Digital Kitchen scale, gram accuracy. Really?

I only have 2 cups of coffe a day but insist that it's fresh and strong.  I pour the hot water thru a coffee-filled #2 cone filter held in a ceramic holder, a lid on top to keep things hot for the 1 3/4 minute it takes to go through.  Yummmmmy!

In the morning for my 8 oz cup I use a well-rounded Tbsp of grounds -- plus a 1/4 of that on top to make it robust.

Enter my new digital scale.  Supposedly accuracy to +/- 1 gram, I couldn't wait to try it this morning.  I decided to convert my Tbsp quantity to grams and decided on 9 grams for a starter, figuring I would adjust that value depending on how strong or weak the concoction was.

Well, at first blush, I was impressed.  Put the ceramic holder with filter on the scale, turn the unit on and the value is zero (0) -- perfect.  The holder's weight becomes the tare and is automatically subtracted.  Next, place my usual Tablespoon fill of grounds into the filter, check it out.  Not bad -- 8 grams.  Time to put a bit more onto the pile.  Ooops!  10 grams, 1 too many.  Not a problem, says I.  Scrape a tad back into the spoon.  Nothing changes on the readout.  A bit more.  Nothing again.  By the time the scale reading changes to my goal of 9, I've removed some 2/3 of the original pile.  My ballpark math says that based on what I subtracted, the scale should read closer to 3 instead of 9.

Go through the above scenario again but see no improvement.  It appears to behave okay if all I do is add.  However, in subtraction, the unit sensor seems flawed.

Am I expecting too much from one of these digital kitchen scales?   Or do I have a lemon?  Yes, it's a cheapo unit that I bought and I'm willing to fork out a few more bucks for something that works.
Len 

I think you are right...I have noticed that with baking...as soon as you start to take it off...no reading change unitil a large quantitiy has been removed...I normally start again.

Maybe I have a temperamental scale like you...I dunno

Give the scale a tap to get it to recalculate

I have a digital scale. 

When you want to subtract, remove the container from the scale, take out the coffee, then place it back on.  You should retain the 0 factor (tare), and it should work properly.  (same procedure for adding)

My scale works best if I follow those steps.  For some reason, it's doesn't easily recalculate the weight if you do not remove the container to 'reset', for lack of a better word.

tal

"Give the scale a tap to get it to recalculate" -- Cofty. Hmmmm ... that seems to work.

I just took a handful of quarters, about 6 grams each, and played with addition and subtraction. After subtracting one, I exerted some finger pressure on the middle of the stack and the display then appeared to correct itself. I can't wait until my first morning cup.

Thanks to you, Cofty, and all. Len

Even thought the tare is automatically adjusted, there should still be a tare reset somewhere on the scale for things that you are describing. I use an electronic gram scale for Gold and Silver and have never had any problems. I do however have to reset the tare when I add a separate dish to collect the PM's so that it compensates for it. Check the instructions for your scale.

Cofty has a great suggestion too! I always tap mine a couple of times to make sure the values end up the same as a safety measure.

who'd of thunk such an old fashioned method would still work so well!!!!

giving things a tap/bang....used to work for so many things LOL

Geez Len ..... how do you go thru all this so early?  I thought the coffee was to wake you up!  

So let me get this straight ... first you wake up fully in order to deal with a scale, make the coffee, then you drink the coffee! lol 

I like your guess method better.

clarity

I like your guess method better.

Hi, Clarity.  What always precedes the coffee is sleep till I wanna get up.  That's the beauty of 9 years of retirement.

And I always love your wit and sense of humor, my friend.

Len

Len

I understand the difference between wanna & haveta.

But the line ... "What always precedes the coffee is sleep "

... is a little disconcerting 

c