There are numerous hardness tests, some with multiple scales, and others with a single scale applicable over a wide load and hardness range. Automation of these tests has been introduced over the past decades to speed up and simply these tests. The talk centers upon the precision of these automated tests (Rockwell, Brinell, Vickers and Knoop) performed in both the micro- and macro-load range, in the laboratory or in a production environment. Examples of the correspondence between test scales and applications of these tests will be presented.