Toolmonger Simon rightly points out that even if you’re willing to deal with the potential inaccuracies of cheap-o calipers, you’re still stuck with the fact that they don’t turn themselves off correctly, meaning that pretty soon you’ve got a useless plastic stick in your drawer. He’s found one solution: a solar powered model, pictured above.
I can’t see a brand on it, so hopefully he’ll comment here and let us know who makes it and where he found it — for just $10. I actually wouldn’t mind owning one.
Of course a friend of a (shop) friend found another solution: He’d cut his up and carefully install a tiny switch, allowing him to manually shut ‘em off before putting ‘em away. I noticed Simon’s has a switch, but it’s the kind that you just know will get bumped in a drawer/bag and turn the thing on.
A Better Cheap-o Caliper [Flickr]