Price vs Quality
The cost of milligram scales available on the market ranges wildly from €10-15 at the very low end (thank you China), to several thousands of euros (and more) at the high end and anywhere in between.
For simplicity, we’ll split this range into three categories: low range, mid range and high range, though obviously there will be some overlap between the three.
Low-end €0-50
These are your most basic, least accurate and most unreliable scales. While I personally don’t recommend scales at this range due to their lower durability and reliability, they can still be useful for some researchers. If you’re on a tight budget and you only need to be accurate to within +/- 10mg, then these types of scales can be useful. If you need to be more precise than this, then we recommend spending slightly more.
A set in this range (although these aren’t strictly “milligram” scales as they only weigh to 0.01g/10mg) that I’d recommend are On Balance’s Tuff Weigh (we don’t sell these ourselves, so here’s a link to Bol – it isn’t a referral link). These little bricks are surprisingly durable and do the job if you’re weighing in the 100mg-200g range (if you need to weight smaller amounts, we recommend a higher range set of scales).
Mid-range €50-1000
This may seem like a very broad price range, but when it comes to milligram scales, there really isn’t a huge difference in quality and accuracy until you spend (at least) over €1000 on real, lab-grade equipment. The difference between a €50 set of scales and a €500 set really isn’t going to be that great. For this reason, we recommend that you choosee scales in the €50-100 price range. They really are going to be the best value for money when it comes to quality, reliability and accuracy.
In this range, I highly recommend the AWS Gemini-20 scales. You’ve likely seen scales that look virtually identical to these all over Amazon. That’s because these scales set the standard for low cost and high precision milligram scales and since then, many cheap knock-off versions have made their way onto the market.
These scales had previously been almost impossible to buy in Europe without importing them from the United States, which obviously came with long shipping times and import fees. We have bought several sets ourselves just like this. It was for this reason that we decided to take matters into our own hands and start supplying them ourselves. Now, not only is our supply taken care of, but we can offer them to our customers at a much more affordable price (other sellers in the UK were charging as much as £120 for them!).
One Reddit user did a great community service 10 years ago and made a post in which they tested the accuracy of the Gemini-20.
High-end €1000+
These are scales for the serious scientific researcher who needs to weigh substances accurately to within a microgram. These scales tend to use either electromagnetic force restoration or surface acoustic waves to weigh substances, whereas cheaper scales use strain gauge technology. I’m not going to get into the science behind these scales as frankly I don’t understand it! But just make sure that if you purchase a “high-end” set of scales, they use either electromagnetic force restoration or surface acoustic wave technology, as any expensive strain gauge set isn’t going to be significantly more accurate than the AWS-20.
Calibration
It’s good practice to make sure your scales are regularly calibrated. We recommend that you do this at least once a month if you don’t use your scales often; or once per week if you use them regularly. It’s also very important that you calibrate them if you move your scales around a lot (such as carrying them around all day in a backpack) or of course if you drop them.
Most scales come with a metal calibration weight of between 10-20g. Just follow the instructions on your weighing scale for how to properly calibrate it!
share your toughts
Join the Conversation.