If you’ve ever taken a chemistry class, you’re probably familiar with analytical balances.

These scales aren’t like a casual bathroom scale but are instead designed to measure mass with high accuracy. Draft shields and stabilizing feet protect extra-sensitive balance pans from vibrations and wind, giving you the most precise measurement possible.

If you need to weigh something small, countertop analytical balances are the way to go. For large items, consider an analytical balance table. While analytical balance chemistry uses are the most well-known, there are many reasons to use an analytical balance.

Small analytical balances are useful for weighing supplements, remineralizing the water you drink, and endless other home uses. Zoologists recording animals’ weights and jewelers weighing precious stones are a couple of lesser-known professional uses.

Here are six great tips on how to select an analytical balance, no matter what you’re weighing.

1. What You’re Weighing Matters

While you can weigh many materials with an analytical balance, some balances are better for certain materials than others are.

If you plan on weighing liquids, search for a waterproof scale. Those looking to weigh jewels should make sure to get an analytical balance that measures in carats because not all do.

2. Consider the Precision of Analytical Balances

Precision is indicated by the number of decimal points the scale measures to. Any good analytical balance is designed to weigh with precision. Yet, you don’t need the same degree of precision for everything.

For example, if you’re weighing tiny objects, you may want an analytical balance 4 digit scale or an even more precise one. If the items weigh a kilogram or more, you don’t need to worry about fractions of milligrams in most cases.

3. Be Realistic About Maintenance

Because analytical balances are precise and fragile devices, it’s important to do proper maintenance.

High-end analytical balances need more attention to detail. Workers in professional chemistry labs train on careful maintenance. You may have the best intentions, but you’re unlikely to be that careful when using an analytical balance at home.

So buying a professional-grade scale for personal use isn’t the smartest move in most cases. Getting a balance you can’t maintain means you lose accuracy—and accuracy is the entire point of buying an analytical balance. If you don’t maintain your analytical balance, you might as well get a less accurate scale.

4. Some Balances Are More Accurate Than Others

As with any other product, you have the option of buying a high-quality or lower-quality analytical balance. Again, the highest-quality scales are best for professionals. Most home users find that slightly cheaper balances are perfect for their intended purposes.

A 3 digit analytical balance isn’t reliable down to 0.001 units. All scales have a tolerance range of plus/minus (+/-) a certain amount over/under the actual mass. This range indicates accuracy and is not the same for every scale.

Cheaper scales are often less accurate. For example, a budget 3 digit analytical balance might have a range of +/- 0.005, while its more expensive counterpart measures to +/- 0.001. A less accurate scale isn’t always worse, because you might not need a high degree of accuracy. Consider what you plan to do with a balance when looking at its tolerance value.

In general, best practice with an analytical balance is to take measurements to one decimal point less than the screen displays. So, if you weigh a 10-gram weight and the balance reads 10.005 grams, you would still record it as 10.00 grams. Always keep in mind that you can’t rely on the final digit.

5. Accuracy Isn’t Only About Weight

While the most significant tolerance range regards mass, there are other measures of accuracy, too. The best scales come with a full tolerance breakdown. Cheaper scales may combine all the figures into one measurement. In any case, it’s a good idea to confirm the accuracy and calibrate the scale using a standardized weight, often 10 grams for smaller balances.

“Repeatability” is one measurement that is often glossed over, especially by beginners. This measurement refers to whether you get the same measurement multiple times in a row. You can test it by weighing your calibration weight at least ten times or so.

Another range regards off-center balance. You should always place your item in the center of the pan, but oddly-shaped objects make it hard to do so.

If you plan to weigh things that can’t lie in the exact center, you want a scale that measures well off-center. You can measure this kind of accuracy by putting the weight in the middle, then at the far ends of the pan, and comparing the values.

6. Don’t Overshoot the Analytical Balance Capacity

One of the most important things to know when getting an analytical balance is the weight range you expect to measure. You don’t need to know the exact range, but do have a general idea. To illustrate this, consider that someone weighing milligrams of vitamins needs a different scale than a person weighing lab rats.

The amount of weight a balance can measure is called its capacity. Smaller analytical balances often have a capacity of 200-300 grams, but that’s not always true.

Some analytical balances can weigh items up to a few kilograms in mass. Analytical balance tables are designed to get the precise weight of even larger things, like when vets weigh dogs and cats. Other analytical balances hold only up to 100 grams, and some hold even fewer.

Knowing the balance capacity is important because overshooting capacity can ruin the scale. If you put an object too large or heavy in the pan, it can throw off measurements forever or even break the balance.

News for Tech Buffs Like You

With these tips on choosing analytical balances, you know how to get the right scale for your needs. Having the right scale will let you do your best work with no problems.

Once you’re done exploring precision scales, take a look around the site for more tech news and useful tips. We’re a tech lover’s paradise, so click another article to learn something new today.