Question for non U.S. residents

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To our friends that do not reside in the United States and that reside in countries that use the SI (metric) system of weights and measures.

I am an American living in the United States who is ready to make a complete and total switch to the SI system, otherwise known as the metric system.  The only problem is that it is very difficult to get authentic and accurate SI products.  When trying to get SI products here, they typically have both Imperial and SI and the SI side is often not very accurate.  I am interested in precise SI measuring products and am willing to purchase them from retailers outside of the United States.

Could anyone offer suggestions that would be of a help to me?

[DaveW]

It probably depends on what you want exactly.

I know there are some Australian Made tools, but not sure about measuring instruments in general.

Australia uses the Metric system universally since 1966 (or around then - before my time), but many of our scales etc have both.

So Australian websites might be worthwhile - A hardware chain store over here is called Bunnings, but I don't know if they do overseas deliveries. They do all sorts

of tools, general hardware, building products,...... whatever - here's the website: https://www.bunnings.com.au/

If it is more specialised you are looking for, then .com.au is the australian suffix for websites.

 

Have fun.

 

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54 minutes ago, DaveW said:

So Australian websites might be worthwhile - A hardware chain store over here is called Bunnings, but I don't know if they do overseas deliveries. They do all sorts

Thank you, brother.  I shall give it a look-see.

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* I just explored their site and found some items that look good.  However, it doesn't look like there is an option to purchase online.  Perhaps it sees that my IP address is from the U.S. and won't let me purchase online.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[Salyan]

This isn't going to be helpful, but... why in the world would you want the metric system? With the exception of Celsius (I like that 0=freezing), standard is much easier to use than metric systems. Up here we might 'officially' use metric, but practically we use standard just as much (including the grocery stores, which like to weigh by pounds and price by kilograms. Not cool.). Feet & inches are much handier units of measure than metres & centimetres.

[DaveW]

2 hours ago, Salyan said:

This isn't going to be helpful, but... why in the world would you want the metric system? With the exception of Celsius (I like that 0=freezing), standard is much easier to use than metric systems. Up here we might 'officially' use metric, but practically we use standard just as much (including the grocery stores, which like to weigh by pounds and price by kilograms. Not cool.). Feet & inches are much handier units of measure than metres & centimetres.

This makes me laugh heartily.

Now remember, I know "Imperial" because "the oldies use it", but I was brought up with metric.

As a result, I just can't see how base 12 is easier than base 10........

A km is 1000m - exactly how many yards in a mile?

A meter is 100cm - exactly how many inches in a yard?

Makes perfect sense to me... :lol:

 

I meant to add that it is easy because it is what I learned - but the other is easier for those who were brought up with it.

Edited February 28, 2017 by DaveW

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1 hour ago, DaveW said:

This makes me laugh heartily.

Now remember, I know "Imperial" because "the oldies use it", but I was brought up with metric.

As a result, I just can't see how base 12 is easier than base 10........

A km is 1000m - exactly how many yards in a mile?

A meter is 100cm - exactly how many inches in a yard?

Makes perfect sense to me... :lol:

Metric makes sense because conversions entail the simple movement of a decimal.  Imperial requires one to memorize arbitrary numbers based upon subjective measurements.  Growing up in the U.S., we know that there are 36 inches in a yard, because we memorized it; not because it makes any sense.  How many feet are in a mile?  That requires having memorized a slew of arbitrary measurements.

Of the following, which are easier to figure?  How many centimeters are in 5 meters?  Now tell me how many 64ths of an inch are in a yard.  How many microliters are in a liter? Ok, now how many teaspoons are in a cubic yard?  The U.S. is one of only three countries in the world that have not adopted the SI system as the norm.  The other 193 countries can all play nice.

The mother of a friend of mine had to go to the hospital and later won a lawsuit due to the wrong dosage being given to her by an independent pharmacist that was using an imperial measuring device because he had misplaced the metric one.

I used to work in an oil change shop and I caught fellow employees installing incorrect oil filters, drain plugs and other things on foreign cars because the new guys didn't know that not all cars use imperial parts and that they would try to make imperial parts fit.

