American Weigh Scales Any Good?

[varanidguy]

Hey guys. Been lurking for a bit but not posting.

Right now I'm using a Hornady GS-1500 scale without any *major* issues. The scale is accurate once it settles (verified weighing between it and my beam scale), but it can be a big PITA to use. It constantly auto shuts off and the amount of time it takes to settle isn't very consistent, having to Tare a lot and recheck powder measurements.

So I was shopping around for some affordable, but accurate, scales that use AC power rather than batteries to try to get around the whole auto shut off nonsense and came across this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-ZEO-50-M...item233cc34d15

For the features and accuracy it boasts, it looks like a near unbeatable scale for the money. My question is...does anyone have experience with this brand or maybe this scale in particular? Is it accurate and worth it as a bench scale? I will still keep the Hornady scale as a pocket option, but for my bench I want something that will work and not waste time with its constant automatically shutting off bullplop!

Anyways, any feedback would be sincerely and greatly appreciated!

[milotrain]

Get the myWeigh gempro 250. It's twice as much money but it is well tested and well reviewed.

[varanidguy]

Get the myWeigh gempro 250. It's twice as much money but it is well tested and well reviewed.

Yeah, that seems to be a consistently well received scale on the boards, but for about $50-$60 more, wouldn't it be worth it to get something like the Hornady Lock n Load Auto Charge?

[J-cat]

No because the Hornady is only accurate within .2grs whereas the Gempro is accurate within .04grs.

[varanidguy]

No because the Hornady is only accurate within .2grs whereas the Gempro is accurate within .04grs.

I see. The GemPro seems pretty awesome...I was just hoping to find someone with experience with the American Weigh scale...Amazon has some pretty positive feedback on the scale, from plenty of reloaders, but it's only 9 reviews. I'd be willing to take the chance on it if I can figure out if it has programmable auto shut off...that's the most annoying thing to me.

With a lack of info it seems the GemPro might be the sure fire way to go...

[stilly]

Hey guys. Been lurking for a bit but not posting.

Right now I'm using a Hornady GS-1500 scale without any *major* issues. The scale is accurate once it settles (verified weighing between it and my beam scale), but it can be a big PITA to use. It constantly auto shuts off and the amount of time it takes to settle isn't very consistent, having to Tare a lot and recheck powder measurements.

So I was shopping around for some affordable, but accurate, scales that use AC power rather than batteries to try to get around the whole auto shut off nonsense and came across this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-ZEO-50-M...item233cc34d15

For the features and accuracy it boasts, it looks like a near unbeatable scale for the money. My question is...does anyone have experience with this brand or maybe this scale in particular? Is it accurate and worth it as a bench scale? I will still keep the Hornady scale as a pocket option, but for my bench I want something that will work and not waste time with its constant automatically shutting off bullplop!

Anyways, any feedback would be sincerely and greatly appreciated!

I got this one from them:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-Gemini-20-x-0-001g-Digital-Scale-Gram-Carat-Grain-Reload-Jewelry-Milligram-/400834217906?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d5394c7b2

It lasts a LONG time on AAA batteries. I LOVE how accurate it is. I have had it for 3.5+ years now and I have changed the batteries 1-2 times.

I love my digital one but I wish I had kinda gotten a different one, but only because I do not have any others. I have checked this against my 5-0-5 and it checks good and is trust worthy enough to do all of my ladders. I love this brand of scales, they are very accurate and in fact MORE accurate than the expensive reloading scales. I can only speak for my Gemini 20 though and I got mine from amazon...

OH, the ONLY issue I have had, is taht lately I have noticed that once I tare it out, I might see a .08 or a .14 show up on the readout like there might be something inside that is shaking around on the sensor, but other than that it seems all good.

[Fordtrucks]

I have the exact same one stilly has but in black, and I have to echo ALL of stilly's remarks.
I have also checked mine against my 5-10 and with Lyman calibrated check weights and it's about as close as it gets.
I work at a lab and checked the Lyman weights on out analytical balances and they were a tad off, but the Gemini showed the same thing.

