People who weigh food, how frequently do you use yours during the day?

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  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    I've never counted how often I use it, but I go through batteries FAST, so I think I use it a lot. Haven't killed the scale yet.

    Considering I have a reputation for killing small appliances, that's saying something. I have an Oxo.

    Pull-out display? I'm looking at the 11lb one. How often would you say you replace the batteries? If it's like.. monthly, then I'll just buy some rechargeable batteries and use my Salter one, but if it lasts longer I'd totally consider buying it!

    Also what brand does everyone else use if you're using it often and the battery lasts a long time?

    I thought the OP's concern was about the scale actually not functioning anymore, not just needing new batteries, but, anyway, I have an Oxo with pull-out display that has a weight limit of 11 lbs, and will weigh in both kgs and lbs, and has a tare button, so if that's the model you're looking at, I only remember having to change batteries twice in the 20 months I've been tracking food, and I usually use it everyday to weigh multiple things for dinner, and sometimes for breakfast and snacks. (I've actually owned it longer than that, as I used it for baking before using it for MFP logging, and I don't remember ever having to change the batteries when I was just using it for baking, which wasn't an everyday thing.)
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I use mine a couple of times a day. In 10 months, I've had to replace the battery only once.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I use mine a couple of times a day. In 10 months, I've had to replace the battery only once.

    what brand? SEND ME YOUR SCALE
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    I've never counted how often I use it, but I go through batteries FAST, so I think I use it a lot. Haven't killed the scale yet.

    Considering I have a reputation for killing small appliances, that's saying something. I have an Oxo.

    Pull-out display? I'm looking at the 11lb one. How often would you say you replace the batteries? If it's like.. monthly, then I'll just buy some rechargeable batteries and use my Salter one, but if it lasts longer I'd totally consider buying it!

    Also what brand does everyone else use if you're using it often and the battery lasts a long time?

    I thought the OP's concern was about the scale actually not functioning anymore, not just needing new batteries, but, anyway, I have an Oxo with pull-out display that has a weight limit of 11 lbs, and will weigh in both kgs and lbs, and has a tare button, so if that's the model you're looking at, I only remember having to change batteries twice in the 20 months I've been tracking food, and I usually use it everyday to weigh multiple things for dinner, and sometimes for breakfast and snacks. (I've actually owned it longer than that, as I used it for baking before using it for MFP logging, and I don't remember ever having to change the batteries when I was just using it for baking, which wasn't an everyday thing.)

    No, about the scales dying within a month or two and then continuing to die quickly when batteries are replaced.

    If I see it locally and it's a good price or I can get coupons I might just splurge on it.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I don't use mine as often as I should... But I'm still loosing so I see no need to (when I stop loosing I will probably be using it for everything)... But I have a basic scale so no batteries and it seems to do it's job when I need it.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Mine does not use batteries. It just plugs into the outlet. I use it every time I prepare a meal. Can't say exactly how many times that actually is. I don;'t know what brand it is. It was given to me by a friend a while back when she was moving out of country.

    American Weigh maybe? I saw one from that brand on Amazon but to get an adapter for it will be pricy. And idk where I'd even BUY the adapter. But I super want one with an adapter :(
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    ana3067 wrote: »
    Just wondering if maybe my frequency of use is what has caused all of my scales to die within ~1 month of purchase. I'll use my scale multiple times per day (probably on average between 5-10x a day, but could be upward of 20x a day if I'm making more elaborate food and having to weigh at multiple stages, or if I get interrupted or if it just times out after a few minutes). One scale uses AAAs, another uses a lithium cell, the other uses a uh... 3V CR battery or something? Salter, Starfrit, and Taylor brands, respectively.

    So at this point I'm just getting super annoyed that they keep dying. ALSO whenever I'll buy one, the first use will display a battery life icon and it's ALWAYS only half full from the get-go.

    Am I just weighing food too frequently? Do I keep buying crappy brands? Does Canada get all the reject scales?

    ETA I'll usually eat 4-5x a day but I will sometimes just grab little things throughout the day, or re-weigh apple cores/peels, and the scales do shut off half the time while I"m in the middle of weighing food for a meal, so those are some of the other reasons I'll sometimes weigh 10+ times a day.

    I weigh all food prepared at home, whether I or beau prepare it. That's many times a day.

