145 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for cooking and Weight Watchers, May 11, 2006
This review is from: Salter 5-Pound Microtronic Kitchen Scale, White (Kitchen)
I love this compact, flat little scale. Living in a very small city apartment with a tiny kitchen, I hang the scale on the wall when I'm not using it -- it has a key-hole shaped hole in the back so it goes right on a wall hook. That keeps it where I can find it in an instant and its low profile means it doesn't protrude when hanging.
Especially great is its simple control design. One button turns it on and zeroes it out. I can put any container on it, such as a bowl, a cup, a measuring pitcher, or a sheet of waxed paper or a paper towel, press the on/zero button and then add the ingredient I'm weighing until I get the desired amount.
One thing I really like is the other button that toggles between grams and ounces. These days, nutrition information on foods is given in set portions on the package -- and the portion size is always accurately given in grams. Therefore, when following the Weight Watchers program and I've decided how much of some dry ingredient I want to consume, I can determine the portion size in grams and weigh it accurately. That's true for something like a frozen dessert -- the weight of a portion of ice cream, for example, reduced fat or otherwise, is easy when spooning it into a bowl on this scale, but to measure 1/2 cup by volume is difficult, and approximate to begin with.
Some other, similar, scales, have a grams/ounces slide switch on the bottom and that makes switching back and forth between grams and ounces a chore. This one does it with one touch.
With recipes, if the weight of dry ingredients is given in ounces or grams, it's way easier and more accurate to weigh them than to try to measure them by volume and this scale makes that process a breeze.
This scale also works perfectly for weighing outgoing mail to determine extra postage.
The scale has a time-out feature that turns it off after a short period of non-use. So you don't have to turn it off when you're done -- in 30 seconds it will shut itself off. If you're weighing some ingredients, each addition of weight will keep it on, so rarely will it time out during use.
Battery life is lengthy -- I've had mine for almost two years and the batteries are still working. I use it all the time and couldn't be happier with the product.
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53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Now I know why it wasn't working - and it's great!, January 16, 2008
This review is from: Salter 5-Pound Microtronic Kitchen Scale, White (Kitchen)
I purchased this unit several months ago from a home store. After a few weeks it started acting up. I would turn it on and the numbers would start jumping around randomly before I put anything on it. I would have to remove the batteries and re-insert them to get it to stop, but even that didn't always work. I purchased new batteries, same problem.
I use it all the time and when it works I love it. But there have been times I've been so frustrated at it not working that I've wanted to chuck it against the wall!
I took it back to exchange it and my new one does the same thing. I read in the directions to hold the "on" button until the screen comes on, I do that and it still acts up.
EDIT: I learned it is the microwave that was causing my problem. If there is a microwave nearby running that somehow interferes with the unit and causes the problem I described above. If my microwave is not running it works like a dream. I think Salter should do a better job of informing the customer of this, like a little insert taped to the top of the item that alerts us to the issue, would have saved me time, frustration and gas. I'm taking off one star as it was a major PITA until I figured this out.
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42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A little too helpful. . ., July 6, 2006
This review is from: Salter 5-Pound Microtronic Kitchen Scale, White (Kitchen)
Overall this is a fine scale. One "convenient" feature is an auto zero function. If the scale has been tared and the tare weight removed, rather than displaying a negative weight, the scale automatically re-zeros. This may be handy most of the time, but sometimes it's a pain. With my old scale, I could tare a partially filled bowl, remove the bowl from the scale, add more goodies, and place it back on the scale to determine the weight of the additional material. That doesn't work with this scale--it rezeros when a tared weight is removed.
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