[varanidguy]

I got this one from them:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-Gemini-20-x-0-001g-Digital-Scale-Gram-Carat-Grain-Reload-Jewelry-Milligram-/400834217906?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d5394c7b2

It lasts a LONG time on AAA batteries. I LOVE how accurate it is. I have had it for 3.5+ years now and I have changed the batteries 1-2 times.

I love my digital one but I wish I had kinda gotten a different one, but only because I do not have any others. I have checked this against my 5-0-5 and it checks good and is trust worthy enough to do all of my ladders. I love this brand of scales, they are very accurate and in fact MORE accurate than the expensive reloading scales. I can only speak for my Gemini 20 though and I got mine from amazon...

OH, the ONLY issue I have had, is taht lately I have noticed that once I tare it out, I might see a .08 or a .14 show up on the readout like there might be something inside that is shaking around on the sensor, but other than that it seems all good.

What about the auto shut off? Can it be disabled? Sometimes I go over that minute mark and gotta turn the darn thing on and that eats up extra time. Also does it settle quickly?

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[varanidguy]

I have the exact same one stilly has but in black, and I have to echo ALL of stilly's remarks.
I have also checked mine against my 5-10 and with Lyman calibrated check weights and it's about as close as it gets.
I work at a lab and checked the Lyman weights on out analytical balances and they were a tad off, but the Gemini showed the same thing.

Awesome. I'm liking the idea of trying one from this brand out more.

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[NorCalFocus]

What about the auto shut off? Can it be disabled? Sometimes I go over that minute mark and gotta turn the darn thing on and that eats up extra time. Also does it settle quickly?

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I also picked up that scale off of Stilly's recommendation. I don't believe you can disable the auto shut off. But it comes back on quickly so I don't worry about it.

I weigh each charge and trickle up to my desired charge. It settles plenty fast enough for me.

[varanidguy]

I also picked up that scale off of Stilly's recommendation. I don't believe you can disable the auto shut off. But it comes back on quickly so I don't worry about it.

I weigh each charge and trickle up to my desired charge. It settles plenty fast enough for me.

Definitely good to know! It looks like this company's scales might be good to go. If only I can find out about turning off the auto shut off on the ZEO-50, I might just give it a try.

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[stilly]

What about the auto shut off? Can it be disabled? Sometimes I go over that minute mark and gotta turn the darn thing on and that eats up extra time. Also does it settle quickly?

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It seems to settle in about 5-8 seconds if that. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but i think I see how it calculates, It SEEMS to go off of time. Like, if you have 4.6gr sitting for about 10 seconds and then add in another .3gr slowly then it will calculate up after waiting a few seconds as if it is seeing if this new weight is the new weight, then it will go up, but not all the way, maybe stop slightly short, then maybe finally go into the final number.

There is certainly a delay in whatever it does and I think it does that to cut the sensitivity to everything a bit. I just made a ladder for my ranch hand to go shoot at the next chance I get. It took me about an hour or so, but that was loading everything by hand. I have 50 rounds and I also have noticed that I had reported before that it started to drift a bit by .08 or .14, but low and behold, I forgot that since I turned it upside down and shook all the powder out, I have not seen it do that for the past 4 sessions so I think I had some powder inside it or something because I know it rattled and a few things fell out of it. I think I had about a gr of various powders in it. It only sounds like a single flake is still inside it, but it has not done the drifting thing lately so that makes me feel better.

I run mine underneath my large flourescent shoplight that I put up to run across my loading bench and I have not seen any accuracy degradation from the light source. I also noticed that while I am loading on the bench and going through the turret motions that even though it is sitting about a foot away from all the bumping and thumping, it does not change if it has a measurement in it. I think that is the delay that is preventing that. I like that though. If I hit hard enough I can make the numbers fluctuate but not usually. I wish it did more weight. Mine only does 20 grams but I have never overloaded it with any of my pistol loads. I DO like that.

This digital scale basically proves everything is incorrect about digital scales when some reloaders talk about all scales like they are chargemaster 5000s or WTFE they are called.

I hate to talk **** on RCBS but if they replaced the scale portion of that with this scale things would be hella smoother.

Another thing, because I am screwy like that, I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY like the fact that this scale will measure in .02gr so I know if I have a high 5.5 or a low 5.5 instead of a 5.5 that is almost a 5.6 or a 5.4...

