Which would you trust, digital scales or Mechanical?

[PinkyPia]

7lbs difference on my digital scales vs the mechanical ones I have.

Which would you think are more acurate?

Digital.

Or whichever one gave me the most favourable reading.

Try weighing a 5 kilo bag off potatoes and see which is the most accurate.

(Assuming that you are not a 5 kilo bag of potatoes!)

I just weighed a 12kg medicine ball and they both came out at 12kg :/

That could just be due to rounding.

If they only read to the nearest kilo/half kilo one could think it's 11.8 kg and the other 12.2 kg, but both would display 12 kilo, but the 0.4 kg difference in percentage terms is about the same as 7 pounds in the weight of a person.

You have to be careful with digital scales that you don't unthinkingly touch/lean on anything while you are stepping onto them, as once they have 'decided' your weight it doesn't matter if you then take your hand off the back of the chair or whatever, they will weigh you light.

With mechanical scales, check the disc hasn't crept out of alignment with the 0 when they are empty.

Try again (if you haven't already). If they are still out of synch I would suggest trying a friend/family member's scales to see which is correct.

Assuming they are consistent, if wrong, you can still track any gains or losses in the meantime.

I prefer digital scales as it's too easy to fool yourself with mechanical ones because they rarely stay completely still while you weigh yourself!