I don’t mind buying used off of the evil bay, but I can’t put my hands on one like MP. I
-Just a word of caution. Used measuring instruments can be a good purchase only if they're in good working condition. With dial indicators the working condition is less obvious due to the mechanism being enclosed. The travel can drag/stick, the gear segment or rack can get a minute amount of crud in the teeth, damage to the delicate watch movement can easily occur. All, and more, can contribute to false readings that you'll never know about until after the error happens if you notice it at all. Many of the inexpensive indicators use plastic gearing that is susceptible to wear which can throw off a reading in a used indicator. Lubing an indicator often clears up minor problems with sticking. Testing an indicator is a fairly simple affair too but that's usually not possible at point of purchase and a lot of people don't even have the means to test an indicator at home. For most of the members here I'd suggest avoiding the potential disappointment by purchasing a new indicator.
-Buying new indicators can be on the expensive side so a lot of the decision will be about your age, use, and the expected lifespan of that indicator. Also, how accurate (not the same as precision) do you need to be? There's a whole lot of difference between .003 and .0003. One of my first indicators was a Federal that read in increments of .0001, it was inappropriate for milling operations. Another aspect is expected range of travel and how large can it be before it's too clumsy to work with.
-I can't offer much in the way of brand recommendation because I haven't purchased an indicator in several years and budget friendly brands are not acceptable in some types of work. Most, if not all, of the inexpensive indicators are from China and can be sorta ok for garage work but I would be very careful about the work environment, even a tiny amount of crud can/will foul an indicator. Rough handling is also a death sentence for many inexpensive brands. Repair of inexpensive indicators will also be up to the owner, many professionals refuse to work on instruments they feel are not worth the repair cost and part replacement is often nonexistent. This makes a great many of the less expensive brands a disposable instrument.
-There's plenty more I could say about indicators but a lot of it is opinionated by my personal preferences and experience. Some informative reading about brand comparison can be had at the link below.
Dial indicator brand comparison including Mitutoyo, Starrett, Brown & Sharpe, Federal, and Mahr.
longislandindicator.com
fowlerprecision.com