Customer Reviews

KINTREX Lithium Battery Powered SCL0625 Digital Tempered Glass Kitchen Scale - Ultra Thin

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really want to love this scale, it is beautiful and so easy to put away into a small space. But there are some things about it that bother me enough that I would have liked to know about them before buying this scale.


Some of the things that I like about this scale:

- bright, large display is easy to see, even if partly covered by a large dish

- tare (normally) works great, and there is a fairly large weight capacity so most of my bowls can be used to tare

- decimal display, so that you don't have to convert from fractions if you are using software that has decimals

- easy to clean


Some things I don't like about this scale:

- CR 2032 batteries are fairly easy to find and get fairly cheaply, but they aren't quite as easy to get as standard batteries, and many stores charge too much for them; they seem to last much less time than other batteries, too, I had to change them in three weeks at one point!

- Auto turn off after 1 minute is too fast for me, and sometimes it turns off after less time (WHILE I was in the middle of measuring something!) and I have lost the information I was counting on

- the buttons are VERY sensitive, just touching the scale will turn it on sometimes, and the units change on me all of the time and I have to cycle through the other three options to get back to where I was

- there is no OFF button, so combined with the batteries that don't last as long, plus sensitive buttons that turn it on all of the time, this is bad news -- UPDATE: A commenter brought it to my attention that you CAN turn this scale off by holding the Power/TARE button for a few seconds.

- I have to constantly re-tare when filling up small containers, because the scale would adjust itself with small amounts of food. This made me wonder if it was being accurate with very small amounts, which can be important at times.

- After about 8 months of owning this scale, it has started to be a bit quirky. I suspected that it was measuring incorrectly, so I tested it (1 cup of water weighed 2 ounces?) and now I don't trust it so I am shopping for a different scale.

Knowing what I do now about the scale would make me hesitate to buy it more than I did after reading the very positive reviews here on Amazon. I hope this helps!

This scale functions perfectly, is easy to read, reaches a reading quickly, switches readily to the desired graduation or to tare with just one or a few button pushes, and is EXTREMELY accurate--I tested it against a laboratory balance. Its error was under 0.5 gram at 250 grams, or less than 0.2%. Two things to watch for: 1. The instructions say it must be stored horizontally with nothing on it, so it takes up more space than I had planned; 2. The auto-off occurs after one minute of no activity, which is sometimes inconveniently quick. However, you can simply tap on it to keep it going for another minute. Just a note--the CR2032 batteries are a one of the very common lithium coin cells and you can find them quite cheaply on eBay, often with free shipping. I haven't had the scale long enough to determine what the battery life might be.

The Kintrex scale more than meets my expectations. I work as a cook and use a kitchen scale daily. I was wondering how the electronic scale would handle tare weights? Couldn't be simpler. Just place the container on the scale before turning it on and the scale subtracts the container weight and zeroes itself automatically. Switching from grams to pounds/ounces is equally easy. At this price, the Kintrex scale is an incredible bargain.

I have had it for about a month and used it 3-4 times. I like it so far.

What I like:
* It is skinny and is about the the size of a book. I actually keep it with my cookbooks. (You have to be somewhat careful because the touch sensitive buttons could turn the unit on if the button area pushes against another book).

* It has a seamless glass plate on top. It makes it very easy to clean when you spill flour or anything that can get in crevices.

* The tare function is very nice.

* Accurate for my use (mostly baking)

What I don't like:
* The auto off feature is a bit annoying. After I tare a bowl and start adding stuff in it, the unit turns off in a minute or so if there is no activity. So you have to finish weighing before it turns off. If you don't, then you lose all the tare setup. Now you have to dump out the contents, tare again and start adding the ingredients. I hope there is a way to overcome this annoyance. I tried calling their customer service one day and got a voicemail. Didn't leave a message. I haven't called back to see if there is a workaround.

The entire top of the scale is tempered glass (not plastic); which makes a large, flat, sturdy, and stable measuring platform. At about 6"x9", it is a very good size. The display is very readable as it is large and well lit. The entire top is just one flat and smooth piece of glass, so there is nothing to catch dirt; it can be cleaned by just spraying window cleaner on it and wiping it off.

