Audio Additives Stylus Force Gauge inconstantcy

Go onto Amazon and take a look at the Riverstone Audio gauge. $28.95, none better.

Agree 100% with @bdp24 

Bought the Riverstone few years back and never looked back.

Extremely accurate and repeatable, really like the drop down bracket so stylus is then at same height it would be playing vinyl.

My experience with these repackaged generic gauges like the one you are using is that they are all unreliable - perhaps its some form of magnetic interference (i.e. this is why it measures fine on calibration weights but goes haywire with a cart)

The Riverstone that others cite likely does not suffer from this due to the added mechanism offsetting the location point and getting the cartridge magnet away from the weight mechanism. 

These days I use the Rega Gauge which eschews magnetic materials entirely and works a dream but it is rather premium priced  

I watched someone doing a setup where three different digital scales were used and none of the scales agreed (the user averages the readings).  None of the scales were low-cost models, one was a Win scale that is made for cartridge setup and costed about $900 more than 15 years ago.

I don't know what to make of this.  I use an outrigger that rests on the scale which has an attachment that can be set at different heights so that the measurement is taken at the level of the record.  This also means that the cartridge is never close to the scale itself (the outrigger is acrylic).  I don't know if this improves accuracy, but, it certainly removes issues involving magnetic attraction of the cartridge to components in the scale, and incorrect readings from the cartridge being at the wrong position (height) when the measurement is taken.

Exactly Larryi.

I never even thought about the magnetic part of measuring on the outrigger bracket, just the fact that it now sits at correct height but it certainly could be a part of it.