American Weigh Scales SC Series Precision Digital Kitchen Weight Scale, Food Measuring Scale, 2kg x 0.1g (Silver), AMW-SC-2KG

(Update 1/9/12: this scale is great! Original set of batteries, 2x daily use @ work, and just as stable as I could hope for. But, funny enough, I have forgotten to take off the top cover maybe 3 or 4 times not only to get a funky reading. Wish my kitchen scale at home (referenced in my review) was this reliable!) Some of my coworkers think of me as a coffee snob: I usually don't like the bland roast that finds its home in our kitchen, instead preferring a dark and flavorful French or Italian. That's why I use my Planetary Design French Press Mug to brew my personal stash, 18 fluid ounces at a time. The reason I don't call myself a coffee snob? Up to now, I've been using the ice cream scooper in the office kitchen to "precisely" (a-hem!) measure my grinds. That, I'm pretty sure, is an instant disqualification from any uppity coffee lovers society, and it's also the reason why my brew was occasionally bitter and sometimes weak. I've used a My Weigh 7001DX Digital Scale at home in the kitchen for a number of years to weigh out my coffee, and figured it was finally time to bite the bullet and do the same at work. Requirements? I wanted the scale to be small, yet large enough for my 4" diameter press pot, and have a high enough weight capacity to measure my press pot plus the coffee. Turns out this SC-2KG is spot on size wise with a 4" square weighing surface, and just enough capacity to measure my press, the coffee, and even the water in it (if I was so inclined -- though I'm not). Protection is pretty good. A large tray is included, and a small snap-on platform cover mostly protects this scale (it's not truly enclosed and sealed from dust, but it's enough that it will survive getting banged around a little in my desk drawer or my soft-sided laptop bag. The three buttons have a satisfyingly hard click when pressed, not the softer click of my 7001DX buttons that sometime require a little finesse to engage. The display comes on immediately (always with the blue backlight illuminated), and zeros quickly. I appreciate that the feet of this unit are positioned such that hard button presses don't cause the scale to tilt. I owned a scale that would do a nose stand when light pressure was applied to the buttons, and I even see this is a problem with a couple of American Weigh's scales, after watching a handful of the calibration videos they've posted on their website. The scale data refers to a 3 to 5 second stability time (in theory, the delay after adding weight to where the display indicates an accurate reading) and that seems pretty typical throughout their lineup. In fact, this is approximately the delay my My Weigh 7001DX at home exhibits, and it annoys me that my reading can jump around by 2 grams (or none at all), when I'm adding coffee. But with this SC-2KG, that delay hasn't been apparent. It might be because the grams display is in 0.1 increments (my 7001DX is in full gram increments) -- so I can watch the scale "build up" to the next gram, vs. jumping ten tenths at a time. But in reality, I think it's quite a bit faster at stabilizing than the claimed 3 second figure. Repeatability is very good. My 500g calibration weight was dead on. I played around with some bananas and beer bottles (just because), and combining two separate items would get me to within 0.1g of the weight of the items' individual weights added together -- within the rounding error. For my purposes, this scale is more than accurate enough. For the price, it's phenomenal. Now excuse me while I go brew another cup of coffee.

How can something so small and inexpensive work so well? This thing is a marvel. And to think of the triple beam balance we used to use in chemistry class many years ago... Such a hassle. This scale weighs your item almost instantly and is probably more accurate. And portable too. Also, because I'm new to these, I didn't know it was so easy to tare. Simply place your container on the scale and press the tare button. It zeros out instantly. And how about the range? It can accurately weigh a dime or 30 grams of coffee, yet it has no problem weighing my heavy glass Chemex plus 500 grams of water. In practice, I tare out the Chemex and then add the water. Range is one-tenth of a gram to two kilograms. It comes with a clear plastic tray that you store it in. The tray is perfect for weighing coffee. Might just start weighing my food portions too, since it's so easy. Love it!

