Scales: Learning to Love Them

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rabbithutch

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Nope! This ain't the title for an article in Cosmo!

Had to see the doc yesterday which entailed a step on the scales. Damn near broke the thing!

So, I'm thinking it's time to get serious about dropping a few stone. I hate to diet and have had no success with them over the years. Doc says to work on counting calories and portion control. I've always thought that more was better - and sometimes not enough - I'm gonna have to have some way (weigh?) to measure my intake. That means scales.

I searched here and found a wide range of suggestions about kitchen scales. I even did some reading at cooksillustrated.com and other web pages. Now I'm so confused, I couldn't make a purchase decision if a gun were pointed at my head.

From what I've read, there are several features that a good scale must have:
1) capacity to weigh from ~1 gram (the weight of paperclip) to 11 pounds (or more)
2) easy to read, well-lit display (since most are digital)
3) accuracy, usually to tenths of a gram
4) ability to display grams or fractions of an ounce, user's choice

To that list I'll add my ill-informed preferences:
1) it should be compact, easy to use and easy to store
2) it should be easy to clean (did I say I'm a bit messy in the kitchen?)
3) it should be relatively inexpensive ($50 sounds steep to me, but what do I know?)
4) it should be battery powered (if electronic) and the batteries should be sizes easily found.

Now for the challenge to those of you with experience using scales . . .
What did I miss in features to look for or to avoid?
Is calibration an issue?
What scales do you have and what features do they have that you like/dislike?
What scales would you buy if you were doing it again?
What brands/models would you avoid?
How much should one have to pay for a good set of scales?

Looking forward to your answers!
 
This is what I have for a main scale.....

31pXB5RfrFL.jpg



I'm happy with it.

I think that you covered the most important points.

~Martin
 
This is what I have for a main scale.....
31pXB5RfrFL.jpg

I'm happy with it.
I think that you covered the most important points.
~Martin
I have one that is very similar to this one and I use it all the time for % in pizza dough but we also use it for portion control as well.

What ever scale you end up with - look for one with "tare" capability. This allows you to put a plate or bowl on the scale and reset to 0 to weigh only the product you want to weigh  
 
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