A portable pocket scale can be a useful addition to your collection. If you are a jeweler, or if you collect gems or coins as as hobby, you may want to take a pocket scale with you when out looking for new acquisitions. If you are keeping a close eye on your diet, a portable
pocket scale can help you make quick, on-the-spot measurements, which helps to integrate good habits into your daily routine. Whatever the use, a pocket scale is good for one thing: making quick measurements when accuracy is not a great concern. For high accuracy, nothing but a fixed scale will do — but for quick, ballpark measurements, a pocket scale will usually do the trick.
Most pocket scales are only a few inches across, and many are only a fraction of an inch thick. There are some small enough to be used as a keychain. The dimensions you need will of course depend on the use you plan to put it to. Note that, when reading the dimensions on a pocket scale, the manufacturer may list the dimensions of the weighing pan separately from the dimensions of the scale itself. Make sure the scale itself is small enough to be genuinely portable without being burdensome, and make sure the weighing pan is big enough to accommodate whatever you are likely to put on it.
While it's true that no pocket scale will be as accurate as a full-sized scale, there are two things that you should watch for. The first is the
linearity of the scale, or its accuracy throughout the range of its capacity. A 16-ounce capacity scale with good linearity will be able to measure a 0.1 ounce weight as accurately as a 15-ounce weight; but some pocket scales are much less accurate as the upper or lower limits of their capacities are reached.
Cornerload is another consideration. Cornerload, as its name suggests, refers to the ability of a scale to give an accurate reading of a weight no matter where on the weighing pan the weight is placed. Many low-quality scales have greatly decreased sensitivity and accuracy when a weight is placed towards the edges, especially the corners, of the pan. Depending on the use you plan to put your pocket scale to, this may or may not be a concern; if you truly are looking only for a "mickey mouse" (rough-measurement) scale, you can probably afford to sacrifice accuracy in the name of affordability.
As with most electronic devices, you can pay extra and get various bells and whistles — most of which probably aren't worth the extra expense. You can get a pocket scale with a touch screen (the
Jennings JS1000 pocket scale is very popular) or a backlit display, and there are some circumstances where these things will be worth paying for. Don't fall for a gimmicky scale, though, which has flashy features but whose quality is suspect.