    Your scales are dying, even after you change the batteries?

    Yeah I'm at 4-5 per day too. I have three scales and only had to replace the batteries on one of them, once. I also never hit the off button but instead just let them timeout. The one I replaced batteries didn't even have death symptoms, just an icon came up so I changed the batteries

    I used to use rechargeable batteries for toothbrushes and the likes, I think, and I just remember them becoming a royal pain. After a while they wouldn't hold their charge or they probably just never really did to begin with...

    How about your food scale use habits? I remember someone on my FL, her scale died after she washed it. We both figured she probably should just clean it with a damp cloth in the future. Are you putting a lot of heavy containers on them? I know whenever I weigh meat it's mostly on a piece of paper towel or wax paper, that sort of thing...

    Just trying to think up specific reasons why your scales have such a short life.

    Washed it as in submerging it in water in the sink and/or putting it in the dishwater? Yeah, I'm not surprised the scales died.

    I don't generally put directly on mine (that is, I put a bowl or other container on the scales, tare it, and add food, or put the jar or bag or box of food on the scale, tare it, scoop out the ice cream, honey, peanut butter, etc., and then log the weight difference -- second method is much better because you can lick the spoon ;)

    If I do spill something, I just wipe it off with a damp sponge or towel.
    I weigh full containers of stew and soup, and my scales haven't died
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I use mine a couple of times a day. In 10 months, I've had to replace the battery only once.

    what brand? SEND ME YOUR SCALE

    Walmart special! snort
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    I'm wondering if it's a problem with the batteries? Did you buy them in bulk and now they're old? Do you batteries from the same batch for other electronics without problems?
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
    edited April 2015
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    ana3067 wrote: »
    Just wondering if maybe my frequency of use is what has caused all of my scales to die within ~1 month of purchase. I'll use my scale multiple times per day (probably on average between 5-10x a day, but could be upward of 20x a day if I'm making more elaborate food and having to weigh at multiple stages, or if I get interrupted or if it just times out after a few minutes). One scale uses AAAs, another uses a lithium cell, the other uses a uh... 3V CR battery or something? Salter, Starfrit, and Taylor brands, respectively.

    So at this point I'm just getting super annoyed that they keep dying. ALSO whenever I'll buy one, the first use will display a battery life icon and it's ALWAYS only half full from the get-go.

    Am I just weighing food too frequently? Do I keep buying crappy brands? Does Canada get all the reject scales?

    ETA I'll usually eat 4-5x a day but I will sometimes just grab little things throughout the day, or re-weigh apple cores/peels, and the scales do shut off half the time while I"m in the middle of weighing food for a meal, so those are some of the other reasons I'll sometimes weigh 10+ times a day.

    I weigh all food prepared at home, whether I or beau prepare it. That's many times a day.

    Your scales are dying, even after you change the batteries?

    Yeah I'm at 4-5 per day too. I have three scales and only had to replace the batteries on one of them, once. I also never hit the off button but instead just let them timeout. The one I replaced batteries didn't even have death symptoms, just an icon came up so I changed the batteries

    I used to use rechargeable batteries for toothbrushes and the likes, I think, and I just remember them becoming a royal pain. After a while they wouldn't hold their charge or they probably just never really did to begin with...

    How about your food scale use habits? I remember someone on my FL, her scale died after she washed it. We both figured she probably should just clean it with a damp cloth in the future. Are you putting a lot of heavy containers on them? I know whenever I weigh meat it's mostly on a piece of paper towel or wax paper, that sort of thing...

    Just trying to think up specific reasons why your scales have such a short life.

    Washed it as in submerging it in water in the sink and/or putting it in the dishwater? Yeah, I'm not surprised the scales died.

    I don't generally put directly on mine (that is, I put a bowl or other container on the scales, tare it, and add food, or put the jar or bag or box of food on the scale, tare it, scoop out the ice cream, honey, peanut butter, etc., and then log the weight difference -- second method is much better because you can lick the spoon ;)

    If I do spill something, I just wipe it off with a damp sponge or towel.
    I weigh full containers of stew and soup, and my scales haven't died

    Heh. I don't believe I asked if dish washer or just in the sink. I just remember she said she washed it. It seemed like it was an oops moment.

    Another possibility is handling the scale or pushing the buttons with dripping wet hands - could that be enough to send moisture where it shouldn't be?