When this scale breaks (if it ever breaks) I will just go buy the 50grammer because although this is a killer scale, it gets boring after a while. You know, it is always accurate, it is always working properly, it is always counting right, it is always just the right amount of sensitive. I miss the days of that SR-750 where I could pull off the weight and it would go back to -.7 or put the weight back on and then off and it goes right back to -.2. THAT scale kept me on my feet. This scale is so predictable...

OMG, do NOT go to their website. OMFG, info overload...

[liber]

Anyone try this Lyman scale?

Midway has it on sale.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/142513/lyman-micro-touch-electronic-powder-scale-1500-grain-capacity-110-volt?cm_vc=ProductFinding

[varanidguy]

It seems to settle in about 5-8 seconds if that. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but i think I see how it calculates, It SEEMS to go off of time. Like, if you have 4.6gr sitting for about 10 seconds and then add in another .3gr slowly then it will calculate up after waiting a few seconds as if it is seeing if this new weight is the new weight, then it will go up, but not all the way, maybe stop slightly short, then maybe finally go into the final number.

There is certainly a delay in whatever it does and I think it does that to cut the sensitivity to everything a bit. I just made a ladder for my ranch hand to go shoot at the next chance I get. It took me about an hour or so, but that was loading everything by hand. I have 50 rounds and I also have noticed that I had reported before that it started to drift a bit by .08 or .14, but low and behold, I forgot that since I turned it upside down and shook all the powder out, I have not seen it do that for the past 4 sessions so I think I had some powder inside it or something because I know it rattled and a few things fell out of it. I think I had about a gr of various powders in it. It only sounds like a single flake is still inside it, but it has not done the drifting thing lately so that makes me feel better.

I run mine underneath my large flourescent shoplight that I put up to run across my loading bench and I have not seen any accuracy degradation from the light source. I also noticed that while I am loading on the bench and going through the turret motions that even though it is sitting about a foot away from all the bumping and thumping, it does not change if it has a measurement in it. I think that is the delay that is preventing that. I like that though. If I hit hard enough I can make the numbers fluctuate but not usually. I wish it did more weight. Mine only does 20 grams but I have never overloaded it with any of my pistol loads. I DO like that.

This digital scale basically proves everything is incorrect about digital scales when some reloaders talk about all scales like they are chargemaster 5000s or WTFE they are called.

I hate to talk **** on RCBS but if they replaced the scale portion of that with this scale things would be hella smoother.

Another thing, because I am screwy like that, I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY like the fact that this scale will measure in .02gr so I know if I have a high 5.5 or a low 5.5 instead of a 5.5 that is almost a 5.6 or a 5.4...

When this scale breaks (if it ever breaks) I will just go buy the 50grammer because although this is a killer scale, it gets boring after a while. You know, it is always accurate, it is always working properly, it is always counting right, it is always just the right amount of sensitive. I miss the days of that SR-750 where I could pull off the weight and it would go back to -.7 or put the weight back on and then off and it goes right back to -.2. THAT scale kept me on my feet. This scale is so predictable...

OMG, do NOT go to their website. OMFG, info overload...

Yeah, being that you and several others have had good experiences with this brand of scales, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the 50 gram scale with AC adapter. I found out that it does have a non-programmable auto shut off, but it is set for 300 seconds or 5 minutes. That is plenty of time...so I'm going to give it a shot. If it turns out to be terribad, I'll go with Milo's recommendation and spring for the My Weigh GemPro 250 or 500.

[varanidguy]

So according to a seller on the American Weigh ZEO-50 scale, when you use the AC adapter to plug it in, it essentially disables the auto shut off allowing the scale to remain on indefinitely until manually unplugged or turned off. That seals it...I'm going to give this scale a shot and hopefully get a refund if it turns out to be crap. If that happens, I'll just go with the GemPro but I think for the affordability of this scale, it is worth a shot. I'm ordering off eBay for simplicity (about $70 shipped for scale and AC adapter) but you can see the answers here on Amazon if you wish.

http://www.amazon.com/AWS-ZEO-50-Laboratory-American-Weigh/dp/B00L3LUCJ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434728966&sr=8-1&keywords=zeo-50&pebp=1434729364659&perid=1R5DCCRXXDFF6VP01YVM