Digital Scale recomendations

I know a few Rochester area fisherman will find this post interesting. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with digital scales for measuring a single fish. I know that about 3 years ago at the ftr get together one was used to measure fish. I guess my big concern is price and accuracy. Obviously you don’t want to spend a fortune on a scale but you also want one that does an accurate reading.

Thanks

Lance, I use one of the Berkley scales just like the one that was used at the get together. I have had the scale for 4 years now and it’s still going strong. I think I paid around $20 for it.

Is this the one you have Dustin?

Berkley Digital Scale

Both Nate and I have the Berkley scale and we really like them for getting a rough weight on the fish. Nate will use his for weighing fish in his boat to decide which ones are really bigger. The strange thing about them is that the weight that he gets on them doesn’t equal the weight found on the Walleye Searchers Club weigh scale which is a much more expensive scale. In other words, the small scales are fine for your weighing a fish in your boat for fun but they seem to differ from the truer weight you get with a more expensive scale. That seems to lead me to also question if each smaller scale weighs exactly the same. Great for fun but not accurate enough for tournaments. Some tournaments are won or lost by only ounces and some only by a pound or so. The only way to get accurate weights is for all fish to be weighed on the ”same” scale. If you want a small scale for getting a rough weight for when you are out fishing and want to know roughly how much a fish weighs that you just caught the Berkley scale is a good scale. Thanks, Bill

That was a very positive report on the accuracy of the scale for the link Steve posted. I noticed that review was done on 1/14/02. I wonder if any newer scales would perform similar or even better. The changes in technology over just a few years for anything electronic can be amazing.

I agree with Bill’s statement about questioning if these scales all read the same. If many small scales were to be used for a fun tournament the “consistency” between them would be an important factor, more so than its absolute accuracy. For example, if one were to take a bunch of these scales and weigh the exact same 1lb, 4lb, & 7lb weight on them, it would be most important for all of them to have the same reading.

If a bunch of these scales were ordered and the scales were not all consistent, then either just the non-consistent ones, or the whole bunch of them could be returned.

Dave Gulczinski

Please check out my comments on the differences between Normark and Berkley scales here:

Berkley/Normark differences.

One very good test of any new scale is to use a package of meat that has the weight printed on the label. A package marked at exactly 1.00, 2.00 ect is ideal for a test. (Hamburger from the market is perfect) I would not be surprised to see each scale be dead on in perfect conditions.

Perfect conditions are standing on a level floor, indoors, 70 degrees warm.

Jon J.