6 Best Luggage Scales Tested and Reviewed by Our Media & Tech Lab
Prevent excess fees from ruining your vacation!
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Let’s be honest: even though vacation is meant to help you relax, the actual act of traveling can be such a pain. Especially these days, when there are so many hidden fees associated with purchasing a ticket, prices just seem to skyrocket. On top of that, you can get charged even more if you accidentally pack too much. While we unfortunately can’t help you with the hidden ticket fees, the collection of luggage scales below can assist to reduce any surprise costs.
In the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Media & Tech Lab, we put to the test a wide range of products aimed at making your everyday life easier, from wireless chargers to the best headphones for running. Luggage scales are a cheap investment that are not only extremely simple to use, but easy enough to transport with you wherever you go (meaning you’ll know exactly how many souvenirs you can bring home). Using the luggage we tested in our Textiles Lab, we tested out nine different luggage scales to determine which ones truly stood out.
Pros
- Comfortable grip for holding heavy weights
- Pre-installed battery
Cons
- Requires a unique battery that you may not have at home
Our highest rated scale that we tested, this is easy to use, with an extremely accurate reading that made it the top performer. The screen brightly lights up, so it's very easy to read and also self-dims when not in use. It was very comfortable to hold in my hands while I was testing, especially when I had to lift the full 49-pound suitcase. You can adjust the units between kilograms and pounds, and even get the temperature in either Fahrenheit or Celsius. The luggage scale can measure up to 110 pounds, if you are interested in figuring out how much you can stuff in your luggage.
This luggage scale comes in different colors, if you wish to style your scale in any way. The one downside to this scale is the battery. While it does come with it pre-installed, it uses a coin cell battery, which most people may not have on hand at home.
| Max Weight Capacity | 110 lbs |
Pros
- Cheapest pick available
- Comes with a screwdriver in case you need to replace the battery
Cons
- Claims one hand can be used to pick up heavy luggage, though both hands are needed
Out of all the scales on the list, despite all these products being incredibly affordable, this is still the cheapest one we tested. Yet, it works just as well as the others. The screen is backlit with a green light, making it easy to read the weight. The luggage scale was a little thicker than others we tested, making it easier to grip. There are two buttons on this device, one to turn on the unit as well as zero it, and a button to change units (kilograms or pounds). They advertise this device as something that can be used to pick up luggage with one hand, but don't be fooled. If you are picking up something heavy, always use two hands.
Since this is a digital scale, it does require batteries to use, and those come included. When you need to change the batteries, this device comes with a small screwdriver to help you open the battery compartment.
| Max Weight Capacity | 110 lbs |
Pros
- Completely battery-free
- Charges quickly
Cons
- No backlight
This unique luggage scale tends to be a little more expensive than the others on this list, but that’s because it is digital and battery-free. That’s right — this digital luggage scale does not need batteries to run. So how does it work? There’s a little switch on the side; you slide that side to side a couple of times and voila! You now have a working luggage scale. This makes it easy to travel with because you never have to worry about finding a battery in a foreign country. Plus, it was fun to be able to turn it on so easily and not have to worry about draining the battery.
There’s a single button that allows you to zero the device as well as switch the units between kilograms and pounds. While it is a digital scale, there is no backlight so the reading can be a little difficult to see depending on the light. While using the device, it was pretty comfortable to hold.
| Maximum Weight Capacity | 110 lbs |
Pros
- Single button to press
- Multiple units to weigh by
Cons
- Tiny scale can be difficult to hold
It doesn't get simpler than this luggage scale. There’s a single button to control each part, whether you’re changing the units, turning it on or off, or zeroing the device. It’s very easy to read the scale thanks to the bright green backlight. After using it to pick up the luggage, it only took a few seconds for it to register the weight, which was surprisingly only 0.13 pounds off. The units vary between grams, ounces, kilograms and pounds. While the smaller units may not seem necessary for luggage, this gives the scale the opportunity to weigh other things if you so wish, such as a package you are sending out.
It's a fairly tiny scale, which made it awkward to hold while carrying the luggage. The scale itself comes in three different colors: red, silver and black. This scale also contains a coin cell battery, and it comes with a screwdriver in case you need to swap the battery.
