I used to use a cuisinart thermometer that had a simple dial scale--
pretty easy to use, sturdy, but a bit slow to get the last few
degrees. I recently switched to an electronic model by Polder that
is quick and accurate. It looks a bit like this one:
http://www.comforthouse.com/cooktherinre.html
Seems to have an excellent battery life so far.
And my current scale is a small one by salter, electronic with one
button for on/off/tare, and one button switching from lbs/oz to
grams. It is probably not very accurate for 5g of salt, although it
does register differences of as little as one gram, so I still prefer
to measure those very small quantities by measuring spoon.
--diane in los angeles
http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/FoodPages.html