Fowler52-253-005-1, Premium Outside Inch Micrometer With 4-5" Measuring Range

Seems very well made. Initial adjustment easy with measuring guage piece provided in the kit and reading the instructions. Comes with a nice overpack sleeve on the plastic case. Used to check new 4 inch pistons .40 over for blueprinting purposes against my bore guage readings, ie. squirt clearance. Fowler is a good rep. name, I do recommend for serious DIY Ford engine builds at a real good value for the cost.

Perfect

...and not even a particularly good one. Note that the listing says that Fowler is a US company, not that the product is made in the US. The box says made in China. This is the same import mic you can get everywhere else for 40% less. I bought the 2-3 inch. It seems to be accurate, but the spindle is so sight that the ratchet won't turn it. Tried flushing it with solvent and compressed air, but it didn't help. It's good enough for my needs, but I feel cheated. Save your money and buy your import tools somewhere cheaper.

I was too focus on a cheap/value micrometer and completely missed the advertisement that this micrometer only reads to .001”I am using this micrometer to measure engine components; which needs to measurement precision of .0001”Overall, the tool is ok and decently made, but if it only measures to one-thousands of an inch, it’s kind of pointless to call it a micrometer.

For most of my adult life, I have admired well-made vernier dial calipers and micrometers like this one. Finally, I made an investment, and cannot see any quality difference between these and the über famous Starrett brand. There is a useful, short and direct video on how to calibrate precisely this item on YouTube and if you aren't familiar with micrometers, this is worth your time to watch.Anyway, these are a true joy to use - and I'm finding that now that I can measure the thickness of materials quite accurately, I am avoiding problems with projects up front and solving others in ways I hadn't considered. As an example, my wife recently got a plastic lamination machine to use at school for her students. The plastic laminate comes in various mil thicknesses. Now that I can measure the thickness of, for example, a social security card - I can help her pick the right laminate so that the result is sufficiently strong but not too stiff. Moreover, I use it extensively in my metal shop.You can buy these with confidence. However, do make sure you keep and read the instructions, treat the instrument with respect - you can't toss these around like you would a T-square for example - and you will have a high precision tool that you can pass down to your grandchildren.