Purchasing Guide: Balances

Lab balances are an investment in a laboratory's operational efficiency and its long-term scientific credibility. They play an instrumental role in nearly every laboratory, regardless of its field or focus. For lab managers, choosing the right balance requires both operational and budgetary considerations. Beyond the immediate needs of weighing powders, liquids, or solids, important considerations include the lab's future requirements, understanding calibration routines, and anticipating potential external influences like temperature or humidity fluctuations. Like other significant investments in lab equipment, tradeoffs between cost-effectiveness and quality, ease of use and feature richness, requires thoughtful evaluation. For a list of balance manufacturers, see our online directory at LabManager.com/balances

6 Questions to Ask When Buying Balances

1. What are the operational needs for range, accuracy, readability, and precision? Are there specialized sample types (e.g., volatile substances, magnetic materials) to accommodate?
2. Is the balance scalable or compatible with potential future accessories, upgrades, or workflow changes?
3. Can the lab handle internal calibration, or is external calibration more feasible given the lab's routine?
4. What is the expected maintenance schedule, and are there local service technicians available?
5. How does the balance handle common environmental interferences such as temperature changes, humidity, air drafts, electrostatic discharge, or vibrations?
6. What kind of connectivity options (e.g., USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet) does the balance support for data transfer or logging? Does it integrate with existing management software?

Features to Ensure Compliance

Data integrity and other regulatory standards may vary globally in their requirements, but detailed logs and audit trails are frequently required. The ability to save and transfer data is an important feature in all cases. Additional considerations include secure user access, immutable, time-stamped data records, traceability, and secure APIs for software connections.

Finding the Right Lab Balance

Lab balances come in a variety of configurations with different capacities and precisions. What intersection of capacity and precision is best for your application? Learn more about finding the right balance for your lab at LabManager.com/balance-capacity-precision