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$200 digital scales.... are they worth the time and money?

Lead Slanger

I would like to get a different scale and as the title says, are the digital scales on the $200 range worth it? Or for that price should I stay with a good beam scale? I'm not opposed to a good beam scale, but a digital would be nice.

Currently I'm using a Hornady beam scale and it's a little finicky. What scales would you recommend? Just looking for something that's reliable and consistent.
 
I not opposed to digital scales; I just do not need or want on.

I replaced my very old Ohaus about 3 or 4 years ago with a Lyman Brass Smith beam balance. I check it regularly with test weights and it's been within the advertised + / - .1 grain and most of the time spot on and returns to zero. I am completely satisfied with mine. I load about a thousand rifle and about thousand pistol cartridges a year, so it gets a lot of use.

The keys repeatability and accuracy are mounting it level*.


* Special thanks to Mr. Boyd Allen for his advice and assistance.
 
LVLAaron said:
I forget the technical terms for the different types of scales, but I think they're all the same until you get to the A&D FX type lab scale. 20 dollars or 200, they have the same type of mechanism.
Click to expand...
I believe that you are referring to scales that use load cells (lower cost) versus electromagnetic balances (higher cost). The differences are summarized in this link…

 
I've been weighing my loads on a GemPro 250 for about five years now , and just for "giggles' , we compared loads from it against my "Buds" A&D 120 .
Out of 50 loads , there were two that were one tenth of a grain heavy , and the rest matched to within half of a tenth of a grain .
I realize that many here have not had success with this particular scale , and many have had very nasty things to say about it , but mine seems to work very well , and like is said . If it ain't broke , stop trying to fix it ! I do re-tare about every five or so loads , so maybe that has something to do with my consistency . SD is usually between 4.2 and 6.4 , which seems to vary more with Temperature and humidity readings . Velocities are in the 2655 to 2670 range on a Berger 200 Hybrid out of a 30", six flute Brux . Scores at 600 run from 195 up to 200 with X-count a average of 8 to 14 . If the operator were a little better skilled , the X count would be higher .
Of course a better quality ; ( More expensive ) scale will be more consistent over the long run , but that doesn't mean that there aren't cheaper scales out there that will do a adequate job . I am looking at up-grading soon , as nothing lasts forever , and that includes scales that are really good , "CHEAP" ones , too .
No matter how cheap ; or expensive the scale is , the shooter still is the final component in the mix .
 
I don't use my old Lyman Ohaus balance beam anymore. I have an FX 120I that has never been out of the box. There days for about 3 years now I've been using my Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper for all my powder weighing.
 
I really like my cheapo Hornady digital scale. I don’t do any real precision work and I’m mainly spot checking thrown charges, but it’s worth it to me just for the convenience. VERY luxurious to be able to tare out a specific case and measure the powder charge directly inside of it rather than dumping it into a beam scale pan etc.

I definitely notice drift in my digital scale during a loading session, but it’s not a big deal for me since I end up using the tare function frequently anyways. I have a pretty nice beam scale, but have hardly used it since getting a digital unit.
 
Not exactly an answer to the OP, but I started handloading last year with a cheap Frankford Arsenal digital scale. Didn't like it right off, knew it wasn't accurate. Bought a Hornady Autocharge Pro. It was marginally better but I always felt it wasn't accurate. I'd see the readout show a tenth above charge weight and then come back down. It never seemed to show the same weight for the the powder pan. So I bought an A&D 120. So far I've done a couple tests with throws. I used the Hornday to throw the charge then compared the weight of the charge on my original cheap FA digital and the A&D. The FA is so far off its ridiculous-as much as .6 grains from actual weight. The Hornady threw charges that had an extreme spread of .22 grains (in 2 separate 20 throw tests). Interestingly, the Hornady had the same accuracy rate whether in fast or slow mode; fast mode had more overthrows but was no less accurate overall.
 
Save your money for an FX120, buy one of these in the mean time.

Remarkable little scale

Some time back in a thread about scales, one poster mentioned a scale, almost apologetically, I think because it is so inexpensive. His post seemed to indicate that he was an intelligent and experienced person, so I took a very small chance, and ordered one. Boy, was he right. I am delighted...
forum.accurateshooter.com
 
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