I restore antiques for a living and I mix all of my colors and finishes from scratch with period specific ingredients.  Many of the most helpful resources for historic finishes come from countries other than the U.S.  I am sick and tired of having to do mental gymnastics, when trying to mix different quantities of powders, resins, spirits and other ingredients using imperial measurements but working from metric recipes.

I still remember when our teachers were teaching us the metric system because we were supposed to be converting to metric "any day now."  I was excited about it and slowly became frustrated when I realized that it was not going to happen.

Huge industries are willing to bear the expense of retooling and restructuring for the opportunity to adopt solar power or wind power or self driving cars or automated fast food restaurants, but oh no... switching to metric would be too much of an expense.  Tell that to the people that cost NASA $125 million by conversion confusions when they designed the Mars orbiter.

There are countless reasons and examples that show that the SI system is superior to the Imperial system and it is utter foolishness, in my opinion, to claim the opposite.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Brother Stafford

[fastjav390]

4 hours ago, Salyan said:

This isn't going to be helpful, but... why in the world would you want the metric system? With the exception of Celsius (I like that 0=freezing), standard is much easier to use than metric systems. Up here we might 'officially' use metric, but practically we use standard just as much (including the grocery stores, which like to weigh by pounds and price by kilograms. Not cool.). Feet & inches are much handier units of measure than metres & centimetres.

Yes, an engineer friend of mine from Japan has said he prefers the standard/imperial measurements because the are "more flexible". 

[...]

Ok, enough with the hijacking my thread.  I got lured in, but I'm climbing back out.  I'm not interested in defending the Metric system.  I'm looking for online sources that offer accurate metric measuring devices; especially volume and weight measuring products.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Brother Stafford

[Alimantado]

In UK it's a mess:

Distances and other measurements on road signs = imperial

Stopping distances on road signs = metric

Nautical stuff = imperial

Land area = imperial (acres)

Engine capacity and fuel = metric

Body weight and clothing measurements = imperial, in particular 'stones' for body weight (14lb in a stone--for some reason US stopped using this one)

Packaged food and drink = metric

Non-packaged food and drink = imperial

Cooking = both

Temperature = metric

Pressure = imperial

General engineering distances/weights/volume = metric

And for most of the above you will get people switching, although there's some things it's actually illegal to do, such as print road signs in metric, and print food prices in imperial.

Also don't forget that dry and liquid 'imperial' measures differ between UK and US, e.g. ton and gallon.

Like elsewhere it seems, most instruments for domestic use in UK have both imperial and metric, e.g. rulers have metric down one side and inches down the other.

Back to the OP, here's some precision measurement tools that bird ringers in UK use in the field:

https://www.pesola.com/e/

https://www.wiha.com/en/produkte/measurement-tools.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Salyan]

8 hours ago, DaveW said:

This makes me laugh heartily.

Now remember, I know "Imperial" because "the oldies use it", but I was brought up with metric.

I was brought up with it too!  But when all the grid roads are in miles... you end up measuring your odometer in km but your driving distance in miles. Or you buy fabric by the meter, but it's all 60" or 45" wide (and feet are a very handy form of measure - decimeters just don't cut it). :D

6 hours ago, Brother Stafford said:

I restore antiques for a living and I mix all of my colors and finishes from scratch with period specific ingredients.  Many of the most helpful resources for historic finishes come from countries other than the U.S.  I am sick and tired of having to do mental gymnastics, when trying to mix different quantities of powders, resins, spirits and other ingredients using imperial measurements but working from metric recipes.

There are countless reasons and examples that show that the SI system is superior to the Imperial system and it is utter foolishness, in my opinion, to claim the opposite.

OK, I can see why you're looking for metric measurement tools, then. It is a pain in the neck switching.
The problem that I was referencing isn't so much that I think standard is superior, but that in a world where so many things are already in standard measurements (think grid roads, for eg), that one cannot actually use just one or the other, but is forced to use both (with the requisite mental gymnastics).

2 hours ago, Alimantado said:

In UK it's a mess:

Ha!

5 hours ago, Brother Stafford said:

Ok, enough with the hijacking my thread.  I got lured in, but I'm climbing back out.  I'm not interested in defending the Metric system.  I'm looking for online sources that offer accurate metric measuring devices; especially volume and weight measuring products.

Sorry, Bro. Stafford!