Used a cheapo tabletop scale from harbor freight for a couple years before it went caput. I guess I got my money's worth though...it was cheep. I now have a 30-$40 model from Bass Pro. The kind you clamp the fish's' lip and hold up in the air. I have not used it enough to make any real review.

As far as feeding goes, the PB rule of thumb is to feed them all they can clean up in 10-20 minutes unless your wallet empties sooner. I did not have enough fish in the pond coming in at feeding time to clean up the smallest setting on my feeder in 20 minutes, so they got plenty to eat. It would throw 1 cup of Optimal Jr (or 1/4 pound) with a 1 second throw. I think most of my HBG went down the drain pipe the first year leaving a small number to benefit from that small amount of feed. I thought that they just had plenty of natural forage and just weren't hungry. It took me a few years to come to the conclusion that I did not have the numbers of fish I thought. A few hundred more fish are going in next week. I am looing forward to the 30mph winds you referred to.

Fish on!,
Noel