Repeatable accuracy is the downfall of most thickness gauges. We have two we use here. The one we sell runs about a grand, Danny scored! We also have one from our lab in Japan that is accurate down to .0001 of a micron. The readings between the two vary, with the lab one far more accurate on a consistent basis. We have tested a lot of the lower priced ones as well and found that they may not give the same reading consistently, but that reading is off by several microns compared to our standard lab thickness gauge. The thing is most readers here are textile printers, not electronics printers where a micron can make a huge difference in the amount of a precious metal ink over a print run. For textile printing the differences in micron readings between gauges for the most part will not affect your printing, unless you are 20-50% inaccurate. If you see tonal values not imagingf you can adjust the coat and get a reading to show you have less eom, it just depends how accurate you really want to be. For 4/C process printers, especially UV this can be a big deal in color shifts. To achieve a 10-15% eom +/- 1-2% is not going to affect spot color, most sim process, or discharge. Need more EOM just coat to get more microns, even though that could be +/- 5-10% inaccurate, it's better than not measuring.
