one inner surface of a box or cavity to the opposite inner surface). The blades of the bottom jaws face one another, for measuring outside dimensions (e.g., the distance from one outer surface of a box or object to the opposite outer surface). The depth gauge (which pops out the end of the rule as you move the slide outward from "zero") measures the depth of holes. All three measuring functions go up to a maximum of 6 inches on this particular model.The metric increments are to 1/100th of a millimeter (e.g., 1.55 mm) The inch increments are to 5/10,000ths of an inch (e.g., 1.1015", 1.1020", etc.) represented in either decimals or fractions (e.g., to 1/128th of an inch) on the display. I found the last decimal point in the inch increments a bit hard to fix with the thumb roller and lock screw ... the last decimal point flickered between .0000 and .0005. But with a little practice, I was generally able to fix it, and we are literally talking 5/10,000ths of an inch. I didn't attempt to calibrate or verify measurements on this caliper, but others have, and have found them to be accurate.Some of the criticisms I've noted on the construction of Chinese calipers like this one are valid. For example, there is a very slight bow in the rule that is readily visible if you look closely down the length of the rule. I don't know if this is intended, or if it is just a quirk of the way the caliper is machined and assembled. Probably doesn't affect the accuracy of the measurements, but it is noticeable. Also, the flat, or back side of the blade portions of the bottom jaws do not mate on a perfect plane ... they are just the tiniest bit misaligned. This likewise probably doesn't affect the accuracy of measurements taken between the blades, but it is noticeable. I'm not getting in a twist over that, though, because for 30 measly bucks, what the heck do you want ... I mean, really.Mine cost only $30 on Amazon, including free shipping (thanks Amazon!). The next lower Carrera model (which I think differed from this one only in that the display didn't include fractions), was $24.99, which would have excluded a free shipping option. I figured if I have to spend an extra $5.00 on shipping for a $25 model, I might as well put the $5.00 into a $30 model and get it shipped for free ...For mechanical engineers or other people engaged in professions where dead-on-balls accuracy (e.g., variance of less than 5/10,000ths of an inch) is a matter of life or death, you better pay the extra dough for a digital caliper made by Mitutoyo (Japanese) or the Germans, but be prepared to pay 4 or 5 times, or more, than what this one costs.For the rest of us "mortals," however, if you don't need that level of accuracy (and I most certainly don't), or parts that mate perfectly on a microscopic level, you will be deliriously happy with this device. I'm giving it four stars, taking one away for the irregularities noted above ... which, by the way, one should always expect to see in a mass-produced tool like this. However, in terms of the VALUE you get for your $30 - in basic construction, appearance, materials, performance and features -- this thing deserves SIX stars. If a caliper like the one I've described is a good match for your needs and your budget, then buy with confidence. You'll love it.