# Which Scales?



## kikapu (Nov 18, 2012)

Now I already have scales cheapo jeweller scales but as its xmas and being pressed by people for ideas of what to get me I thought what about some more scales?

Now I am going to use it mainly for weighing my shot output so a low latency (if thats the right term) scale would be best I believe the Hario ones are the best?


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

These are absolutely fantastic - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190959665427?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

not cheap, but great quality

ignore the shoddy advertising, this is a well known brand (on balance)


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Fevmeister said:


> These are absolutely fantastic - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190959665427?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648


Have a set of these - agree they are good quality. Bought mine with a calibration weight for an extra £10.00. Surprised when reading posts about scales that no-one seems to think about the need for occasional checking/recalibration to ensure scales are not over/under weighing - rather critical for the fine tolerances we coffee heads seek.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Just get 2 sets of these instead

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300g-x-0-01g-Small-Mini-Jewelry-Gram-Pocket-Digital-Balance-Weight-Digital-Scale-/151067184567?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item232c4e4db7

flipping brilliant


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

Hario scales have a 3 second latency at low weights.

Really they are designed to measure heavy weights of a caraffe, dripper and a brew stand and, at the other end, a few beans.

Saying that, for meassuring in and out, rather than the pour, they are very good.


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Have a set of these - agree they are good quality. Bought mine with a calibration weight for an extra £10.00. Surprised when reading posts about scales that no-one seems to think about the need for occasional checking/recalibration to ensure scales are not over/under weighing - rather critical for the fine tolerances we coffee heads seek.


what weight do you use for calibration?


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

I use a 100 gram certified weight


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Fevmeister said:


> what weight do you use for calibration?


As Ron says - a 100grm calibration weight is perfect - if you are thinking of getting some scales - check that they have a calibration function - not sure all do, especially the cheaper ones.


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

Our scales do have a calibration function though Sys?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Does anyone have any that go above 300g , as the ones I have won't hold a cap cup for weight , or if they do , the display quickly springs to o-l-d read out . Perhaps they don't react quick enough?


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

I have the American Weighing System Blade scales that are 1kg max weight with 0.1g accuracy, they come with a 10 year warranty, I got them from Amazon earlier this year for £9.95 and can highly recommend them, they even survived a thorough soaking whilst switched on a couple of nights ago, whilst filling the Sage DB the top decided to come off the Brita jug and dump its contents all over the machine, and the scales which I had just been using to weigh the Hamster and were still on. I switched them off and dried everything down and they were no worse for wear in the morning. I can highly recommend them. I only paid £8.95 for mine but they seem to have gone up in price but I still feel they are worth the extra:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0012N1NAA/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/American-Weigh-American-Weigh-Black-Blade-Digital-Pocket-Scale-1000-by-0-1-G-/151117711792?pt=AU_Kitchen_Scales&hash=item232f5149b0


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

They look good , but not sure I want to spend £25 on scales......


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=aws+scales&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311.R1.TR3.TRC0.A0.X0.1g+&_nkw=digital+scales+0.1g&_sacat=0

Any of these that go up to 500g would do - most portafilters with a basket and some beans come in under that weight too...


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## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

Same thread here http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?12823-Scales


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> They look good , but not sure I want to spend £25 on scales......


The ebay ones are only £16 lol, but I didn't expect the price to have gone up so much since July, but the 10 year warranty must be worth having, and if they offer that I guess they will last unlike some of the other cheapies., I may have another set of O.1g scales that are 500g or 1kg somewhere Martin I'll have a look and next time I'm in Lancaster I can drop them off for you, or maybe with Patrick if I'm going into Preston.


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

Wouldn't 0.01 accuracy scales be more useful than 0.1?


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

SimonB said:


> Wouldn't 0.01 accuracy scales be more useful than 0.1?


Indeed they would but the ones that are rated for 500g or over are heinously expensive.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

SimonB said:


> Wouldn't 0.01 accuracy scales be more useful than 0.1?


Is it really important to measure your output to two decimal places?


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## bubbajvegas (Jan 26, 2013)

0.5g is close enough for me


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

jeebsy said:


> Is it really important to measure your output to two decimal places?


The ones I went for were similar to the ones that Gary recommended earlier in the thread.

They're 2 decimal places but the only reason I went for these was because they respond really quickly.

I tend to round 0.5 of a gram


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

jeebsy said:


> Is it really important to measure your output to two decimal places?


Well potentially with only 1 decimal place accuracy you could be almost .1 gram off which could be anywhere from 0.5% to 1% too much or too little coffee! Shocking I know.

Anyway, I find it annoying when you're .2 or .1 away from your target and regardless of what you tip out the display refuses to change.


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

Charliej said:


> Indeed they would but the ones that are rated for 500g or over are heinously expensive.


