BPL Scale

Just got a $40 one at BBB — satisfaction guaranteed forever or your money back. By OXO 11lb capacity — Sleek and simple — gram/lbs. My first such scale :)

Walmart, Target…Cheap…

Do a search (amazon, google shopping) for 'digital kitchen scale.' The main things you want are accuracy to 1g/.1oz minimum, probably at least 4-5 pounds capacity, and a Tare function.

Mine is an ultralight scale, Nexxtech Mini Electronics Scale. It was being sold at Circuit City for like $7 in the past. It's a bit of a challenge to weigh larger items, but it nearly fits in your pocket. Below is a review (not good job by reviewer), but it shows how small it is, probably 4-5 oz.

http://www.expotv.com/Nexxtech-Mini-electronic-Scale/1D-12Ls/208790

I got my 'digital pocket scale' on eBay for $5. It weighs to 0.1g and up to 2000g (4.4lbs). I love it. I can easily take it with me when I go gear shopping. Yes this is the kinda crack addicts use.

Do an eBay searc for 'pocket scale 2000g' and you find lots for cheap.

Also picked up this thing at at Container Store — looks like a luggage handle with a strap that you can attach to something, presumably a suitcase. Designed for you to weigh your luggage at home before checking in at airport. Fairly precise read out — 0.00 — I think — can not vouch for it's precision or accuracy! May be totally useless. But cool looking gadget. Another place that gives refunds no time limit, no questions asked .

Just picked this up at bed bath and beyond the other night
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15947047
Made by Taylor, pretty good company, cheap price. You can change the units, has a tare feature, and is accurate. However, the best part is that once an item is over a lb, it will actually read 1lb, XXXoz.

Coupled with a 20% coupon that BBB always sends, it was a great deal

I have a scale that I like well enough that weighs in grams or oz, 5 pound capacity, tare function. The two things I'd like in addition would be (1) higher capacity, perhaps 10 pounds (infrequent, but nice), and (2) ability to (re)calibrate the scale.

I know that my scale is slightly off. I bet that most or all low price ($40 or whatever) scales are off, not legal for trade, that sort of thing. It would be nice to find a relatively inexpensive scale that can be recalibrated, either with a supplied test weight, or just using crisp new coins of whatever denomination.

Probably not worth the money for me to replace my scale, I'm not *that* much of a gram counter; it just bugs me a little to weigh down to the gram and know that my accumulated base weight is off by a few ounces.

Brian,
As mentioned elsewhere, 5 quarters is around 28.3 grams, making a convenient "standard" to check with.

If your scale is weighing light add to the pan until you're good.

No suggestions on how to deal with weighing heavy.

I have been interested in a scale that can measure in .1 grams. Looking online i think i may try the "pocket scale 2000g" However, does it have automatic shutoff? I am so sick of my scales shutoff feature. When i stuff down bags i have to turn it on and switch it to grams between every baffle. I'm not buying another scale with that stupid feature.

-Tim

Tim,

My 'digital pocket scale' does automatically shut off after a few minutes (about 3 minutes), but when you turn it back on it goes to the same mode it was on so you don't need to adjust the units back. You just press the 'on' button and then wait a few seconds while it zeros. Mine measures in grams, ozt, dwt, ct, oz, GN and it has a tare function.

I sell scales that measures up to 5000 grams, measured in grams, pounds, ounces, and pounds and ounces.

They beep, but do not automatically shut off. As long as you don't drop them, they should never have to be calibrated.

Check out MyWeigh i5000 or any of their pocket scales for affordable, advanced digital scales that are easily calibrated. They have a large variety and do have something for everyone. I even use them for my bathroom scales.

Jack

I have 2 MyWeigh scales and they have been excellent. I have the 7001DX for up to 7 kilos with 1g resolution and a Triton T2 for up to 300g with .1g resolution. I have calibration weights and I try them now and then but both scales are dead on. I did a ton of research before buying and generally speaking MyWeigh is the best in class. Prices for both scales are very reasonable.

Don't buy a scale you can't calibrate yourself.

Greg said:
"If your scale is weighing light add to the pan until you're good."

Not sure what you mean there; I have crisp new coins whose precise weight I know (I happen to be using a few dollar coins, but whatever).
I suspect that your reference to a "pan" assumes a type of scale that I don't have (?). FWIW, I have a Pelouze model SP5, http://tinyurl.com/yflu9pb

David said:
"Don't buy a scale you can't calibrate yourself."

Just what I was thinking/saying, with the caveat that in some brief groping around on the web I didn't find any (of what I could consider) reasonably priced scales that can be user calibrated. Certainly if a person selected a mechanical balance type scale, some sort of calibration is likely possible. For a digital scale where you can just read out a decimal number on a display, I didn't find anything that wasn't pretty expensive. If anyone is aware of a good option here, please provide a model name/number or URL.

Brian,
I meant that if your scale is under reporting a known weight you can compensate by adding weight to the scale's platform until the readout indicates the correct weight. For instance, use very small washers and tape them the the corners of the platform.

Hmm, that raises an interesting question — is the scale off by a fixed, consistent amount regardless of what is being weighed, or is it off by some percentage of the amount being weighed? (or … ?)

So I weighed 10 silver dollar coins, each of which should be 31.103 grams. As I added coins to the scale, the delta between expected weight and weight given by the scale grew, sufficiently linearly to strongly suggest that the error is proportional to the weight on the scale. I.e., that putting some fixed offset weight isn't the solution.

Something that is a sort-of solution is to determine empirically about what the percentage error is, and adjust scale-provided weights accordingly — assuming that in fact there is a clean linear error increase. It's hard to determine that with the limited sample (and magnitude of sample weights) that I tried.

It's also somewhat of a PITA, I'd much rather be able to recalibrate my scale, and without paying an arm and a leg for a scale that's legal to use for trade!