Digital scales

bouicca21

My digital scales have become totally unreliable.  At first I thought it was only when they needed new batteries. Now it's more or less all the time.  I have tried cleaning the contacts and leaving them to 'air' for a day.  They were fine - for about an hour.  There's no warning that they are going to act up, so you have to notice that what you see and what they say do not match. At the moment it seems to be consistently about 50%, so a 250g packet of butter comes out as 123g.

Any ideas either as what to do other than bin them, or suggestions for a reliable replacement?

PipneyJane

I don't know how to fix your scales, sorry.  However I can recommend John Lewis' own brand digital scales.  I've had mine for about 10 years and they're wonderful.  Looking at JL's website, the aren't selling the version I have now, but these are the closest and only £10.

- Pip

Steve_L

I have to recommend Salter. I bought some of their scales when I was first starting out on my own. They ate batteries, even when switched off. I rang Salter. There was a known problem with the automatic off switch on that model, which had a 15 year guarantee. The model hadn't been out anywhere near that long, so they all must be under guarantee, so they didn't need to see a receipt. I received an e-mail with a catalogue and instructions to pick whatever current model I fancied. I went for the new version of my old one, as it suited my needs, and I noted this now had a manual off function. An object lesson in excellent customer service.

I've just checked my records. I got the new ones on 9/10/2009. The new scales also have a 15 year guarantee, so they're still covered and still going strong and now used at least twice every day to weigh out Henry's food. The battery was last replaced on 3/12/2017.

bouicca21

My scales are Salter!  And just 13 months old - I used to have balance scales but they took up such a lot of room. I’ve cleaned the contacts again.  My packet of butter now weighs anything between 248 and 254 grams depending on what mood the scales are in.  At least that’s nearly accurate.

coffeehound

Tanita are a quality Japanese brand for scales.  I've got some 2kg by 1g ones which appear really well made.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=TANITA+kitchen

Norman_Castle

Anything stuck between the parts that move?

joedenise

I'd also recommend Salter.  I've had mine for about 7 years now, they came with a 10 year guarantee from Mr Ts.  Think they were about £8 or £9.  Probably had 3 batteries in that time so last at least a couple of years each.