Timemore Black Mirror Basic 3 vs Fellow Tally Pro

At a glance

Put these two scales side by side and the difference isn't really about accuracy — it's about what each one assumes you already know. The Timemore Black Mirror Basic 3 assumes you know your ratios and just want a fast, honest number. The Fellow Tally Pro assumes you might not, and builds a coaching layer on top of the same basic measurement to walk you through it.

Both hit 0.1 gram resolution and a 2000 gram capacity — on paper, the core spec sheet is a near draw. The Basic 3 costs roughly $40-50; the Tally Pro runs $100-130. That gap is the whole story of this comparison, and it's worth being upfront about what you're actually paying for before picking a side.

Where they differ

Interface philosophy

The Basic 3 uses physical buttons for everything — tare, unit switching, power — and responds instantly with no menu diving. There's no guided mode, no recipe memory, no prompts. You bring your own knowledge of when to bloom, when to pour, and how to read the number.

The Tally Pro's defining feature is its guided pour-over screen. Set a recipe and it prompts you through bloom timing and successive pours in real time, effectively replacing the mental math and separate timer a lot of people juggle during a manual pour-over. That's genuinely useful skill-building for someone early in their pour-over journey, and genuinely unnecessary once the routine is internalized.

Physical footprint

This matters more than most buyers expect going in. The Basic 3's low-profile design is a deliberate engineering choice that lets it clear tight portafilter setups during espresso extraction — a taller scale physically can't get a cup and spout under it without extra spacers or a raised surface. The Tally Pro's bigger, taller body and larger screen make it comfortable on an open pour-over station but a worse fit if espresso is part of your routine and counter space is tight.

Display and readability

Here the Tally Pro wins outright. Its larger, higher-contrast screen is easier to read at a glance, especially in dim kitchen lighting or from a normal standing distance over a kettle. The Basic 3's smaller display is perfectly legible up close but asks more of your eyes from a distance or in low light.

Build and materials

Both use a mix of metal and glass or plastic components and feel solid for their price tier. The Tally Pro leans more overtly premium in its industrial design — it looks and feels like a $100+ object. The Basic 3's mirrored glass top looks striking too, but shows fingerprints more readily and needs more frequent wiping to stay presentable.

Price and what it buys

At roughly half the Tally Pro's price, the Basic 3 delivers the same core weighing performance most people actually need day to day. The Tally Pro's added cost buys the guided screen, the bigger display, and a more premium build — real things, just not universally necessary things.

Which should you buy

If your daily use is mostly espresso, or you already know your pour-over recipe cold and just want a trustworthy number fast, the Timemore Black Mirror Basic 3 is the smarter buy — it does the job that actually matters at a fraction of the cost and fits better under a portafilter to boot.

If you're still building your pour-over technique and would genuinely benefit from a screen prompting your next move, or you just want the biggest, easiest-to-read display on your counter, the Fellow Tally Pro earns its price. Just don't expect either scale to fix a bad tamp or an uneven grind bed on its own — that part's still entirely on you, no matter which number is staring back at you.