Micrometer cost

How much money to spend on measuring tools?

It's really hard to answer this because it depends on what you hope to achieve and what your budget is. At the upper end, it's easy to spend $1000 or more on quality micrometers form the likes of Mitotoyo. In our case we chose a Chinese micrometer set which was sourced from Jegs for around $300-350 USD. They have been reliable and accurate.

I have recently bought some "MX" brand micrometers, dial guages/post/extension mount and bore sets. 25-150mm mics an 18-36mm bore and a 60-150mm bore, I think the extensions are interchangeable so they should cover the gap or I can make something to screw on to do so. Think all of that and some feeler gauges and a few other bits and pieces (depth micrometer? ) for about $1000 AUD from a display retailer with a marginal sale discount. The MX stuff appears to be resold or copy Mitotoyo. I am getting the length bars from the mic set informally measured at work so i know how close to true they are. Everything feels smooth. Although not as fast/easy to read for people with poor eyesight I think i prefer the vernier or analog scale stuff as you don't have to worry about batteries.

I'm going to bump up this thread:

So, without going all gung ho and getting all Mitutoyo stuff, what are decent (I want to stay away from cheap and useless) but not in the Mitutoyo price range set of tools that are available in Amazon (USA) for the following:

1. Micrometer

2. Bore Gauge

3. Stretch Gauge

4. Dial Gauge and Magnetic Base

5. brand of Torque Wrenches (that's not Snap On)

6. Angle Gauge

I can't order from Jegs (unless it's through Amazon) because of my location (Philippines). And I just don't trust what to get from Alibaba or something. But I can order from Amazon.

Basically, while Mitutoyo's (and Snap Ons) would be dream tools, I just need something that is decent and accurate (i.e., if it's good enough for Andre et al, then it's good enough for me).

Thanks for any recommendations.

I have found some kinchrome mics second hand for a great price, just not sure if I'll be wasting my time and money buying them. Has anyone got any experience with these?