"I've used digital scales where I used to work"
Yeah, me too. But they cost several hundreds of dollars, or many hundreds. The are a lot different from the low cost (cheap?) reloader type scales. And any sensitive scale is affected by air currents.
Actually, I'm retired from defence/space electronics with precision measurement instruments. Worked on a few electronic scales. They are great IF they are well made (expensive) AND are checked periodically, like every 4 months to a year at most, by a qualified tech with the right tools. Grocery and drug stores have calibration techs visiting them on a regular basis to confirm that their EXPENSIVE digital scales are accurate and fix or replace them when they are not, you can see the latest certification sticker somewhere on them. I don't need that hassle at home so have no use for a finicky digital powder scale.
Been reloading since the mid 60s. Have used the same beam scale the whole time and it's still as accurate and sensitive as when it was new, every time. It follows a trickler in real time, no hang-ups. No "warm up" time, no constant re-zeroing and/or calibration, no worries about drifting line voltage or stray electronic fields from cell phones, flourescent lights, or ducks flying the wrong way, etc.
I find it VERY hard to understand how so many folk can love digitals because they are "faster". In my most fluent Latin, I say, "Huh?"
Sorry Marine, I can't answer your question. Those who get "good" digitals love them, perhaps rightly. But those who don't, have a different view. Can't gage how they are split up today but I KNOW the digitals won't last nearly as long as a beam.
If a beam scale is properly placed (near eye level and close to the powder dispenser and trickler) they are virtually as fast to use, especially so for accurate weighing but with total reliability! Seems most of those who "hate" beams are simply setting them down on the bench top and then complaining about how hard it is to read them! Improper scale placement is NOT the instrument's fault, is it?
