Three Ways to Weigh Your Luggage and the Best Luggage Scales

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Three Ways to Weigh Your Luggage and the Best Luggage ScalesIt’s almost your turn to check-in, but suddenly, the person in front of you starts opening and repacking their suitcase. The person starts moving a kilo from one bag to another just to check both of the bags in.

Avoid being “that” person, as well as paying hefty overweight luggage fees by arriving at the airport prepared.

With your bags being exactly 23 (or whatever your limit is) kilos…

In this article, you will learn about the two ways you can use to measure your bags weight, as well as about what the best luggage scales are in case you decide to get one.

Before continuing, though, here are the two luggage scales you should consider buying in case you are looking for a quick answer:

  1. Best digital luggage scale: LEOKOR Handheld Luggage Scale
  2. Best analog luggage scale: Samsonite Manual Luggage Scale

Both of those have a tape measure built-in and so are versatile in helping you determine whether or not your bag will comply with the airline’s allowances.

Now, let’s get into the details.

How to Measure the Weight of Your Bags

Other than going to the airport and using one of the dedicated luggage scales that can be found at some airports, you have basically two options to find out how heavy your bag is: either using a body weight scale or a handheld luggage scale.

Weighing Your Bag Using a Body Weight Scale

Given that a body weight scale is a common piece of equipment in many households, this will, most likely, be the cheapest and easiest way for you to measure the weight of your bags.

It is also a piece of equipment that you might find more useful to buy and then use on a regular basis than a luggage scale in case you don’t travel that often.

While you can find out how heavy your bags are using both an analog or a digital scale, a digital scale is preferable.

With an analog scale, you will have to calculate the weight of your bag manually.

In other words, you will first have to weigh yourself without the bag, then with the bag (or vice versa), and finally subtract the two numbers to get the weight of your bag.

If you have a digital body weight scale, the process of measuring your bag’s weight will be easier.

You will stand on the scale, and only then press the power (or reset) button. That way, the scale will reset to zero with your body weight accounted for. Then, you pick up the bag, and the reading of the scale will correspond to your bag’s weight.

You could also try simply placing the bag itself on your body weight scale, whether analog or digital, but in most cases it will be too cumbersome and more difficult to do than either of the two methods above.

Weighing Your Bag Using a Luggage Scale

While using a body weight scale is a simple solution, if you travel fairly often – especially so with a lot of luggage – you will want to consider getting a handheld luggage scale. That way, you will not have to lug your bags to your bathroom (or your scale out of your bathroom) every time you want to measure your luggage’s weight.

A luggage scale is a small device that will consist of the scale itself, as well as a hook or a strap that you will use to secure your bag to the scale. Both analog and digital luggage scales are available, although digital ones are more common nowadays.

With an analog one, you simply secure your bag to the scale, lift the scale high enough so that the bag is floating, and then read the result.

With a digital luggage scale, you will first have to power it on (or reset) and secure the bag to it, then lift the scale high enough so that the bag is in the air, and then you will see the bag’s weight on the scale’s screen.

Whether you go with an analog scale or a digital one is up to you – neither of them have any  advantages or disadvantages that are anything to worry about. Although, do keep in mind that analog ones tend to be bulkier and digital ones will, of course, require a battery change every now and then.

What Is the Best Luggage Scale?

As mentioned above, it really is up to you whether you will go with a digital or an analog luggage scale. And, in fact, given that it is a very simple piece of equipment, there is not much difference between all the specific products out there.

However, if you are looking for a solid digital luggage scale, I recommend this one by LEOKOR. Not only is the scale light and compact, but it can measure bags that are up to 110 pounds (50 kilograms). And so, it will work even with the heaviest bags you might want to take on the plane.

What makes the scale really versatile and useful, though, is the fact that it also includes a tape measure. Thanks to that, you will only need to have this one tool around to be able to figure out whether or not your bag is good to go – whether into the cabin or the cargo hold.

If you would, for some reason, prefer to have an analog luggage scale, then have a look at Samsonite’s Manual Luggage Scale. While it can only measure bags up to 80 pounds (36 kilograms), that should be more than enough. And, just like the LEOKOR digital luggage scale, it comes with a built-in tape measure.

Summary

If you are about to take a flight, it is more important to make sure that you know how much your bag weighs. Especially so in the age of low-cost airlines. Besides that, especially for cabin luggage, it is important to know the dimensions of your bags so that you can be sure that they comply with the airline’s policies.

While you can measure the weight of your bag with a standard body weight scale, if you travel with any sort of frequency, I suggest you to get a handheld luggage scale.

To make it easier for you to measure both the weight and dimensions of your bags, I recommend getting either this LEOKOR digital luggage scale or this Samsonite analog luggage scale both of which have a tape measure built-in.

 

Click here to see more luggage-related buyer’s guides

 

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