In the world of making, an “all-purpose” scale will be a scale that balances precision with a relatively high maximum weight, at a price point that works for you. It is unlikely to be truly all-purpose if you make a wide variety of projects in all kinds of batch sizes (5g eyeliner to 2kg soap and everything in between!), but it’ll be your 80% of the time scale.
I recommend precision down to at least 0.1g, and a maximum weight above 500g. As the maximum weight goes up and the precision improves, the price will increase.
I started with a Smart Weigh Digital Pro Pocket Scale (USA / Canada). This little scale worked well but tended to break within a year, so after I went through a few of those, I upgraded to something more expensive.
My workhorse scale is the My Weigh iBALANCE 700 (USA / Canada), and it has been going strong since 2017. It is precise to 0.1g and has a maximum weight of 700g. It also plugs in, so it doesn’t shut off automatically after a certain period of time, and that’s amazing. This scale works for the vast majority of the things I create. I use a precision scale for tiny batches and ingredients that need to be measured very precisely, and I use a less precise kitchen scale (1g accuracy, 5kg maximum weight) to make soap.
To learn more about what to consider when purchasing a scale, please read this.
