17 Warning Signs Your Mitutoyo Calipers Are Fake

Ever wondered if those too-good-to-be-true deals on Mitutoyo calipers you find on eBay and other marketplaces are legitimate? Wonder no more. I bought a couple of fake calipers on eBay so you don't have to. Today we will look at them carefully and I'll show you how to tell the difference.

Here are some of the tools I used in the video. I'm not providing links to the calipers. I don't recommend purchasing them, for obvious reasons.
*This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

00:00 Intro
00:49 Packaging
06:40 Plastic boxes
08:04 Internal packaging
11:16 Documentation
14:55 Battery installation tags
16:07 Batteries
18:34 Plastic molding and labels
20:17 PCBs
21:17 Machining and grinding
22:55 First power-up behavior
25:06 Printed graphics
25:54 Origin button height
26:31 Screw alignment
27:09 Label on the back
28:11 Current draw and battery life
30:47 Low battery behavior
33:09 Satisfying screen protector peeling
33:24 But are they worth the money?
34:23 Wrap/how the counterfeit markets thrive

mitutoyo digimatic metrology mitutoyo caliper battery caliper battery

[whatyoudo]

the battery test and off-set screw holes are the only useful differences here and I was expecting the entire vid to be about accuracy....if they are just as accurate who really cares? Would I throw perfectly functioning calipers in the trash if the font was not right??

[Aletaire]

Thank you thank you for doing a comprehensive video on this. As a calibration technician, you wouldn't believe how many fake mitutoyo calipers come in, out of spec, and the customer wants to argue about it.

[thinkjedi]

This is the most thorough comparison of fake vs genuine Mitutoyo calipers I've seen. Having been bitten by what I thought was a good deal on a used fake caliper a month ago, I would have loved to have seen this sooner. That said, I was able to return them as I determined them to be fake using the other, less-detailed and less-accurate videos. I think G. Tucker's comment that you're paying $80 for a $12 caliper is spot on!

[davidlakatosh]

I couldn't believe how fortunate I was to stumble on this brand new 6 inch for $36! I snapped it up. After a while I started to think my old beat up calipers from the harbor where working better. I think I know why now. Thanks for the heads up!

[porthose]

I noticed two other small differences. The background color of the LCD display is yellowish on the eBay calipers, but the genuine ones are silver. Also, the black labels on the ruler (fixed) is matt, while the eBay ones seem to have a texture to them.

Great video, James! Thanks for sharing. I would also be interested in a test of their precision if you have an opportunity to test that.

[mmkcolg]

Part of my work duties are calibration and I've caught and rejected several counterfeits that were brought to me by employees purchasing personal tools. This can't be shown on the video but the counterfeits all had notably grittier, rougher, and less consistent feel to them as you slide them, genuine Mitutoyo calipers are very smooth and consistent, and require only a gentle touch to move. Calibrating the genuine article will yield results that mirror the certificate very closely if not exactly due to them actually testing the tool, while those on fakes tend to be completely made up. A big tell that James missed is that the scale on the genuine calipers has a very fine semi-gloss finish and the counterfeits are much courser and rougher matte. A smaller one is that the genuine calipers have red lacquer keeping the adjustment screws from turning. Unfortunately I've seen the quality of the counterfeits rising as time goes on, though the extremely fine attention to detail that Mitutoyo has is still very much unmatched. Amazon is not a completely reliable source, I've personally received both genuine and fake tools off the site.

[palco]

What a bonus ! Today 2nd of September, I'm just on my way to an industrial supply shop to purchase a Mitutoyo model 500 753 20 8" caliper as a gift for my daughter (Just finished her CNC programing). I did look at what Amazon offered but something didn't seem right. Can't say what threw me off but decided to go directly to a known supplier. So glad this video popped up. I feel much better prepared. Now I'll look much smarter when talking to the sales rep. if I know what I'm talking about !
Great and thanks a million.

[aceroadholder]

I have 30 year old Mitutoyo and 10 year old Harbor freight digital calipers I use daily. They both work fine. Everyone who has used name brand calipers know the fit and finish are good. The HF calipers needed sharp edges on the beam and the slide dressed with an oil stone, but for $10 on sale there wasn't much to complain about. Say what you will about HF, they don't try to deceive you as to who made their products. If purchasing calipers, micrometers, or dial indicators I would open the box at the store and check to make sure the jaws or mic spindles close cleanly
.
Battery life in both calipers is usually three or four years. I do, out of habit, always turn them off with the power button. Neither has memory so that may explain the longer battery life.
Being an old guy who used mechanical dial calipers way back when, I always wipe the jaws and reset "zero" every time I use the calipers. In the shop trash would get into the dial caliper beam rack and cause the indicating needle to jump a tooth often resulting in spoiling the workpiece.