    Finally you've made me think about something. So okay you weigh full batches of food, but I'm guessing your scale is rated for this. An easy way to know if a user is repeatedly applying weights to which the scale isn't rated is do they see the "error" on the display fairly often? Or just a blank display where its limit has been exceeded? Or is the item weighed frequently just on the displayable side of the maximum / close to the upper limit of the device? I think I've maybe seen "error" once or three times total.

    If this is a case of batteries dying early, I would ask what is the timeout period on the scale. Mine is about 3 minutes but I usually weigh most items just the once and almost immediately take the item off the scale. I don't weigh that many ingredients for one cooking session so I can usually memorize the weights...
  • slowestBurpeesEver
    slowestBurpeesEver Posts: 16 Member
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    I use my Salter scale several times a day. I've had it for years. I can't recall the last time I replaced my batteries, but over the last day or two it's started wavering on occasion when a constant weight is on it, so I picked up some batteries and will replace them next time I notice it.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    I use my Salter scale several times a day. I've had it for years. I can't recall the last time I replaced my batteries, but over the last day or two it's started wavering on occasion when a constant weight is on it, so I picked up some batteries and will replace them next time I notice it.

    what kind is yours? Mine is a touch one with AAAs (uses 4). Dies pretty quick :/
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    goblue8426 wrote: »
    I have an OXO brand scale and have used it steadily for the last six months (several times per day). Also, it's two years old. Still going strong and haven't even had to replace the battery.

    Best one ever!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    ana3067 wrote: »
    Just wondering if maybe my frequency of use is what has caused all of my scales to die within ~1 month of purchase. I'll use my scale multiple times per day (probably on average between 5-10x a day, but could be upward of 20x a day if I'm making more elaborate food and having to weigh at multiple stages, or if I get interrupted or if it just times out after a few minutes). One scale uses AAAs, another uses a lithium cell, the other uses a uh... 3V CR battery or something? Salter, Starfrit, and Taylor brands, respectively.

    So at this point I'm just getting super annoyed that they keep dying. ALSO whenever I'll buy one, the first use will display a battery life icon and it's ALWAYS only half full from the get-go.

    Am I just weighing food too frequently? Do I keep buying crappy brands? Does Canada get all the reject scales?

    ETA I'll usually eat 4-5x a day but I will sometimes just grab little things throughout the day, or re-weigh apple cores/peels, and the scales do shut off half the time while I"m in the middle of weighing food for a meal, so those are some of the other reasons I'll sometimes weigh 10+ times a day.

    I weigh all food prepared at home, whether I or beau prepare it. That's many times a day.

    Your scales are dying, even after you change the batteries?

    Yeah I'm at 4-5 per day too. I have three scales and only had to replace the batteries on one of them, once. I also never hit the off button but instead just let them timeout. The one I replaced batteries didn't even have death symptoms, just an icon came up so I changed the batteries

    I used to use rechargeable batteries for toothbrushes and the likes, I think, and I just remember them becoming a royal pain. After a while they wouldn't hold their charge or they probably just never really did to begin with...

    How about your food scale use habits? I remember someone on my FL, her scale died after she washed it. We both figured she probably should just clean it with a damp cloth in the future. Are you putting a lot of heavy containers on them? I know whenever I weigh meat it's mostly on a piece of paper towel or wax paper, that sort of thing...

    Just trying to think up specific reasons why your scales have such a short life.

    Washed it as in submerging it in water in the sink and/or putting it in the dishwater? Yeah, I'm not surprised the scales died.

    I don't generally put directly on mine (that is, I put a bowl or other container on the scales, tare it, and add food, or put the jar or bag or box of food on the scale, tare it, scoop out the ice cream, honey, peanut butter, etc., and then log the weight difference -- second method is much better because you can lick the spoon ;)

    If I do spill something, I just wipe it off with a damp sponge or towel.
    I weigh full containers of stew and soup, and my scales haven't died

    yeah I only ever wipe them with a damp cloth (maybe a like, Lysol cloth sometimes if it is really gross), I do use heavier pots on them sometimes but not sure how that would poop them!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    ana3067 wrote: »
    Just wondering if maybe my frequency of use is what has caused all of my scales to die within ~1 month of purchase. I'll use my scale multiple times per day (probably on average between 5-10x a day, but could be upward of 20x a day if I'm making more elaborate food and having to weigh at multiple stages, or if I get interrupted or if it just times out after a few minutes). One scale uses AAAs, another uses a lithium cell, the other uses a uh... 3V CR battery or something? Salter, Starfrit, and Taylor brands, respectively.

