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Looking for a cheap, good scale.

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Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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Feb 2, 2014 at 6:34 pm #1312799

rich y
Spectator

@gkine
Locale: NorCal

What do you guys use? Something cheap.

Feb 2, 2014 at 6:39 pm #2069119

Timothy Epp
Member

@rush2112
Locale: Southwest British Columbia

I got a cheap gram/ ounce scale from Walmart for around 15 bucks.

Feb 2, 2014 at 7:14 pm #2069138

Mark Heiser
Member

@74kilos
Locale: Mid-Atlantic

Picked mine up off Amazon, but my one regret is that it doesn't have a raised platform. Makes it hard to weight larger items without having to put it in a bowl or something and then tare the scale.

Feb 3, 2014 at 1:51 pm #2069413

Kenneth Jacobs
BPL Member

@f8less
Locale: Midwest -or- Rockies

This is what I use. Found it at Costco for $19.99. Has worked great for my needs:

http://www.amazon.com/Polder-Digital-Kitchen-Scale-KSC-350-95/dp/B002VNWJ4E

HTH

KJ

Feb 3, 2014 at 3:36 pm #2069449

Angelo R.
Spectator

@zalmen_mlotek
Locale: Northwest CT

eBay. Get something cheap shipping from China. You can easily spend under $10 (with shipping). Search for something like "5kg scale" or whatever you desire.

Feb 3, 2014 at 3:43 pm #2069456

Leigh Baker
BPL Member

@leighb
Locale: Northeast Texas Pineywoods

Here's a recent thread discussing scales. http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=80067

Feb 3, 2014 at 4:05 pm #2069472

M B
BPL Member

@livingontheroad

really depends on what you want to weigh.

I have two.

A little one that weighs 0-500g

And a bigger kitchen one that weighs up to 11 lbs

99% of my weighing is on the little one. Weigh your big stuff once a the Post Office, and you seldom need that capability again.

The little scales can get messed up and need calibrating. You can order a 100g standard weight for this for ~8. The calibration is linear, so if your 100g wt weighs 102.5 g, its off by 2.5%. Some scales take 200 or 500 g calibration wt. All you need to do is calculate though off the 100g wt. If you need 500g, weigh out a cup of water that weighs 410 g (4×102.5)and use it in addition to your 100g wt, and then calibrate the scale. Recheck your 100g wt and it should be on the money.

Feb 3, 2014 at 4:44 pm #2069491

Dan @ Durston Gear
BPL Member

@dandydan
Locale: Canadian Rockies

Grab a "digital pocket scale" from eBay for $6-$7 shipped. You can get ones that read up to 2000g, yet measure to 0.1g.

On eBay search for "digital pocket scale 2000g" and then sort the results by price. I've got access to very high quality scales at the science lab I work at, and these eBay cheapo's are within 1%.

Example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-2000g-0-1g-2kg-Mini-Digital-Electronic-Balance-Weight-Pocket-Jewelry-Scale-/261329716742?pt=US_Pocket_Digital_Scales&hash=item3cd8770606

If you need to weigh something bulky, either tare a coat hanger on the scale, or tare a whiskey glass and then set your tent/sleeping bag/whatever on top.
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