When Does The Price of Laboratory Equipment Actually Matter?

If you work in a lab setting, I am sure that you know how absolutely sky high the prices of scientific equipment can be. For small budget starts-ups, graduate or teaching labs this can bring very difficult choices in what equipment can be purchased, inhibiting overall growth and limiting application. We often accept these prices as the cost of doing business. Afterall, the applications for these pieces of equipment can be very niche. Companies will often rely on a limited number of sales with large margins to pad their overall bottom line. However, are these pieces of equipment worth the premium cost?

I have been aware of cheap Chinese lab equipment for years. Decades ago, Chinese made products were synonymous with shoddy quality and poor manufacturing. These days, China has become an absolute global powerhouse in manufacturing. There are few products produced that do not have at least several Chinese manufactured components in them. That is not to say that we shouldn’t acknowledge that their success has partially come from their creative interpretation of intellectual property.

A real world example would be the best way to gauge if this equipment really is worth its price tag. Lets take a look at two analytical balances for today's example. An analytical balance is staple of any chemistry laboratory. For this comparison, lets choose a cheap balance from AliExpress by a manufacturer called JOANLAB and compare it with an established industrial player OHAUS. Lets begin by looking at properties of both instruments as reported by their respective manufacturers. It is important to note that both of these are the mid range products, rather then their top of their product line.

Table 1. Comparison of reported properties of the analytical balances from their respective manufacturers

Manufacturer	JOANLAB	OHAUS
Model	FA3003S	PX224
Capacity	200	220
Full Range(g)	0.001	0.0001
Linear Deviation (g)	±0.0002	±0.00006
Repeatability (g)	±0.0002	±0.00008
Stable Schedule (s)	≤3	3
Calibration	External (1 point)	Internal
Pan Size (mm)	120	90
Dimensions (L*H*W)	320*195*280	321*309*209
Net Weight (Kg)	3	4.5
Price  ($CAD) [02/19/2026]	274.41 (Shipping Included)	4103.00 (Before Shipping)

If you are going purely on the basis of the stats outlined, you would assume that the OHAUS is simply the best purchase as far as accuracy and repeatability. However, it is always prudent to make our own observations about a product and to then evaluate if that product performs as per the manufacturers specifications. Lets evaluate these products on a few metrics.

Figure 1. Side by side comparison of the JOANLAB and OHAUS balances.

Build Quality:

It is incredibly obvious that the OHAUS is build with stronger materials. The JOANLAB balance is made from impact resistant ABS plastic while the OHAUS does not list it. ABS plastic is generally a tough material, but it not completely chemically resistant. This should be a consideration when purchasing one of these balances. The feel of the doors is much smoother on the OHAUS, and the glass appears to be significantly thicker. Both pans are stainless steel, but the OHAUS has metal beams supporting the overall structure. The JOANLAB by contrast uses plastic ABS support beams. In practical terms, this does little to change its overall function. Its a scientific balance, and in my opinion something to be used rather then to be admired like a piece of fine art.

Functionality:

One big difference is the leveling system. The feet of the OHAUS balance are much easier to fine tune. This is a big weakness of the JOANLAB. It takes substantial changes in height of the leveling mounts to affect the level at all. Either the instrument is much more self leveling, or it lacks the precision of the OHAUS. I believe we can assume the former. The leveling mounts on the JOANLAB also appear to be of much flimsier construction and design.

Figure 2. 'Ghost' level of the JOANLAB FA3003S

Figure 3. Adjuster feet of the JOANLAB FA3003S

Figure 4. Adjuster Feet of the OHAUS PX224

Another advantage for the OHAUS is the built in antistatic bar on the balance. I am sure we all have struggled from time to time trying to stabilize a measurement. This new feature is an overall game changer when measuring powders; but realistically can be dealt with via an antistatic gun if necessary. One surprising feature on the JOANLAB instrument is a rear facing LCD screen, allowing you to read a measurement from both the front and the back. The application of which I am not absolutely sure of, but may be useful in the right context.

Figure 5. Top of the balance view and antistatic bar of the OHAUS PX224.

