(:Review:) iGaging CoolantCal Coolant Proof Wireless Digital Caliper

I was really excited to buy this new caliper from iGaging. Coolant proof calipers are impossible to find under $100, but iGaging has done it with Bluetooth wireless to boot.

It's one thing to even have a coolant proof caliper for this much less that the Mitutoyo coolant proof caliper, it's a whole 'nother thing to have wireless BT SPC data capability as well. With the press of a button you can send you measurement to whatever it is connected to, be it phone, computer, tablet, etc. Connection was simple and easy. it shows up as a simple bluetooth keyboard and enters the measurement in exactly the same way that it would be inputted with a BT keyboard. When entering in Excel or spreadsheet documents, it even includes a character return to jump to the next box. Very cool! I did all of my tolerance testing using my Amazon Fire tablet. If you don't have it connected to a BT host for a while in between power cycles, it will input each measurement it has taken since its last successful connection. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Good in that it will store your data measurements for later input, bad if you weren't ready to start yet. It's not a big deal, just let it finish sending all of it's data and then copy and clear the data in whatever app or program you are using. The most I ever had to delete was a column of 10 and I had been playing around switching between devices quite a bit.

I did test the coolant proof-ness in a bucket of FORD gold antifreeze coolant which had been drained out of a truck the day before. I did the test 2 times. The first time I completed a post drop measurement test while the caliper was still wet and the liquid added to the size of the gauge block and threw off my measurement. In the video you can see that on the second shot, I died it off, then took my measurement and got the same measurement as before the drop.

Power consumption is the biggest problem with this caliper, it draws more power than any caliper I have tested. This was to be expected with wireless output and an Auto-On feature, both of which are huge battery drains. While on, the caliper is constantly pinging wirelessly, with a power draw that jumps around from 85-155 µA. That is quite a large power draw. The interesting thing is that when you turn it off, it jumps up to 154 µA, the top end of the range. This is due to the auto-on feature. In order to achieve auto-on, the caliper needs to stay in a standby state, waiting for input. Suffice it to say that this caliper will not be winning any awards for power conservation. That being said, no other caliper does what it does. You have to weigh your desired features and decide whether you are willing to always keep extra CR2032 batteries on hand to throw in when it dies. They do give you one installed and an extra, so you are good to go for a while. The CR2032 is also commonly used in many things so keeping a few on hand is never a bad idea anyways.

In my data tests, the coolant cal did have a little bit of slop in it. You get some variation in measurement using the full .001" (one thousandth) tolerance between full face measurements and tip measurements. This is pretty common. The main reason I do caliper tests like this is to get an idea how well machined and calibrated they come from the factory. This one falls in line with the EZCal series.

Conclusion:
While, yes, I would love for this thing to have absolute origin and fractional output, It still has more than you could ever ask for in a coolant proof caliper. I recommend this caliper to anyone working a VMC or CNC lathe where coolant contact is inevitable. Also, if you do a lot of measurement entry, this is hands down the best wireless package for the price out there. If you are just looking for a good, accurate digital caliper, I would still go for the iGaging OriginCal. It has withstood the test of time and you can get make it wireless if you really want to.

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