I did find these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251272936052 and they're a little expensive, what I'd actually like is a set of scales with up to 2 decimal place accuracy, 1kg capacity and big enough to rest a portafilter on as that would save a lot of time faffing about with removing the basket, weighing it etc but I can't find any scales that can do it cheaply (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300967537388 at £50 so far but I'm doubtful about the quality of that device).


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## Olliehulla (Feb 26, 2013)

I have these - http://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Weigh-SC-2KG-Digital-Pocket/dp/B001RF3XJ2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1385981065&sr=8-2&keywords=american+weigh+scales

bombproof and I paid a lot less than they are selling for now - I think coffee hit do/did them for around £26


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Charliej said:


> ...the scales which I had just been using to weigh the Hamster...










weighing small furry rodents an alternate hobby of yours Charlie?

Actually I can't talk I like to weigh my pug, but he is prone to easy weight gain!


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

View attachment 4592


A respectable 12.12Kg...


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

im not even going to try and get one of our hens onto scales


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## Neill (Jun 26, 2013)

My German shepherd definitely wouldn't fit on any scales in our house.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Milanski said:


> A respectable 12.12Kg...


He looks really happy sitting there







.... He needs a Santa hat though

Great picture! I can't show the misses or she'll want one.


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Milanski said:


> weighing small furry rodents an alternate hobby of yours Charlie?
> 
> Actually I can't talk I like to weigh my pug, but he is prone to easy weight gain!


Not an alternate hobby but when my ex left me a fortnight ago she took our female hamster as she(the hamster) was "hers" and with both of them going he seems to have been fretting and wasn't eating much so best to keep an eye on his weight.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

So she split up the hamster's as well Charlie? That's pretty low!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Noticed they use ohaus scales in workshop when I was in at the weekend


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

You can get cheap scales that do >2kg at 0.1g accuracy from the importers like focalprice for cheap

http://dynamic.focalprice.com/HT0072W/2KG_01g_Accuracy_Home_Use_Digital_Scale_White.html?Currency=GBP


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

jeebsy said:


> Noticed they use ohaus scales in workshop when I was in at the weekend


Wow! Have you seen the price of them!!


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Daren said:


> So she split up the hamster's as well Charlie? That's pretty low!


Everything about the whole split has been pretty low tbh Daren, the fact that her own flat is right next door to me hasn't made things any easier. The Hamster's are Syrian hamsters so live in separate cages anyway.


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## kikapu (Nov 18, 2012)

Daren said:


> Wow! Have you seen the price of them!!


Even though you said that I still didnt think that much!! Think the £6 scales will do me!


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

The ones I googled were £140!


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## kikapu (Nov 18, 2012)

Yeah those are the bottom of the range ones!


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## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

I must have mid range ones £190











kikapu said:


> Yeah those are the bottom of the range ones!


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

15 grams is 15 grams. I'm more than happy with £6 scales to tell me that. I'll spend the £134 saving on cups n coffee


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

http://www.digital-scales-company.com/bench-scales/514-ohaus-navigator-nv-lcd-portable-scale.html

A set of these in the 1.1kg / 0.1g would still be nice though....


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## SimonB (Sep 12, 2013)

Daren said:


> 15 grams is 15 grams. I'm more than happy with £6 scales to tell me that. I'll spend the £134 saving on cups n coffee


Unless your scales are only 1g accurate then you could be off by nearly 1g.









I do agree though, much better ways to spend £100+ but if someone could find a medium sized set of scales that could do it all for £50 I'd probably pony up.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Alchemy getting in on the Ohaus action too now:

http://alchemycoffee.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/scales.html?spref=fb


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## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

They're good scales that's why







. I was in Colonna and Smalls yesterday and they had a set on their counter.



jeebsy said:


> Alchemy getting in on the Ohaus action too now:
> 
> http://alchemycoffee.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/scales.html?spref=fb


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Shame (or maybe it's fortunate) they won't fit under the group


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## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

That Ohaus is pretty cheap for 1.6kg capacity and 0.1g resolution (don't know what precision they offer though). If you want to fall off your chair, have a look at super precise lab scale prices









In the end it boils down to what you need and what you use the scales for. Coffee dosing with 0.1g precision? yes, fine, but do you really need to dose water down to the last 0.1g?

Regards,

T.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

The scales I use at the moment to measure output are only accurate to 1g. It's enough to know if a shot is 24g or 25g, doubt there's enough of a difference between taste at 24.2 and 24.4 to bother about. Couldn't even be that accurate shutting off the pump.


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## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

It's also worth remembering that there's a difference between precision and resolution, which are not the same thing. Just because the display shows one decimal place, doesn't mean anything, it can still be inaccurate or only accurate down to a full gram or even worse. Same goes for scales which give a full gram result, precision on those might be anything really, can be as low as 0.5g (rounding up / down) or higher at +/-1g.

Regards,

T.


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