Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Has anyone purchased this Chinese miligram balance from ebay?

gutter_ca - 7-2-2013 at 10:52

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100G-0-001G-B1003T-Analytical-Electr...

Any feedback? It's cheap, and if accurate seems a great deal.

krishqa - 7-2-2013 at 11:08

i have not that particular scale, however i have bought cheap equipment from China, other scales, heating units. in my experience you will get a great price but if you use the item regularly expect it to break within a year. i guess caveot emptor.

Mercedesbenzene - 7-2-2013 at 22:06

I have bought a milligram scale from china, this one in particular
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Horizon-PRO-10A-V2-10g-x-0-001g-1MG-...
It works great for me! Unless you need to weight more than 10-20g with that much accuracy it is a cheap quality scale.

GammaFunction - 13-2-2013 at 18:02

If you are patient, you can often get a working digital Sartorius or Mettler or Ohaus for 50% more. I think the Sartorius in particular are built like tanks. All metal. Made in Germany. My Sartorius milligram unit cost me $140 and it goes up to one pound.

The old Mettler mechanical units seem to be cheap, if you're willing to deal with their quirks, and are cautious to get one that works.

I have a violent aversion to Chinese goods. I think they just don't care if it breaks. Because in a year, they'll be making exploding vacuum cleaners or lead-painted toys.

I'd consider this or this (nice). I'd ask the seller to put 10 nickels on it (5 grams each) and tell you the answer; most scales can be calibrated with a button sequence and a weight. They're only 10 mg scales, though. Or this is nice.

Think of it as cost per year. My Sartorius scale has been around for 20 years now, and it works like a charm. It will probably be good for another 20.

[Edited on 14-2-2013 by GammaFunction]

Chep Chinese balance

Steve_hi - 15-2-2013 at 14:19

Got it today and tested it out it's pretty well useless
The centigram balance I bought from homesciencetools is more accurate it weighs 2 us nickels at 10g but the chinse is out .02g
and I have a set of weights I bought from Amazon and the chinese junk doesnt weigh one of them at it's specified weight
The 100g weight they sent with the balance sends the unit into overload error mode all the time as with my 2 other 100g weightsbut the one from home science puts the 2 100g weights right on without saying error. Its capacity is 200g and it can handle it so if you want accuracy don't buy the chinese junk

GammaFunction - 19-2-2013 at 12:47

Quote: Originally posted by Steve_hi  
Got it today and tested it out it's pretty well useless
The centigram balance I bought from homesciencetools is more accurate it weighs 2 us nickels at 10g ...


I find that nickels vary a lot (0.1g) with wear and random minting deviations. The other weights are a giveaway, however.

I think the people making this just don't care. Once it's out the door, they forget about it. They have their money. And they don't have a reputation to protect.