New $255 Lab Scale from Denver Instrument

[Mark Walker in TX]

Does the DI scale have the flip up hard cover like the Acculab model?

TIA!!

Mark

 

[flatlander]

No, the MXX 123 doesn't have a flip-up hard cover. It does come with a glass ring that fits around the edge of the pan that's supposed to deflect drafts that might upset the scale as it's weighing. The ring is only about 1" tall, so it doesn't interfere with reaching over it to pick up the scale pan off one of my Redding balances that I've been using on the 123. I found it easy to level the scale,it has a built-in bubble level) with its adjustable feet, and it took only a few seconds to do the initial calibration, using the supplied calibration weight. I'm very pleased with the ease of use, its stability, speed of settling on a reading, and the precision of having a scale capable of resolving the weight of a single kernal of powder.

However, in my drafty old house,built in 1909), there are pitfalls to having a scale with this much sensitivity. Even in the basement, there are air currents strong enough to upset this balance when the wind blows as hard as it's been blowing for the past several days. We had strong southerly winds over Thanksgiving and Friday - 20-30mph with higher gusts. Then all day Sunday, blizzard-like conditions with winds of 45mph with gusts to 50-60mph have carried over into today, making it impossible to use the scale. This isn't a criticism, though those of you with homes more air-tight than mine might mistake it for such. Neither the Dillon nor Lyman units function well under these conditions either. The wind's going to have to die down to a more typical western Kansas breeze of 10-15mph before I'll attempt to do more loading.

The one evening when there wasn't much wind, it seemed to have warmed up or stabilized within about 5 min., and drifted off zero only once in the time it took to weigh out 25 charges of N560 for some 6.5x55 ammo. Re-zeroing takes only a second or so. The display is quite a bit larger than that of the Dillon, and is backlit, making it very easy to read.

You will want to have the owner's manual available during setup though, as I found it a little difficult to interpret some of the display's rather cryptic messages when I toggled the unit of measure from grams to grains. This unit is capable of several different functions that most reloaders will never use, but these are well-covered in the 19 pages comprising the English language portion of the owner's manual. Setup, unit of measure selection, and calibration are easily accomplished, and for those of you who want to be able to just unpack and start using it, you should be able to suffer through reading the 2-3 pages covering those items.

So far, I'm very pleased with the MXX 123, and would certainly make the purchase again. I feel it's quite an improvement over my old,'92) Dillon Determinator - nearly as big a step up as the Dillon was over the beam balances I'd been using for 26yrs. Hopefully, it'll be as durable as the Dillon has been - time will tell.

 

[dreever]

I received mine yesterday. With a limited amount of playing with it I can tell you this:

Warm up time is practically nil. It was less than three minutes for my unit.

Fluorescent lights directly over the unit had no ill effect what-so-ever. A big plus for me since I my reloading room is full of fluorescents.

Drafts were not a problem since my reloading room is below ground level with no windows open. However the balance is sensitive enough that a couple of times I noticed a .01 fluctuation due to my body movement.

As Dennis noted there is no flip up cover ala Acculab, but don't let this stop you. A small clear Tupperware type storage tub from Wally-World when turned upside down over the balance affords probably better protection than a hinged cover anyway, and better keeps dust off the entire balance in the process. Even if mine did have a hinged cover I'd take this precaution for the three buck investment.

Set-up was a snap, even for one as technically challenged as I.
I have mine running through a surge suppressor, but I'm not sure that's even necessary.

I re-weighed some new 6BR brass that I had previously painstakingly weighed on my RCBS 1010 sorting it into one grain batches. Those I re-weighed were between 126.0-127.0. With the MXX-123 I could easily re-weigh all of that batch,107 pieces)in no time at all. About as fast as you could place it and remove it from the balance. A HUGE improvement over sweating over the 1010! In fact I plan to reweigh all 500 pieces. It's that simple.

Powder charges were easy. I threw a couple of tenths light with my Harrells then dropped a few kernels to bring it up to weight. Piece of cake. Scary it's so easy.

So far I'm real happy with the unit. Dennis and I will keep you informed if there develops any glitches we aren't aware of.

Danny

 

[dreever]

OK, all you potential MXX-123 owners looking for the perfect cover to protect your balance sitting on the bench from dust and heaven forbid accidental knocks and drops.

Go to your local Wally World and plunk down $3.12 for a Sterilite Show Off plastic storage box, item #1894,www.sterilite.com). It's clear with a blue removable lid that you can discard. Turn it upside down over the MXX-123 and there's your protection for when the balance isn't in use. It's just big enough that it doesn't touch the balance on any side, and tall enough to clear the draft ring by a couple of inches.

Danny

 

[Tim_in_TN]

Question, is there room on top for a trickler, to sit beside the pan. I just informed the wife this is to be my Christmas gift from her!! Looks like a great way to improve/speed up the fun of charging cases accurately.

 

[JamesnTN]

Tim,

There is not enough room for a trickler. What I typically do is pour a few kernals out on the bench in front of my scales and drop my charge weigh it and with my fingers drop in what I need, I've found with the scales of this caliber a trickler tends to over drop what you need.
If you are interested in scales let me know I'll be able to help you with your purchase as I'm a certified dealer for DI.

 

[thekubiaks]

balances/balances: It sort of ticks me off that you have to use paypal to get that price.
Since my PayPal account was hacked,which pay pal says cannot possibly happen. YEAH RIGHT EXPLAIN THAT TO MY BANK AND CREDIT CARD COMPANY! Which by the way was the only thing that particular credit card was ever used for) I'm done with paypal, especially that verified account B.S. which just lets the @###$,* hackers get into your bank accounts.

Danny

For what its worth.... I just dealt with balances.com on a purchase of a GemPro 50. The scale was too small for reloading purposes in my opinion, the max grain capacity was 155 and the weighing cup was tiny,made for gems) even though it is advertised as usable for reloading. I tried to get the owner of balances.com to exchange it or refund it for something usable but he gave me the "Tough luck, no refunds or exchanges" Now I have to go thru my credit card company to deal with him. I used Paypal to pay but since I used a credit card, Paypal has no records, what a hassle. Obviously I won't be shopping there again...