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Buy the Fellow Tally Pro
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RWRG5j
Fellow: https://fellow.sjv.io/DKAyOa
Buy the Acaia Pearl
Acaia: https://acaia.co/products/pearl
I've been using the Fellow Tally Pro for the past several months, replacing the scale that was my daily driver for the past several years, the Acaia Pearl. Check out my video below, or read on for an in-depth comparison to help you decide which scale best fits your brewing style and needs.
TL;DR:
For home brewers who prioritize filter coffee or pre-dose their espresso, the Fellow Tally Pro is a standout choice, offering superior reaction time, features and build quality. However, the Acaia Pearl remains the top pick for those who dose directly into the portafilter, thanks to its square design.
Design, Build Quality, Durability
Fellow Tally Pro:
- The Tally Pro is a beautiful and premium, but certainly a change when coming from the Pearl. It takes a minute to readjust to the circular, stepped design, but when you do, it feels natural. It has a premium aluminum weigh pan, along with a glass lower surface. The bad news: that glass surface means constant fingerprints and constant cleaning. I do love the tactile buttons over the touch buttons on the Pearl – it just feels more substantial. I'm not too worried about breaking the Tally, but I guess you could be concerned that the metal weigh pan could bend if dropped – the good news here is that it is removable and could easily be replaced. Additional features include an OLED screen, which blows the Acaia's display out of the water, and USB-C charging.
- At this point, the Pearl's design is synonymous with coffee scales. Simple and minimal, featuring touch buttons, a flat surface, and a plastic build. The Pearl feels a bit more Apple, if you're catching my drift. With that, there's some serious downside – it's very prone to scratches, especially when placing portafilters on top if not using the heat resistant pad, due to the plastic design. The Pearl's screen lags behind the Tally Pro's. Newer models feature USB-C charging, a huge upgrade over the pervious Micro-USB, which was a common breaking point that would require sending the scale in to fix. USB-C really fixes this issue, fortunately, but dealing with Acaia and their unwillingness to allow consumers to repair scales themselves (...they wouldn't send me the port to simply replace it via a very easy swap) is certainly a turnoff.
- Both of these scales feature great batteries that don't really have to be charged very often in my experience.
Functionality and Features
- The Tally Pro features a 0.1g readability with a maximum capacity of 2500g. You can measure in grams, ounces, milliliters and pounds. The Tally features a high refresh rate OLED screen that is extremely responsive, easily beating out the Pearl. It features several different modes, including a simple weigh mode, a weight + timer mode, and a Brew Assist mode, which calculates your dose and a selected ratio, giving you your target yield.
- The Pearl features the same 0.1g and a slightly lower capacity of 2000g. Measurements here only include grams and ounces, but the Pearl does feature a couple additional modes, including weigh mode, wegiht + timer mode, an auto-start timer + weight mode, portafilter auto-tare mode, and a beverage mode. I find the beverage mode solid, but a little complex for my preferences. The portafilter mode, on the other hand, has proven pretty flaky and inconsistent in my uses.
Suitability for Brewing Methods
- The Tally isi deal for pour over and filter coffee brewers – I think Fellow points to this with the design itself, considering the weigh pan is round. I really enjoy the Brew Assist mode because,while smart, it doesn't overcomplicate things – I personally don't need crazy flow analysis every morning; I just need a means to make the math a bit easier. Here's the big downside of the Tally: portafilters just don't really work on this scale. This won't impact a large portion of home brewers, considering the trend towards single-dose grinders, but it certainly makes this scale hard to recommend for most cafes who find weighing portafilters apart of their workflow.
- The Pearl is a better all purpose scale, given it can more easily hold a portafilter; the only downside here is that the plastic build means the surface gets pretty scratched up. The other downside is that, since the scale is plastic, Acaia recommends using a heat resistant pad that is included with the scale. This is a downside you don't face with the Tally, considering the weigh pan is aluminum.
Price Comparison
- Tally Pro: Priced at $185, it's a premium option and has the price tag to go along with that. I've seen it on sale for as little as around $150, so keep on eye out on typical sales weekends.
- Pearl: The Pearl comes in at $150, about $35 less than the Tally. I would, however, be shocked if a difference of $35 deterred someone after already entering this price range for a scale
Results: Which One Is Best?
- I think the choice here really comes down to how you're using the scales. If you're a home brewer who typically brews filter or you pre-dose your espresso (i.e. do not grind straight into portafilter), I think the Fellow Tally is the best option for you. On the other hand, if you grind directly into the portafilter (so...most cafes out there), I think the Pearl is the best option given the larger surface area.
- Buy the Fellow Tally Pro if: you predose your espresso, brew mostly filter, and/or want the best in terms of build quality, responsiveness and new technology.
- Buy the Acaia Pearl if: you grind espresso straight into a portafilter and need to weigh the portafilter itself. This will apply to most cafes.
Buy the Fellow Tally Pro
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RWRG5j
Fellow: https://fellow.sjv.io/DKAyOa
Buy the Acaia Pearl
Acaia: https://acaia.co/products/pearl