DPM-816 PRO

I have taken this to multiple dealerships when I was looking for a car and it detected filler and fully painted panels with ease and I was able to walk away from cars that had a lot of work on them, so were so good you could not tell, but this meter revealed all, despite their clean HPI reports. I wouldn't go see a car without this, just make sure to give car dealers notice you are coming and the car has to be dry (otherwise you won't get a good reading). Worth every penny, one of the best devices I own, considering how much I paid and what it's saved me

Not as precise as perhaps some more expensive gauges, but more stable taking readings, however it cannot average a number of reading. Its convenience, compact size, speed and ease of use reinforced my decision to buy. Not being used for auto paint but for Powder coat and anodic fils . detects Non Ferrous and Ferrous automatically and easily. Time will tell in continued use, but so far impressed

Easy to use accurate

Easy to use, hopefully lasts for a long time. Very accurate....

Good overall product for checking paint thickness on older cars. Does it job just fineVERY IMPORTANT : The product isn’t meant to be used on METALLIC PAINT and will not give an accurate reading

Accurate very handy

Paint Thickness meter DPM-816 for assessing the Coating Depth On CarsAlthough described as a meter for measuring cars it can of course measure any paint thickness on top of a ferrous (steel) or non ferrous base (aluminium,copper, brass etc) but not on plastics.I got used to it by measuring the washing machine , the fridge but not the kettle which turns out to be a hard plastic giving no reading.If you are not sure whether you are measuring on is ferrous or non ferrous just try a fridge magnet to see what it is.The unit comes with a very good user manual and it is important to keep this safe with the unit as you may need to reset and recalibrate between different measurements.There is no instant factory reset button but the nearest thing is the procedure to remove all the calibrations.It is worth remembering this one procedure if you suddenly think the unit is faulty and readings are suddenly erratic.Switch it on and when you get 4 dashes on the screen press the UNIT button for 3 seconds.This gets you out of confusing or negative readings back to the basic set up on the 2 test plates and the precision foil plastic to simulate a coating.With regard to the units of measurement.1 inch is equal to 2.54mmSo 1,000 thousand of an inch is 0.0254 mm, or 25.4 microns μm (1 millimetre is 39.37 thousands of an inch.)The meter shows a measurement named a mil which is the same as a thou, a thousandth of an inch — . 001 inch it is not an abbreviation for millimetre.A Micron is a millionth of a metre ( 1/1000000th of a meter. ) it is also known as a Micrometer.It is interesting that the mode N for Non Ferrous uses an electrical eddy current method of testing , amplitude sensitive and the F for Ferrous uses a magnetic method, magneto inductive.In both methods, the measurement coil sends the change of the signal back to the instrument which converts it into the units we can understand, such as microns or milsIf you are measuring on an alloy that is completely different to the supplied test plates you can use the P setting to program it for that material but you would need unpainted identical samples to set the zero calibration.It is a fairly specialised instrument and I used to use them many years ago in my job when portable versions cost thousands of pounds and it continues to amaze me how complex electronics can now be produced for do it yourself type of uses.

Beneficial little device to check if the car repainted or not as well as identifying potential risk areas of repaired work. It comes with a handy instruction manual, which is very informative. It also comes with plates that allow you to see if it is correctly calibrated. The build quality is excellent; it doesn't seem or feel the cheap rate. I like that it needs only 1 AAA batteries, and it seems to last me a long time.It is easy to use, and the display is clear to read too. In terms of reading, the truth is after a while; you will become familiar with particular paint thickness readings; in my experience, most of the new car has paint thickness between four and six mils or 100 to 150 microns.Overall, this device is handy if you buy or sell used cars, but it's a bit overpriced (£195.95 on 08/06/2021).I hope this review is helpful for you to make a purchasing decision.