I'm thinking about getting one of those digital scales for reloading. I know nothing about them and would like some help pointing me in the right direction.
Robin
I use a cheapie scale that takes a coin battery. It works well enough, but when I want to be precise, I use my RCBS 505.
Digital scales can get goofy when it's cold. They should be allowed to warm up before use. When I worked in laboratories, we never turned the balances (expensive word for scales) off.
Good check weights are also important. A mechanical scale will tend to stay linear with it's error. - a +.5 error at zero will still be a +.5 error at 100. An electric scale might be +.5 at 0 and +7 at 100. So check weights and calibration are more important.
I have an RCBS Chargemaster. It measures to the .10 of a grain. For precision I use a USSolid scale that goes out to .001 grain. I have tested the RCBS against the triple digit scale and was surprised to see how accurate it was.
I would guess that unless you are using it for competitive benchrest, it would be more than accurate enough.
It's simple to use and doesn't really have all the bells and whistles that the Supreme or Matchmaster offer. I've had it for 3-4 years with no issue. You can find them on sale from time to time.
I have a PACT electronic scale that is excellent, as well as an RCBS chargemaster. I frequently check one scale against the other and have yet to find a discrepancy. The thing is, electronic scales need to be turned on and left alone for at least 20-30 minutes for the load cells to get hot. THEN you can calibrate and use the scale.
For the most part, the portable battery operated electronic scales are for drug dealers. They're accurate to a point, but I have little faith in them. I've seen far too many instances where they were wrong by a substantial margin. If your dime bag is off by a bit, no big deal BUT... if your already hot load becomes a +P+ load, your Colt Single Action Army might become embedded in your forehead.
I use a digital jeweler's scale that's accurate to 0.001 grams. It ignores weight drops below a certain threshold, so you have to throw a charge and trickle assertively instead of daintily. When I use it, I'll verify every so-many loads with my balance beam scale. Works great for me.