    So at this point I'm just getting super annoyed that they keep dying. ALSO whenever I'll buy one, the first use will display a battery life icon and it's ALWAYS only half full from the get-go.

    Am I just weighing food too frequently? Do I keep buying crappy brands? Does Canada get all the reject scales?

    ETA I'll usually eat 4-5x a day but I will sometimes just grab little things throughout the day, or re-weigh apple cores/peels, and the scales do shut off half the time while I"m in the middle of weighing food for a meal, so those are some of the other reasons I'll sometimes weigh 10+ times a day.

    I weigh all food prepared at home, whether I or beau prepare it. That's many times a day.

    Your scales are dying, even after you change the batteries?

    Yeah I'm at 4-5 per day too. I have three scales and only had to replace the batteries on one of them, once. I also never hit the off button but instead just let them timeout. The one I replaced batteries didn't even have death symptoms, just an icon came up so I changed the batteries

    I used to use rechargeable batteries for toothbrushes and the likes, I think, and I just remember them becoming a royal pain. After a while they wouldn't hold their charge or they probably just never really did to begin with...

    How about your food scale use habits? I remember someone on my FL, her scale died after she washed it. We both figured she probably should just clean it with a damp cloth in the future. Are you putting a lot of heavy containers on them? I know whenever I weigh meat it's mostly on a piece of paper towel or wax paper, that sort of thing...

    Just trying to think up specific reasons why your scales have such a short life.

    Washed it as in submerging it in water in the sink and/or putting it in the dishwater? Yeah, I'm not surprised the scales died.

    I don't generally put directly on mine (that is, I put a bowl or other container on the scales, tare it, and add food, or put the jar or bag or box of food on the scale, tare it, scoop out the ice cream, honey, peanut butter, etc., and then log the weight difference -- second method is much better because you can lick the spoon ;)

    If I do spill something, I just wipe it off with a damp sponge or towel.
    I weigh full containers of stew and soup, and my scales haven't died

    Heh. I don't believe I asked if dish washer or just in the sink. I just remember she said she washed it. It seemed like it was an oops moment.

    Another possibility is handling the scale or pushing the buttons with dripping wet hands - could that be enough to send moisture where it shouldn't be?

    Finally you've made me think about something. So okay you weigh full batches of food, but I'm guessing your scale is rated for this. An easy way to know if a user is repeatedly applying weights to which the scale isn't rated is do they see the "error" on the display fairly often? Or just a blank display where its limit has been exceeded? Or is the item weighed frequently just on the displayable side of the maximum / close to the upper limit of the device? I think I've maybe seen "error" once or three times total.

    If this is a case of batteries dying early, I would ask what is the timeout period on the scale. Mine is about 3 minutes but I usually weigh most items just the once and almost immediately take the item off the scale. I don't weigh that many ingredients for one cooking session so I can usually memorize the weights...

    Wet hands - maybe? But then again one of them is a touch pad, so water doesn't get into it.
    weight limits - my scales go up to 11lbs, and I've only had errors for weight a few times. Not sure how that would affect battery life though.
    Time out period is around 2-3 minutes for each scale.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    I'm wondering if it's a problem with the batteries? Did you buy them in bulk and now they're old? Do you batteries from the same batch for other electronics without problems?

    New batteries from the store each time. New batteries almost seem to die FASTER than what was given in the box.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    Every day. Except on vacation.

    What brand? Wanna trade?
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    goblue8426 wrote: »
    I have an OXO brand scale and have used it steadily for the last six months (several times per day). Also, it's two years old. Still going strong and haven't even had to replace the battery.

    Best one ever!

    I've heard really good things about the 11lb model (mixed on 5lb model)..... ugh.
  • tephanies1234
    tephanies1234 Posts: 299 Member
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    I spent $50 CAD. I've had it for two years. The last 5 months I've been pressing buttons 20x a day plus, and have changed one of the two CR batteries once in that time. My parents have the same scale for many years more than I have.