Today I’m going to show off what you can do with a pair of dirt cheap digital calipers (Amazon link). These come in a plastic case. Mine even had an extra battery included. On the front here you have a power button, a zero button to zero out the measurement, and a toggle between inches and mm.

There are four main ways to measure. You have outside dimension, inside, depth, and step. One main reason to use calipers is because it’s much more precise than using a ruler, especially when you’re measuring something small.

They’re also great for when you want to measure the difference between two things by measuring something, zeroing it out, and measuring the second thing, giving you the difference.

They’re a crazy value at around $13-$16. And if you ever want to get into 3D modeling parts that interface with the real world, these are a must.

These same calipers were recommended by John Park of Adafruit in Cool Tools podcast #28. And it’s recommendations like this that make me such a huge fan of the Cool Tools blog and podcast.

I have an Amazon link for these in the show notes here, and by using that link you help to support this show and Cool Tools. Buy them for yourself, your friend, your kid — the world’s just a cooler, more quantifiable place when you have digital calipers.

Update 04/16/2018:

I’ve had these calipers for over a year now, and they still hold up and do their job. I’ve noticed that some people have commented that this model has an electrical flaw that causes it to draw some current from the battery even when it’s turned off. That may be true, but from my experience, the battery has lasted a long time for me nonetheless.

That said, there are now many inexpensive options when it comes to calipers, so I encourage you to go with your gut and buy whatever’s affordable and highly rated. The point is really just that digital calipers are a generally great tool to have around, no matter what the brand is.