Best electronic powder scale <$200

[km101]

My Pact digital scale has started to get “drifty” and I am looking to replace it. On my retirement budget I have limitations. So I need to keep it under $200. I want to stay with a digital scale if possible. I need something dependable that doesn’t drift off zero every few minutes.

Please don’t recommend Dillon. I love and use their products, except their scale. My new Dillon scale lasted a year and 3 weeks before it died. (1 year warranty)

Thanks for your input!

 

[labnoti]

I bought a Gemini-20. It has a high precision display (0.001 g or 0.01 grains) but I question its accuracy. I have another electronic scale that I bought about 10 years ago. It also has a 0.001 g claim, but it only shows 0.1 grains. Either way, the scales don't agree with one another or the reference weights even after calibrating. I just don't think either is really good enough for hundredths of a grain. But I mostly use them to calibrate a Lee Auto Drum powder measure which is usually +/- a tenth of a grain. My goal is generally five-shot standard deviations of about 10 on handgun ammo and this serves fine for that. If I was trickling benchrest loads, I would definitely look for something else. I bought the Gemini 20 a year ago for $20.

 

[rg1]

I've had a Pact Precision since 1994. Had to send it back once for repairs (kitten playing on reloading bench?). Bought a Gempro 250 but don't recommend it as your primary scale. Too sensitive and slow to update but an accurate scale. Reloaded for 30 some years and finally bought an RCBS Chargemaster Lite scale-dispenser. Wish I'd bought a scale dispenser long ago. The dispenser works great and the scale doesn't drift and has been totally reliable for about 2 years. Slightly more than your <$200.

 

[km101]

rg1, I was going to send mine back to Pact but when I inquired about it I was emailed by their Director of Marketing who said that “we no longer repair, manufacture, or sell any type of weighing device “. And they made a LOT of scales for RCBS. Wonder who is making them now? Is/was the Chargemaster made by Pact? Since I primarily load pistol ammo on a progressive press a dispenser is not very useful to me, but thanks for the information!

 

[Dudedog]

Gem 20 seems pretty good for the price.
Most of the time I use a Frankford DS750 only weighs to .1 but works for most of what I do.
Both are battery only however, and will behave weird when the batteries are about shot.
The Gem 20 my Frankford and my 5-0-5 do generally seem to agree with each other.
5-0-5 needs no power and does not ever seem to behave strange but the digitals sure are nice when you are just checking charges.