Digital stylus scales....?

[WESTLOWER]

I have found these cheap digital scales to be very inaccurate, really varied readings depending on what angle the scales are positioned under the cartridge. I have reverted to an old school Shure Precision Stylus Tracking Force Gauge SFG-2
I had these issues with the digital scales and then when chatting with a mate, who just happens to be one of the worlds biggest high end analogue dealers, he said he swears by the Shure....
I figured if it was good enough for him, then a no brainer for me.

[struth]

ive one of the digi ones in question and found it a bit iffy at times but useful along with other guages. Ive still got my shure balance too and a better digital one, that i dont see on ebay any more alas. its very accurate

[Clive197]

I’ve had 3 or 4 of the cheap Chinese digital scales and found that they all succumbed to failure so I now use a Jelco scale which if you can still get hold of one would be a good investment. Mine still works accurately for the last two years. What’s cheap usually in my experience isn’t. As I swop cartridges (evens wear between my cartridges) over regularly I use it once every 6-8 weeks.

[Manicatel]

Maybe I’ve just been lucky with my relatively cheap digital scales.
I’ve got the Shure balance scales which is great fun to use, but I honestly don’t think you can get seriously accurate, say within thousandths of a gram as you can with some of the digital scales.
Does it really matter, getting to within thousandths of a gram is debatable I guess.
I agree that the digital scales can give different readings depending upon placement, which is why I always take a few readings over the arc of the arm to get a good idea of what’s going on.
Having a couple of different sets of scales allows cross-referencing between them & they usually come with a reference weight for calibration.
I have compared my cheap ones against a ProJect set costing about £90 or so & the results seem pretty consistent.

[Firebottle]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324338023127

I had the one mentioned in above posts but had problems with the batteries flattening and faint display.

Make sure with this type of scale that the side battery contact isn't pushed down within the battery compartment.
I have a suspicion that the side contact may have been shorting the two batteries together in mine, resulting in one of the cells going flat very quickly.

[Barry]

All analogue scales are more accurate than digital scales. Don't confuse resolution with accuracy.

I do use a digital scale, but I have calibrated it with the weights used with the Transcriptors Stylus balance. These in turn were measured using a chemical balance at work, whose own weights were calibrated and checked by the UK National Bureau of Standards.

[martinjohn308]

Bought one from Johnnie 7 Audiorigami.

Regards,

Martin

[MisterKevster]

Went for this in the end...just over £10 including Brexit tax (Haha!) and delivery.
Came in 8 days too....great.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001490030760.html