This is my third such cheap, electronic scale in the last 6 years. You'd think they're all the same, but this is so much better than the previous two I had. The size and shape of the scale are nice. The small display is recessed so it won't get in your way. The two covers give you two options for a weighing tray. You can throw one away, if having two is a bother. The readout settles faster than my previous scales. My previous scales had 0.1g resolution but maxed out at 1kg. This scale has twice the max weight with the same resolution. (This is good in theory, but in practice it means this scale probably isn't quite as accurate. For my purposes, I'm happy with this tradeoff.) Even though this is essentially the same stuff with the same features as my other scales, I can see the evolution in ergonomics and firmware. I'm glad my other two scales broke. For the price, I won't be sad if this one breaks in a year or two, either. Maybe the next one will be even better. Another reviewer noted that the scale doesn't change right away while adding weight to it. This is correct, and it is a downside. But OTOH, with my previous scales the numbers would change immediately, but they took a long time to actually be correct. IOW, if I added a nickel to what was already on the plate, the weight would gradually increase to +5.0 grams over ~2 long seconds, going up by a couple tenths at a time. This scale usually takes just a (small!) fraction of a second to show ONLY the final decision. For most of my purposes, this is a major positive. The only downside comes if you are pouring small things onto the scale. You may have to actually stop for that fraction of a second every now and then to get a reading.

I wanted to replace my SC501 so got this thinking it would be identical - it is not. Rather than having different colored display backlights for each weight setting, this one has only one - and it's the worst color ever; black numbers on a dark blue backlight. The LED on the one I own, with fresh batteries, is plenty bright to easily read the gram numbers on its blue backlight; this one, the LED is Not Bright at all and I can not easily make out the numbers........all of that and also, the third digit, the hundredth place, keeps jumping around. I can tare it and they still change, sometimes by a little and sometimes by a lot. IDK if this is some new version of the SC501 or what, but I'm not happy with it. As for a return, they won't just send me a return shipping label; gotta deal with UPS...can't do. All of which leaves me with a scale I may have to use for a backup, shop for one with this design; I can't go back to 'pocket scales'. I'm stuck with this.

I bought three of these scales for use in a coffee and espresso lab. The oldest of the three is still going strong, even though it has had water splashed on it, and has been in continuous use for two years now. A new trend in coffee and espresso preparation is weighing everything - your whole beans, your ground coffee, your water, even the shot of espresso you're brewing. Weighing gives a much more accurate measurement than visual ml/oz viewing in a measuring cup or shot glass. This is especially true with espresso, given that crema can be large in volume, thus screwing up a visual measurement of the amount of liquid brewed. This scale fits the bill, by virtue of the 2kg max weight while still resolving to 0.1g. It's not without its problems, but the price earns it 4 stars from me. The large weight allowance allows you to put portafilters on it (then tare them out, and weigh the amount of ground coffee in the portafilter). It even allows you to brew a big 8 or 10 cup press pot right on the scale, accurately measuring the water used in grams instead of in mls (1g water = 1ml water). The display is easy to read; blue with black letters that are readable from most normally used angles. The tray is wide enough to hold most items I use on it, from press pots to cupping cups; it's a bit small for portafilters, but you can balance them on the scale. TAREing the scale is very quick; startup is a bit slower, but not bad. The price is fantastic, and earns an extra star from me just on that basis. If it were $35 or more, it would only get three stars. Very accurate. I have some calibrated weights and it was bang on, right out of the box. What's preventing this from being five stars? - time out is too short. It's 60 seconds, but honestly, that needs to be longer, or at least user-adjustable. - I had to put non-slip rubber bumpers on the bottom of it - otherwise it slid around too much - there is a bit of a delay when you add or subtract items from the scale - it's not instant (takes about half a second sometimes to update) Overall a great scale at the price. Could be better, but there's nothing else currently available that matches it features vs. price.