Buy your bargain tools from a reputable dealer like HF, Shars, Little Machine Shop. If your tool is defective, they will replace it. You are only saving a couple of dollars with Ebay or Amazon counterfeits and if something isn't right, you're just left urinating into the wind
.
There is something to be said for buying Starrett, Mitutoyo, or other quality manufacturer's tools... after 25 years you won't be able to remember what you paid for it.... but the quality will still be there.

[jiefflerenard]

You presentation is first class, diction, voice, tempo and everything technical.
Got there by mistake but watched the whole 35 minutes of it.

[oegilsson]

I'm surprised not seeing @MitutoyoAmerica in this thread expressing their gratitude for your hard work. This video is incredibly helpful for customers and extraordinarily valuable to Mitutoyo.

[beenine]

Thank you for the way you handled mentioning Shars in this video. Briefly stating that you recommend and use them and that no one should trust you on that since they are a sponsor is spot on. Heck, nobody should trust themselves if they know its in their best interest to promote something. Ironically, by carefully _not_ promoting Shars, you've actually made me trust you more.

[Mister_G]

Thank you for going into so much detail - it's quite frightening how much trouble people will take to dress a $10 caliper up in $100 clothes.

[benjaminshaw]

I’m 2000 miles from home on a work trip and all I want to do is go out to my shop and see if my calipers are ligit.

[SaturnYT]

I have a genuine Mitutoyo 6" purchased from MSI-Viking (an authorized reseller), but mine was purchased in 2009. Some notable similarities to your newer models:
fit/finish is excellent, end-milled recess in the back, nice plastic molding, ABS visible in the battery compartment, two contacts visible on the PCB.

However, a few differences which are actually more similar to your knock-offs:
The yellow swoop ends above the S, not the O of ABSOLUTE on the front.
Battery insertion goes straight to 0.00mm, or a completely bogus number if left for a while first, not flashing dashes
Origin button is recessed, top of it is flush with the top of the plastic on the front.
screw alignment of one hole is is ok, the other is not great.

So it seems the knock-offs may be copying some older models (poorly)

[keithcharles]

Well I headed back over to EBay after watching this excellent tutorial and could spot the fakes at a glance. Thank you so much!

[floorpizza]

A comparison in measurement reading accuracy/differences would have been great, as it would potentially be the final nail in the coffin of the counterfeits.

[robroysyd]

I have an over 40 year old Mitutoyo dial caliper. No battery issues ever with that. I really agree with your comment about why use another company's name when you're actually making a decent product that fills a need within the market? At least to some extent this does seem to be happening with Banggood.

[brucewilliams]

I appreciate your doing this video. The slightly older Mitutoyo calipers came with a piece of scientific equipment from Japan and have a Mitutoyo metrology lab certificate in addition to the normal paperwork. My set have a recessed origin button but aside from that have all the other signs that you pointed out for genuine Mitutoyo calipers. My set was made in 2013. I think the counterfeiters based their molding off of the slightly older models. Thanks for the video and for doing the power draw. That is what separates the Mitutoyo stuff from the rest. I hate dealing with dead calipers. That said, my favorite calipers at the moment are iGaging and they use a CR2032. I do wish you has shown the light passing through with the jaws closed; that is the biggest problem with crappy calipers.

[Jetmech]

Thank you for making this video! When I bought my 8” Mitutoyo calipers I had heard of the problem with counterfeit’s. I made sure I bought from a reputable dealer. Comparing mine with your video reaffirms that mine are genuine. Thank you!

[barrylinkiewich]

Thanks, you just saved me $70. I use genuine Mitutoyos at work but have never had the packaging to compare so when I saw a caliper for sale on a local buysell your packaging analysis showed instantly that the one for sale was fake.
Cheap Chinese calipers are usually fine enough and we also use them at work for rough measurement on the shop floor. It doesn't really matter if a $20 caliper gets dropped or lost vs dropping a $300 Mitutoyo.