Stylus gauge recommendations?

It's obnoxious how buying choices are criticized by some people. I started out with an inexpensive digital scale. I didn't like it and it burned through batteries.

The Ortofon works beautifully.
 
Shure SFG2 until I got a cool little beam scale included with my Ortofon 2M Black.
 
Got a Neotec digital scale in the mail yesterday...15 bucks Canadian through Amazon. Have yet to try it. One tutorial says that anti skate should be set at zero when checking the tracking force on the scale....anybody want to 'weigh' in on this? :)
 
Got a Neotec digital scale in the mail yesterday...15 bucks Canadian through Amazon. Have yet to try it. One tutorial says that anti skate should be set at zero when checking the tracking force on the scale....anybody want to 'weigh' in on this? :)

The arm will tend to pull when you try to start adding weight and the potential is there to mess up the stylus as it pulls. At a zero setting it won't and tends to stay in place.
 
going to start back up with my old vinyl and noticed several types of stylus force gauges out there. Wondering if there are any ones I should avoid or buy. Your experience and comments are appreciated!
You're going to get a different answer for practically every post.

And, in keeping with the AK tradition, even though you didn't mention a budget $$, there will be the odd poster who will claim that people who spend more money than they do are getting ripped-off.

I have tried all sorts of scales, but, decided to mortgage my home and buy the Clearaudio "Weight Watcher" at 35 times the price. It's working just fine for the past 8 years (or so). Only changed the batteries once. It allows me to do something that the cheaper scales don't:

IMG_3615_zps78slazzd.jpg


I'm not telling you to buy this one. You do what you think is right for you. I'm just trying to point out that there are choices, depends on how much you want to spend and what you want the scale to do.

By the way, welcome to AK! :thumbsup:

Cheers!
 
I first zerod the counterweight on the arm (got it floating and set the scale to 0).
I then had it set to 1.5gr.
I verified that it was indeed 1.5gr with an Ortofon mechanical scale. It was spot on.

Done.

At this point, unless I am changing heads, the counter weight on my Technics SL1900 is good enough for me.

I got the Ortofon because shipping from China can take 4 weeks and the UK sellers had that one and things usually arrive in 10 days. Plus I think it looks cooler than the digital ones...
 
Yes, but I don't do any of that anymore with the Ortofon. I like the Shure SFG-2. If I only used it once in a while, no problem. But when I started needing a scale a lot, I started to hate it.
Interesting. I typically use my SFG-2 a couple times a year, sometimes a bit more if friends or family want me to help them set something up. Maybe that's not often enough to get irritated with it. The Ortofon certainly looks like a handy device, though I do like the more finely marked gradations on the Shure.
 
All you need is something accurate to within 0.1g, non-magnetic, ideally with something to place the stylus on rather than just a metal tray (although you can improvise and make a surface for it yourself), and roughly the thickness of a record give or take a little.

Realistically you don't even need all that - and more or less any digital scale will work - but for best results just grab something that's specifically designed as a stylus pressure gauge. I use a "Neoteck Digital Stylus Force Gauge" that costs like $9-10 and it works great, is accurate (and goes to 0.01g), is non-magnetic, the right height, and.. it was a lot cheaper than a lot of the other more popular available options.
 
This thread talked me into trying a digital gauge to replace SFG-2. I ordered a jewelers gauge with a stainless and plastic non- magnetic arm. Stylus said to be 3mm height off base.
 
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