Wow this little thing is amazing. The numbers agree with my CJ-4000, but it has much finer resolution. I originally compared those two scales as my choice for home coffee roasting and brewing and passed on the AWS because various internet guides parroted the complaint regarding automatic shutoff. Once again, free advice was worth every penny (irony noted). Don't let the shutoff feature dissuade you. The shutoff is 5 minutes, which I never come close to reaching, and I use a V60 for pourovers. The actual drawbacks as I see them - compared with the CJ4K - are as follows: Have to press/release to get greatest accuracy at smallest resolution (e.g. tying to figure out which particular coffee bean puts you at 26.7g) Awkward as a food/kitchen scale because the platform is too small for large plates (can't see the display) ... that's about all that comes to mind... oh yeah batteries only OTOH as a travel scale this thing is the ultimate that I've seen. I use MyFitnessPal to track nutrition. I'm in my first full year of serious cycling training, and at the moment I'm data-crazy, logging everything that seems like it *could* be important later. So I measure everything that goes into my mouth. This has become easy to the point of subconscious when I'm at home, selecting from food I bought myself, making familiar recipes, etc., but away from home - HFS it is not so easy. Basically one tool is asking enough questions to get a comprehensive picture of what I'm actually eating, and the other tool is this scale. On the road batteries-only is an asset. It's tiny, portable... I don't quite grok how the outer platic gutard protects the whole machine except to prevent collisions from smashing the screen and buttons - I do wish the outer case enclosed the whole scale. I also wish it had something like a tablet/notebook neoprene shock case... maybe I will scrounge Amazon to find something suitable... Overall I wish I had bought this scale first. The CJ4K is better as a permanent kitchen scale, but I prefer this AWS scale for all things coffee-related. Also it is the ultimate food scale for travel AFAIK.

I like this scale a lot. I have used it for a decade measuring my coffee beans every day. Accurate to 0.1 gram, which is probably more accuracy than I need. Back-lit so it is easy to read. Can easily switch from ounces to grams (and two other measurement scales that I never use). Tare button. Keep it tucked in a drawer when not in use. It is nice and small so it fits on its side in the drawer and doesn't take up much space. Has a plastic cover which protects it in storage and also contains the beans. I have used it when cooking for measuring ingredient weights. It has a 2Kg weight limit but I think I went over that and it never complained. It doesn't do well with big containers because the display gets hidden under the bowl.

I bought this scale in 2012 and a few issues have made me decide to write a review on it. Overall it does the job and is decent and priced well but there are some small irritants that potential buyers may want to know. -It is very slow to update the weight. Often times I end up adding more flour, coffee, whatever I'm weighing only to have to take some back out because the update lag it has which is by far the most annoying fault. -It times out and shuts off rather quickly which can often leave you in the middle of an operation not knowing what your weight is at (in my experience, pouring coffee after a pre-soak). -It does not do well with rechargeable batteries (eneloops in my case). When using rechargeables, it thinks the batteries are low very quickly (seems to not deal with the voltage drop of rechargeables very well). Which causes you to very frequently need to charge the batteries. With standard batteries it lasts quite a while though. I would rather have spent a bit more for a scale that does not exhibit these problems.

This is a great quality scale that is very accurate and has a high weight limit considering its accuracy. The platform to weigh the item is high which is good because it keeps the item away from the buttons and screen. I use this to weight coffee and small ingredients for my bread like salt and yeast. This comes with two plastic weighing trays which double as a protective case when the scale is not in use. I returned the first scale because they were cracked and damaged, the second scale I received also came with cracked plastic trays, I decided to just keep it because although the tray came damaged, it is a good scale and it did not interfere with the operation of the scale.

Compré esta bascula principalmente para la preparación de mi café, me sorprendió lo rápida y precisa, no se apaga como otras basculas y se siente bien construida, además que el tamaño de bolsillo es un gran plus. Funciona mejor que la Hario que estaba reemplazando, y tiene mayor capacidad y precisión, y a una fracción de su costo.

Coffee geeks: this is your best option for weighing out beans. It fits an aeropress, just fits a clever dripper, although probably not a large Chemex. Superbly fast, good repeatable results to nearest 0.1g, and goes up to 2kg which is quite rare for scales which measure to nearest 0.1g. Great for baking as well, if you can find a bowl that fits it. Love it very much.

I like this scale for two main reasons: it's small and it's simple. I use it almost exclusively to measure my espresso grinds/shot and it works perfectly. It's also nice and thin which is a bonus if you are using it for espresso because it will likely fit under the portafilter nicely (depending on your machine of course).

AMW-SC-2KG DIGITAL POCKET SCALE IS VERY GOOD. ACCURACY IS ALSO VERY GOOD. BUT IT IS NOT POCKET SCALE. YOU CAN CALL IT PORTABLE WEIGHING SCALE. CERTAINLY IT WILL NOT FIT IN MY POCKET.