Customer Reviews

OXO Good Grips Stainless Food Scale with Pull-Out Display

5 star:		(187)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Length:: 3:41 Mins

Watch my 3½-minute video review of the OXO food scale--a product that almost looks like Steve Jobs designed it--and you'll be so sorry you ever trusted that reckless Betty Crocker.

OXO's newest addition to the kitchen counter is this well-designed, practical food scale. The pull-out display makes sense if you have ever used a scale and cannot see the readout with a large container on top. As cool as the design is, the scale is extremely accurate, so much that we use it for a postage scale at home, and it weighs anything from an envelope of under one ounce, to a good sized package for the mail (up to 11 pounds). Weighing ingredients in food is the European way of measuring while cooking, and so much more accurate than volume measurements. Of course it is bi-lingual so you may measure ounces or grams, and it is perfect for converting European recipes

I couldn't agree more with the other reviews thus far. This unit is sleek looking, and the pull out diplay is another ingenious OXO idea. The numbers are large and easy to read. It zeros for weighing multiple items with a simple button push, and the metal surface of the scale can be easily removed for clean up.

I've found this little machine to be quite intuitive, you can set it up with the included batteries and get right to work without so much as a glance at the instructions.

The only thing I would like, would to be able to
change the reading options. IE
-
for 2 1/2 ounces would like to see 2.5 diplayed
This gets harder to calculate intake etc when it
shows readings such as 5/8 etc etc

Works as advertised. Measurements are precise.
Smart ideas:
1. Back light can be turned on if you need it. That way you do not run down the battery if the light is not needed. Good feature if there is a glare or you need to see the display from a distance.

2. Obviously, the pull out display. I wasn't sure if this was a needed feature, but once I put a dinner plate on the scale it was well worth it. Display pulls out from scale easy and fits back on scale nice and snug.

3. Zeroing option or tare feature.

4. You can switch between weights with the touch of a button. No turning on and off to reset.

5. Scale will go into a sleep mode after 3 minutes, but retains all measurements. Simply push a button to wake it up and keep working. Auto shut off after 45 minutes.

6. Easy to clean. Scale plate comes off.

7. Can store almost anywhere with the slim build.

The only thing people might find a problem with is cost. It does cost a little more than some other scales, but I would recommend it for the features I listed above that the other scales do not have or do not perform as well. You can always justify not needing a certain feature or paying a little more. But it sure is nice having a scale that works great and does everything you need.

I selected this kitchen scale based on its size, large display area, lb/kg conversion, and expected accuracy based on reviews by others. Although overall I'm satisfied, a couple of small things caused some disappointment:
- The enclosed batteries were no good (why bother enclosing them if battery life is not guaranteed? It's more frustrating to have dead batteries than not having batteries at all)
- The scale is not as accurate as expected, and the weight measurement actually changes on the same items from one measure to the next. I have a set of old brass weights that I put on the scale to test the scale's accuracy. The first time I put a 100g weight on it, it measured it accurately as 100g. Then two minutes later I put the same weight back on the scale and it showed only 99g. It did the same with all the weights I have from 20g to 250g, showing the accurate weight the first time, then 1g less the second time. I can't figure out what that's about.
- I erroneously assumed that the scale can be stored on its side, rather than laying flat. Wrong. It must be stored laying flat, which was disappointing. It's true that in the product description there was no indication one way or another about storage restrictions, so my fault for hoping that it can be stored upright, but it would have been nice to know for a fact about storage restrictions.

I'm not dissatisfied with this scale, but I will look around for other options when I need to replace it.

Love it - I use scales quite a bit for weighing my food for portion control, but I always keep the scale in the cabinet becuase they're bulky and don't look very good on the counter. This one is very slim, I love the stainless which matches my kitchen decor, and fits neatly between the microwave and fridge. Big easy to read numbers, light up display, and the face of it pulls out to read when I weigh on a plate. I can zero it out so I can just add an ingredient, zero it, add another ingredient, zero it...you get the picture. I love it, worth every penny.

A wonderfully designed scale with great features, especially the on-off button and long-lasting display while you are doing other things. So many scales shut off after just a minute or two, but this one stays with you for the long haul.

Alas, I use this scale primarily for weighing coffee beans for my espresso machine. I can place 17 grams in a small bowl, then pick up the bowl to remove some beans (16 grams is my goal), and when I place the bowl back on the scale again, it might display 18 or 19 grams!! If I pick up the bowl and replace it on the scale a few times, the weight can vary anywhere from 15 to 19 grams, not very helpful for my purposes. Really a shame, as I love everything else about it, but I need a greater level of accuracy, which this simply does not deliver.

I got this to replace a Soehnle scale that had some sort of manufacturing defect, but there are two things I simply liked about the design of this scale. (1) Although it has a power save mode, it does not power off and erase the display only after a few minutes. It will blank the display, but the last reading can be restored by pressing one of the keys. (2) The button to switch between metric and English units is on the front panel, not the bottom of the unit.

11/23/2009 update: My previous comments were from around 1/19/2009, when I first bought this. That power save mode doesn't actually work all the time. Sometimes it will go blank with a weight on it but after being woken up will reset to 0 instead of the original weight.

4/17/2010 update: That power save mode can be annoying. Today I filled a container partially then left it for a couple minutes to get something else. When I came back to resume filling the container, the display was still turned on. As I continued filling, I watched the display tick up as it normally would, and then all of a sudden it went blank. When I turned it back on, it was back to 0. This makes no sense since the device should have been able to detect that I was actively using it.

On the bright side, the readings on this thing are still consistent after a year. I can see they're the same every time I put the same container on, and after filling the container if I remove the container and put it back the reading will go right back to 0 and then back to the previous weight. The Soehnle scale I used to have would become skewed by a few grams when items were removed from it and put back.

I was a bit apprehensive to spend this much on a scale, but I have since used the two main features multiple times and so I think it has paid for itself. The pull out display is very useful and the zero function is fantastic. If there is a downside, it would be that the display updates with a very slight lag so as I pour more of an ingredient into a bowl, the measurement isn't instant. So just add more of your ingredient gradually and you'll be fine.