Figure 6. Rear view of the OHAUS and JOANLAB balances, showing the extra secondary display of the JOANLAB balance.

A significant feature in favor of the JOANLAB is that it can be powered by 4 replaceable AA batteries. This, along with being significantly lighter makes the whole system far more portable. Now it should be noted that you will still have to deal with the problem of keeping the windows closed during transport, so it should not be considered a fully portable system.

Both instruments appear to be able to connect using an RS232 connector, but the OHAUS also contains far more modern USB ports for those that require a computer connection. While this feature is nice, a computer connection is something that is only seldom used in niche applications.

Calibration was quick on both instruments. This JOANLAB model requires an external calibration standard, but only uses a single point (100g weight) for calibration. Measuring this calibration weight with the OHAUS, we get around 100.0018g. Unfortunately this discrepancy may account for some of the error in future measurements. It is important to note that whether external or internal, it is expected that calibrating it will lead to the most overall accurate result. It is nice that this particular model of OHAUS contains an internal calibration standard, but this is more a feature of convenience then accuracy. Both instruments calibrated in around 3 seconds as advertised. There appears to be no significant advantage in speed of calibration.

Figure 7. Single point calibration of the JOANLAB balance.

Measurement Comparison:

Both of these instruments will be compared using the same 0.001g precision to keep and even playing field. It is assumed that the OHAUS is the gold standard, so we will be comparing the deviation of the JOANLAB after both have been calibrated.

Procedure: Both instruments are to be calibrated respectively. Take a 100mL polypropylene container and place it on the OHAUS balance, and zero the measurement. Take the empty container and repeat it on the JOANLAB. Place the container back onto the OHAUS balance. Carefully add steel BB's into the container to the required amount. Weight for the measurement to stabilize. Record that data point. Move the container to the JOANLAB balance and allow for the measurement to again stabilize. Record that datapoint. Return the container to the OHAUS balance, and add more steel BB's to the next data point. Repeat these steps until all of the data points have been collected.

Figure 8. Measurement of steel BB's

Results:

Table 2: Measured values of various weights between the OHAUS and JOANLAB balances.

JoanLab (g)	Ohaus (g)	Ohaus Round (g)	Difference (g)	Difference (ABS)
0.520	0.5165	0.517	-0.003	0.003
13.401	13.4019	13.402	0.001	0.001
16.467	16.4684	16.468	0.001	0.001
31.100	31.0996	31.1	0	0
48.099	48.0972	48.097	-0.002	0.002
66.769	66.7693	66.769	0	0
139.217	139.223	139.223	0.006	0.006
168.806	168.8153	168.815	0.009	0.009
198.084	198.0922	198.092	0.008	0.008
199.353	199.3580	199.358	0.005	0.005
		Average:	0.002	0.003

% Error = |OHAUS(g) - JOANLAB(g)|/(OHAUS(g)) * 100%

Discussion:

What we can see from graphic the measured experimental data is that the JOANLAB balance is much better between 0 - 100 grams then 100 - 200 grams. At the top end of the weight we see a peak in a loss of accuracy for the JOANLAB instrument. The actual % accuracy as a percentage remains stable between 99.997 to 99.993%. It is only at incredibly small increments (0.52g) that we lost any notable accuracy at around 99.42%.

What can we conclude?

At the end of the day, we do see that there is a difference in terms of build quality and features offered for both balances. Considering the price difference, it would be incredibly disturbing if there wasn't. A balances primary purpose is to measure the weight of things. While some of these features are nice quality of life things, they do not necessarily make the JOANLAB instrument far inferior.

We do see that there are some accuracy issues associated with the JOANLAB balance, but that it may or may not matter depending on your needs and context. In industry, the difference in weighed quantities are far more substantial then the error produced by this instrument. In a synthetic lab, if you are weighing in or around 100g its accurate enough for reactions. If you are doing super precise analytical work where fractions of a decimal place matter, then it is obvious that you should choose the OHAUS.

As scientists we often gravitate to the technology with the best features, or the highest accuracy. Just as in life, we need to make sure that we actually need the accuracy or actual features and balance it with the funds we actually have available.