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| Maximum Weight Capacity | 110 lbs |
Pros
- Green backlight makes it easy to read
- Accuracy of less than 1% difference
Cons
- Can be complicated to grip effectively
A cinch to use, it's another great pick that makes things as simple as possible. It utilizes a strap to loop around your luggage handle, which you then hook back onto itself to allow you to lift the scale. With an easy-to-read display, accompanied with a green backlight, you’ll never have to worry about misreading your luggage weight. It's a single button press for everything from turning it on to adjusting the units. Its size allows it to be easily stowed away while traveling.
The biggest issue with this scale is the placement of the strap. Typically, it would be at the center of the luggage scale, but it is slightly to the side. That makes it more difficult to grip with two hands. With the limit for checked luggage being 50 pounds, not many people can lift it with one hand. Aside from that, the accuracy of the scale was great. It was less than a 1% difference between the actual weight and what the luggage scale weighed.
| Maximum Weight Capacity | 110 lbs |
Pros
- Incredibly accurate device
- Comes with a carrying case
Cons
- Hook not as easy to attach to luggage as a strap would be
The only luggage scale on the list with a hook, the biggest difference between having a hook luggage scale and a strap luggage scale is the ability to utilize it for other things other than luggage. Feel free to use this on luggage, packages or even with fish.
The hook stashes conveniently within the scale itself, so it doesn’t just hang and take up space. The backlight is blue, making it easy to read. This luggage scale comes with an actual handle, versus using the scale itself as the handle like the other picks in this roundup. The handle itself wasn’t the biggest, so it might be a little difficult to hold heavier weights with this one. This device was our most accurate luggage scale that we tested, with a difference of only 0.01 pounds.
There are multiple buttons with this scale. One to turn it on/off, another to zero the device and the last to adjust units. The units are in grams, pounds, kilograms and ounces. This also comes with a pouch to carry the device while you travel.
| Maximum Weight Capacity | 110 lbs |
How we tested the best luggage scales
Each luggage scale went through the same testing protocol. First, we judged the ease of setup. Did it require batteries? Did it come with batteries? Was there anything that was needed outside of what came with it in order to get it to work? On top of that, it’s important that the luggage scale is easy to hold with an easy-to-read display. Most luggage scales require a couple seconds of holding the luggage before the readout can be read properly. If it’s too difficult to hold for a long time, then you’ll never get an accurate read. We tested a total of nine different luggage scales.
We made sure to also verify the accuracy and check the capacity of each scale. You only start to incur fees at the airport once you’ve gone beyond 50 pounds, so we measured accuracy up to that amount. Using a properly calibrated bench scale, we filled a hard-sided luggage with objects until the scale read as close to 50 pounds as possible. In these tests, our luggage weighed 49.65 pounds.
We then used the luggage scale and gave it a rating based off of how accurate it was to what the bench scale read. We also rated how easy it was to pick up and how comfortable it was to hold in your hands.
What to look for in a luggage scale
When purchasing a luggage scale, make sure to pick one you can comfortably hold and decide whether you want a manual or a digital scale as there are perks to both.
✔️ Grip type: If you are using a luggage scale, there’s a good chance it’s because you are worried you are going beyond the weight limit designated by airlines. Some luggage scales have handles, while some luggage scales ARE the handle. In my experience, I preferred the ones where the luggages scales were the handle, as the ones that had handles tended to be a little too small for me to hold. When you are holding up to 50 pounds of weight, if you can’t do that with one hand, you’ll want to use something that will allow you to use both your hands.
✔️ Manual vs. digital: There’s two main types of scales: digital or manual. Digital scales have digital readouts and use batteries (although we do have one pick that’s digital and doesn’t use batteries). Manual scales don’t have a digital display, and look more like the scales you see at a deli mart when they weigh out your food. While digital scales tend to have a more accurate measurement, with a manual scale, you don’t have to worry about running out of battery. Since the batteries in these tend to be CR batteries vs. something like an AA battery, it could pose a problem if you’re traveling to a country where you don’t speak the language, and so you can’t find these specific batteries.
How does a luggage scale work?
Luggage scales are quite simple to use. They typically come with either a strap or hook that you attach to the luggage handle. By lifting and raising the luggage with the scale, your luggage scale will give you a readout for how much it weighs. Do keep in mind that some of the digital luggage scales require you to hold it in the air for a few seconds for it to fully register the weight; until then, the numbers may bounce around.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
The Good Housekeeping Institute has been a trusted source of information for over 100 years. Alec Scherma has been testing products within the Media & Tech Lab for over three years. His experience as a mechanical engineer lends him a unique perspective and a different way of looking at everyday products. He’s reviewed all different types of electronics, from laptops to photo printers.
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