Customer Reviews

Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale (Silver)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

(An UPDATE at the END of the review)

I've had this scale for 4 months and I have lost 35lbs. I was really clueless about portion size until I got this scale. In the beginning, I used it all the time, keeping a cumulative daily total. Since I was trying to keep at 60%-20%-20% balance of carbs, fat, protein it was invaluable because I could see what I needed to get to the end of the day and stay within my diet. Believe it or not, that often meant at the end of the day I had leeway to have a (small) treat, which has kept me sane.

Now that I've had it for a while, I don't run daily totals, but I still use it all the time for accurate portion sizes. The manual gives instructions clearly and it is short -- but do be prepared to spend about 10 to 15 minutes learning to use the scale. Once you get it, it is easy.

I've entered in about 25 entries for food items that are not programmed in already. Entering them is easy. The code book is plastic so it won't get ruined by water. The scale is excellent for weighing mail, too.

The auto-shut off will save batteries and still gives you plenty of time to dig around in the fridge and chop something up.

Here are the reasons I did not give it 5 stars: The display could use more contrast as it is a bit dim. Every time you push a button, there is a loud beep noise. It can't be turned off. The book with the list of food codes is not in any sensible order and it has too many codes most adults don't need, like candy bars and processed foods. A condiment section would have been helpful instead of having to find mayo in one place, mustard in another, and I have yet to find ketchup.

I would totally overlook most of the above to give this product 5 stars, except for that infernal beeping.

I could not have had the success I've had without this scale! I never pay expedited shipping for anything, but I did for this and I am glad!


~<UPDATE, March 2011:>~
Hey, thanks for the interesting feedback on my review. You all raise good points, both supporting my commentary and differing with it. I had not considered how this scale would be used by diabetics and diabetic children. That makes perfect sense and I am glad you made us aware of that. I was thinking mainly of nutritional info already being on the wrappers, as well as the sheer volume of processed/packaged foods pre-programmed versus numerous missing items in vegetables, fruit, and fish. It sounds like they have reorganized the booklet and I hope that any commentary here helps them make good decisions about what to include.

With the ability to program in your own items, the holes are an inconvenience but not something that should keep anyone from buying the scale. If you eat lots of pre-packaged foods, it won't be an inconvenience at all!

Long-term scale performance: completely awesome! Have not had to replace the batteries and I use it on average once daily. AND, I've lost 50 lbs and kept 40 lbs off and am now in the process of getting my total loss down again, to 57 lbs. I'm a third of the way there and doing great, for the win. I don't keep running totals on the scale anymore, but I use it in combination with nutritional information from the web to weigh out the calories to my liking without having to program in the items.

Oh! Am I allowed to plug the blog, 100 Calories Of, which I started based on my use of the scale? It is [..] and it shows pictures of 100 calories of different foods I've weighed on the scale. It all started when I posted a picture of 9.5 cashews to facebook and captioned "100 Calories of Cashews." People went nuts (ha ha) for the info so I kept going. I take requests!

Wishing you all a great day and good health.

Just my two cents. I'm a bodybuilder and an athlet thus involved in a planned sport diet. Due to this I have been using several kitchen scales from al round the world. I live in Italy.
As far as I know, this scale is the only one with this features. I have seen something similar here in Europe (although at almost triple the price), but nothing like this. The display shows exactly what you see when looking at the nutritional facts on the food package.
It is a very precise scale. It has hundreds of food nutritional facts pre programmed and 99 blank position that can be filled by the user food data.
In addition, it has a 'total' function which allows to sum all the food of the day so to know the quantity of all the macronutrients ingested.
Definitely a must for everyone who cares to check what is eating and how much.
The only little mole I have found (at least for me but other can disagree) is that when dialing personal food nutitional fact no decimal can be dialed. This means that if a food has 12,4 protein in 100 grams you can only dial 12 or 13: no decimals.

Guess I can survive with it but I would suggest the producer to implement this feature in future version of the scale.

Michael Mellner, Italy

I REALLY love this scale. I use it for two reasons: (1) I'm involved in the health/fitness industry and am often on a strict diet where I need to follow specific nutritional programs, and (2) I have a 7-yr old son who's had Type-1 diabetes since he was 3. One of my favorite features about the scale is the ability to enter custom foods into the database and if you search around you'll find this is a rare option with other scales. More importantly, however, is that the current reviews here are related to the older Kitrics Digital Nutrition Scale (model #120). Not too long ago a new model (#121) was released that addressed the issue that others have had about the poor display. The new model also comes with a removable, washable stainless steel platform for easy cleaning and durability. I can't say enough about the scale. I spent a long time researching various makes/models and am very pleased with my purchase.

Unfortunately at the time of this review the new model isn't available at Amazon and the best price I could find it at was [...] for $54.99 (but I was able to get free shipping).

It works great, you get what you pay for in this product. I love that it takes the weight of the container off for you. It is very easy to use. The code book is laminated so it will hold up being used in a kitchen.

The first scale I received would not allow me to enter my own selection. I called Kitric and they sent me a replacement the next day. I am very pleased with Kitric's response and with their scale.

I have had this scale for about a year and a half now. For the first year, it worked great! After that, I started having problems with the buttons. The first thing that went was the G/OZ button. I would push it to switch to ounces and it would beep and not change. At first it seemed that this would happen only when it had new batteries, but now it happens all the time. Can never depend on being able to get the ounce measurement. Now it seems that all the buttons are going haywire. I push a button and somthing other than what I pushed is input (another number or another function). It gets VERY frustrating!

I am now looking for a new nutriion scale. Won't buy this one again - it should have lasted a lot longer than it did!

This is a great product. It is simple to use and comes with easy to understand instructions. Not only does it come preprogramed with 999 foods you can also add up to 99 of your own if you happen to eat some speciality foods like I do. I would reccomend this scale to anyone who wants to stay on top of the nutritional aspect of their diet and portion size. This scale is a real eye opener.

At first sight, I thought this scale would be complicated but it is easy to weigh your foods and get all the nutrient information of the foods your weigh. I found it very easy to add foods that are not already programmed in. (it already has almost 1000!) Its small so it doesn't take up much room yet it tells you things like calories and protein and fat content. I love it!

While the scale seems to work well, I found that it's flawed:
- It's very flimsy and feels like if you dropped it, it would shatter into a million pieces.
- It came with batteries that are already half dead.
- Hitting the "Clear" button does not clear the tare, if you have one.
- The food listing is very random and odd. It has lard and candy bars, but no breakfast cereals. Some foods are misspelled. The foods are listed in no particular order.
- The instruction booklet is confusing.

If you spend a little bit of time, all of these problems can be dealt with, but I feel like for the price they shouldn't have to be.

I am satisfied with the scales being accurate, but the combination of the smoked glass screen without backlighting, and the small size of the print makes it really hard to use all the functions. It's even hard to read if a plate or dish more than 6/7ins. in diameter is used, a lighted screen or clear glass screen would be nice and couldn't cost that much more to include. I guess the old addage { you get what you pay for } still applies here. If I need another one I'll spend the extra money and purchase a more user friendly model or make.