Looks like the Rapala High Contrast Digital gets good reviews. The Catch Commander is a little pricey.
Any suggestions
Looks like the Rapala High Contrast Digital gets good reviews. The Catch Commander is a little pricey.
Any suggestions
I just picked up the Rapala High Contrast last week. Accurate so far and pretty easy to use.A lot of people seem to like the touch screen as well.
Gonna check that Rapala HighContrast out.... I need. New scaleOriginally Posted by jiggerjake
Tim Messer ~ Lake Ariel, Pa.
US Army 1968 ~ 1971
2019 Ranger RT188 ~ Merc PRO XS ~ MK Ultrex
Yep. I’ve been down in Fl. getting some use from mine
I've owned both, currently using the Catch Commander.
The High Contrast is pretty great: Accurate, easy to use, nice visibility in the sun, etc. My issue with them is that I couldn't get one to last more than one season. The "backlight" went in both of the ones I had. Maybe backlight isn't the right word: essentially they went from being easy to see in the sun to being nearly impossible to see in the sun (and batteries weren't the culprit). I never allowed them to get rained on or anything aside from general humidity you might have in a boat compartment, so I'm really not sure what happened. Aside from their durability, the only real complaint I had was that I initially found I would sometimes get weights that were really off. Long story short, even when holding the scale properly when turning it on, making a habit re-zeroing it with the clip hanging freely after turning it on solved the issue. Just a bit of a pain to have to do to make sure you get reliable weights, but not a huge deal.
Not wanting to buy another disposable scale, I grabbed a Catch Commander before last season and was overall very pleased with it. The only real complaint I had is the auto-hold function that will sometimes hold on the wrong weight if the boat is bouncing or fish won't calm down. After I contacted the company asking about a manual hold function, I learned that you can "reset" the auto hold by hitting the power button once. That solved the occasional problem I had. (If anyone has one and didn't know this: Be careful to hit the power button only once to reset the hold as hitting twice zeroes the scale when it's in hold mode which would mean you'd need to remove the fish and re-zero before weighing again. Hitting power once any other time when it's not holding a weight zeroes the scale). I suppose another minor complaint is the bright yellow color. Though it's nice for finding the scale in the dark or whatever, it doesn't exactly make it easy to covertly weigh a fish as holding up a bright yellow scale draws some attention. Being cognizant to hold it down in the boat or behind a compartment lid solves that though.
For what it's worth, I had a Rapala Touch Screen before the High Contrast. It worked OK, but I felt it was too complicated and had issues with it registering my touches when I had cold and/or wet hands. The former I think is due to it just having more functions than needed for a simple scale I want to weigh fish and track my 5 biggest, and the latter I'm not sure can be avoided with a touch screen. Mine also came with the option of a hook or a terrible spring loaded clip that was too hard to open and that could easily crush a fish's mouth when attached; not sure if that's changed, but if not, you would probably want to plan to buy a Fish Grip Jr. to attach to it to make it usable. The High Contrast was just as accurate, simpler, had real buttons, came with a Fish Grip style clip that worked great, and is cheaper. Between those two the High Contrast wins every time in my opinion.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
Rapala tournament scale. It's proven tournament after tournament to be spot on. Makes culling much more efficient too.
2016 Ranger RT188, Yamaha 115 sho, dual console, 80# Ultrex, hotfoot, networked HB Solix 10 & Helix 9, Mega 360. Powertech NRS3 18p, Atlas 4" jack plate.
I’m a fan of the Rapala high contrast. The buttons are small, but easier to use than the touch screen, in my opinion. Mine is very accurate too.
I've had a Brecknell for the past 3 seasons and haven't had any issues and it's also very accurate. I read about it not being waterproof. I'm careful not to leave it out if it's raining and between tournaments it sits on the deck of my boat in my garage in case my compartments have any moisture (even though I leave all the lids open for a few days). Anyway a lot of guys in my club have the Rapala high contrast and seem happy with it.
Another Catch Commander user.. Nothing but good to say after two seasons.. I remove the batteries at the end of the year and replace prior to the first tournament of the season.. Normally right with or within 1-2oz of our certified tournament scales..
Catch commander has a few really bad reviews on TW. Seems impossible to find a scale with good reviews. Maybe it is just the nature of the device that make it tough to make reliable.
2002 Pro Craft 200 Super Pro- 2005 200 Mercury Optimax, Retired
Empty Nester- Proud Grandfather 5-30-2014-Boy-Aiden, 8-2-2017-Boy-Calen
Don’t believe everything you read in the TW review section.. Lots of times these bad reviews are user error and people hoping a company will send them a freebie
Over the last couple of years I've used the Rapala Touch Screen and the Rapala High Contrast. Was really trying to like the High Contrast as it was slightly smaller and easier to read in the sun, but didn't like having to scroll through individual weights. The touch screen has everything for you to see at once and I found it easier to lock in weights and assign to "bins" as well. The new ones now come with the Fish Grip Jr. (original had the spring or the hook; I actually replaced it with the original Fish Grip).
The drawbacks are they are still slightly touchy to getting wet and a little hard to read in bright sun. But, being able to see all 5 bins (holds up to 8) with the total weight all on on screen without scrolling or hitting different buttons far outweigh the drawbacks. For the money I don't think you can go wrong.
GOOGAN SQUAD DIGITAL SCALE
I've had Rapala, Berkley, and Brecknells. Before I retired part of my duties was managing a metrology lab, so I carried them in and my partners in, to check. With the Rapala and Berkley we were always weighing in more than expected, so I wanted to see how accurate they were. The Berkley was 11.5% light, the Rapala 6% light, and 4 different Brecknells were dead on. (2 Brecknells failed within a year and had to be replaced)
Based on my Metrology calibrations, if I want accuracy get Brecknell.
If you are culling, it doesn't make a difference as long as you are using the same one.
I'm currently a metrologist, and luckily every portable scale I've had ($4 China job from Amazon, Rapala Tx, and another Rapala that I can't remember the model) have all been dead nuts. In fact, the $4 Amazon scale was perfect all the way up to 50lbs, while the Rapala Tx was 1 LSD off over about 15lbs iirc.
I ordered and just received the Googan scale. Had good reviews but everything googan has gets good reviews. I hope it’s not like a cult or something where I wind up vacuuming carpets like Mr. Wilhelm.
Just purchased the Accu-Cull scale And love it so far and I would definitely recommend it.
I have a feeling you might be right. I've been through a number of scales that all died from getting wet. I got the Gambler scale and have had no problems with it. I know a ton of people said they had problems, but I haven't.
I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.
Had the Rapala High Contrast, and like others have mentioned, it seems to be a disposable item, good for a year or so then the screen goes. I liked it b/c it was on the smaller side. I picked up the Catch-Co when TW had it on sale for $40, but it's kinda big, bigger than I expected even with the handle removed. Almost too big for a co-angler trying to keep gear to a minimum, so typically just bring a cull beam.
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