There are two touch sensors in the flat top -- you touch the top, you do not press a button. One sensor selects grams or lbs/oz and the other sensor turns it on, sets the tare, and turns it off (press it for a couple of seconds to turn it off). The unit will also turn itself off after not being used for a while.

It comes with two CR2032 batteries, which are common coin type batteries and are easily found nearly anywhere that sells batteries. As they are lithium batteries, they should last a long time.

Storage is easy because it is thin and flat on both sides -- it can be stored like a thin hardback book. It can stand vertically, taking up virtually no space.

Even though it is thin and light, it has a very rigid and substantial feel to it -- it does not feel cheap. The tempered glass top will not easily scratch or crack, and the touch sensitive controls means that there are no mechanical switches to wear out.

I checked the accuracy at 10 grams and 100 grams, and it is VERY accurate.

EDIT:

I just read a newer review and I am wondering if it is for the same scale.

The touch buttons are a very easy to work with -- you just touch the plainly marked spot on the glass. The only possibly challenging to use function is that the power/tare button has to be touched and held for a few seconds to turn it off (if this is too difficult, it will turn itself off after a minute).

The platform is the largest platform that I have seen on an 11 pound capacity kitchen scale. The entire top of the scale is a measuring platform -- the other kitchen scales in this class have a much smaller platform.

The batteries used are common CR2032 coin batteries that are available almost anywhere that sells batteries. Amazon sells a package of four CR2032 batteries for $3.98. CR2032 Replacement Batteries

I ordered this scale based on the good reviews, and indeed a good scale is hard to find. Here are the reasons I do not like it: It is small and lightweight, which is normally a good thing, but it tips forward or back ward easily enough because the little feet on the bottom I guess are not stable enough. It needs a platform base instead of the feet. I could live with that but the major issue is that I feel it is inaccurate. you can zero something out (tare it) and then take it off the scale and if you put it back on it's not zeroed out anymore. Also, you can take something you've weighed off the scale and if you put it back on the weight is off by a few grams, alot of the time. I use it to weigh ingredients for breadmaking and I think the scale had my yeast measurement off. because I've weighed the same recipe on my old scale and it did not result in the ballooning starter that it did in this case! My bread loaves turned out a lot bigger than normal which was ok, but I like to be precise. I knew something was wrong because I felt I was adding a lot more yeast than usual but the scale was deceiving me. I don't think it does well with 1 or 2 gram measurements. Anyway, back it goes! Best of luck to those of you who buy it.

The scale definitely works but the sensor is quite slow on detecting the weight compared to other digital scales I have used. If you were weighing all the ingredients separately, this would be a decent digital scale but if you were creating a mixture and using the tare function while you continuously add ingredients, then you may end up with a mess. The scale is so slow in showing the weight that by the time it shows up I'm already 40 grams passed by desired weight.

When your hands are wet, the tounch sensitive buttons don't work. Sometimes when liquid drops on the buttons, it initiates.
In conclusion, slow results and problems with buttons.

It works well and is simple to operate, which is all I ask for. The top is a solid sheet of glass (or maybe polycarbonate) so cleaning the top is a breeze. The buttons are probably RF sensors beneath the glass and can detect your finger through fabric and you don't need to physically touch the scale. It has four unit scales (lbs & oz, oz. fl., g, and ml). Two of these are volume units and thus useless (they only apply if you are measuring water). Worse, ml and g are the same for water so these to scale settings read identical values. So there is more button pressing than necessary for switching from metric to imperial units but that's a minor problem.

I bought this to replace an old, cheap scale that finally broke down. I love the low profile and overall look of this scale. Cleaning it couldn't be simpler. I've done some brief comparisons between results given by another scale and this one, and they are not exactly the same, though I'm not sure which is correct. I'm probably going to test at some point to be certain, but in any case the difference is not very large, and all measurements are still in the same ratios to each other, so I've not had any problems so far. Good price too.

I am a culinary student at a Le Cordon Bleu School of North America and have been using this scale during class on a daily basis. This scale is exactly what I expected and it's a great value! The touch pad buttons are great and the display is so easy to read. I would suggest this to any home chef or any professional chef!