I own a number of digital scales. For me, the Shure (which I remember using as far back as the 70s) is easily the worst.
Then there is a very common stylus force gauge made in China and rebranded by everyone from Acoustech ($79 at Acoustic Sounds), Audio Additives ($49 at Music Direct ) to, well you name it, which is pretty bad providing wildly differing results within seconds of each other (Issues with magnets in lomcs?). I purchased a few different versions of that model. They were all unreliable.
Unhappy with the above, I purchased a Clearaudio Weight Watcher which was better but awkward to use in my set up and also did not measure the stylus force at the level of a record on the turntable. (The new version appears to have been improved with a measuring spot.) Finally, I purchased an Ortofon DS-3 which does everything right at what appears to be the average thickness of a record on the table. Expensive--but worth it.
Then there is a very common stylus force gauge made in China and rebranded by everyone from Acoustech ($79 at Acoustic Sounds), Audio Additives ($49 at Music Direct ) to, well you name it, which is pretty bad providing wildly differing results within seconds of each other (Issues with magnets in lomcs?). I purchased a few different versions of that model. They were all unreliable.
Unhappy with the above, I purchased a Clearaudio Weight Watcher which was better but awkward to use in my set up and also did not measure the stylus force at the level of a record on the turntable. (The new version appears to have been improved with a measuring spot.) Finally, I purchased an Ortofon DS-3 which does everything right at what appears to be the average thickness of a record on the table. Expensive--but worth it.