Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

January 2020 Update: The scale still works as well as it did when I bought it in 2018! No issues to report. About a year ago, I decided I'd try my hand at selling things via eBay since I wanted to sell more than what Amazon was good for and have the flexibility of not having to find an exact, preexisting listing to put it under and also I didn't have to just charge a flat rate and risk taking a hit if my item exceeded that amount due to weight (which many of my textbooks did). Now, at first, I got away with using my parents' ancient, clunky digital scale (which probably weighs 50 lbs but has a max capacity of only 20 lbs) since I was only listing a few small things. It was of course cumbersome and inconvenient to use, but it was better than nothing. But then a family member wanted me to help them sell a horse saddle. Now, this immediately presented a unique shipping challenge because not only was the saddle too weirdly shaped and big and bulky to accurately weigh on a scale, even if I put it in in a box to contain it and help balance it on the scale, my parents' scale didn't have a high enough weight capacity and its digital reader screen would have been totally obscured by the box being balanced on the weighing area, so I ultimately wouldn't have been able to get an accurate reading on that scale. So, not wanting to spend money on a scale if I didn't have to, I did try to weight it on a bathroom scale, but, because the data output screen was once again obscured by the box sitting on it, this proved futile. I even had a family member hold the saddle (in the box and out of it) and stand on the scale and let me measure the difference in weight, but this was not a super accurate figure. I kept getting a range of possible weights, and with shipping, each ounce and pound of weight affects the shipping rate. So, with a sigh, I hopped on Amazon to look for a digital scale to use for these things. It'd solve my quandary with the horse saddle and would also make the weighing of my other items much easier. There are surprisingly a lot of options for shipping scales; the online retail market has really opened doors for small businesses and artists and individuals looking to make some money off the belongings they don't need/want, so I set to work looking through the features and options to find something I liked. The things that attracted me to this scale were: ✩ The price! At the time I'm writing this review, this model sells for $24.99 and I paid just $1 less a few months ago for mine. Compared to other models, it had some better perks for not a whole lot more money, so the price seemed decent for what I was getting. When I informed my family I was going to get my own scale, they told me to expect to pay $75 or more, so it's wonderful to know modern tech has made scales much more versatile and affordable. ✩ The weight capacity it can handle: 110 lbs is no joke! Some other scales are a few dollars cheaper but handle way less weight; I don't exactly plan on weighing a lot of heavy items, but knowing the scale has a nice margin of weights it can handle safely is very nice, especially on the off chance I do suddenly need to weight something that's on the heavier end. ✩ The fact that it's so small and light yet has no issue handling that amount of weight. The entire scale is only about 10x8x3 and it weighs very little; it's no problem to lift it with one hand. A vast improvement from my parents' scale, which on top of having a pitiful weight capacity was an absolute LUG of a machine. This thing is so light and small it's super easy to store and get out to use. I don't have to dedicate a whole area it. ✩ It has built in plastic flaps to help contain/prop up the items you're weighing. While this doesn't seem like a huge perk, if you've ever tried to accurately weight something that can't stand up on its own or might roll off, you know it can be a struggle to figure out how to get an accurate measure of its weight. I like that if I need to weigh something that needs to be propped up, I can easily do it without changing the measurement. ✩ It's both battery and AC adapter powered, so it has the versatility of not needing a plug to be used but has that option in the event you don't have batteries or you simply want to use external power. ✩ If an outlet isn't available, the cord can be taken from the wall outlet and plugged into a computer's USB port to get power. ✩ I really like how the scale will weigh things in the lbs+oz orientation, since this is how shipping companies deal with it. I've seen scales that don't offer this option, which is really stupid. It's not the biggest deal to manually change, but if you're weighing and listing multiple items for sale, it's not hard to trip up and incorrectly write the weight, which can cost you money. ✩ The display is bright, easy to read, and easily lets you shift between the options. On/off, zero, hold the number, change the weight units. ✩ The display is on a long, stretchy cord that can held away from the actual scale, which makes the information much more accessible, firstly, and secondly allows the scale to handle objects that go beyond the scale's small boundaries. After realizing the issue with the bathroom scale and its built in, flush-with-the-scale display, I pretty much knew I had to get a scale with a display that was separate from the scale itself. ✩ The scale comes with a 10 year warranty; I don't know how easy it is to use or if the company makes it a pain or anything, but it's nice for a product to include that all the same, especially since a scale is one of those objects that needs to work perfectly and has to be treated a bit gently, otherwise it can sustain damage and cease working or start giving incorrect info. Now, there are a few things that aren't so positive: ✗ The AC adapter has to be plugged into the display. I find it kind of awkward to link things like this, since having the AC adapter plugged into the display takes away from the display's ability to be freely moved and handled. It doesn't exactly take it away, but it can be a little more cumbersome. ✗ The AC adapter isn't very long and since it's a USB with the little hallow round plug, I don't imagine it's super easy to get a longer replacement. The cord included is about 3 feet long. It's not exactly a deal breaker for me personally, but if you want to use the AC adapter and your outlet is 6 feet from the area where you want to use the scale... :/ ✗ The batteries can pop out once the cover is off, since the way they're nestled in there is that 2 per slot have to be pushed together and held in by tension. It's not a big deal, but it can take a sec to get them in and then put on the cover before they pop out and when removing the cover the batteries can pop out by surprise, so I'd definitely be mindful about where you choose to open the cover, lest 2+ batteries pop out onto the floor and roll away. ✗ Since this is so small sized there is a downside: you do have to put in extra effort to balance packages/items that overhang the edges by a good bit and it works best if what you're weighing either is a compact, solid shape or you put it in a box to contain it. If the scale was, say, 12x12 it'd probably be easier to set things on it without thinking, but since it's so small it can take a little maneuvering to balance things on top so the edges don't touch the surface the scale is sitting on and change the measurement. ✗ It's a little awkward to store because it's a measuring tool; you don't want to keep anything on top of it really or accidentally push down a lot on one edge, since damaging the scale will result in it not taking accurate measurements. I've opted for leaving it sit alone on a shelf, but since it's so small and flat, I'm tempted to set stuff on top of it. I kind of wish it came with a case or have an extra piece to lock around it in that space between the top and bottom portions to keep the sensors from being pressed on, even if something is on top of it. Overall, this scale is nicely suited for your needs if you: ✓ Have a range of items to weight; you sometimes need to weight the very light, sometimes you have something a little more heavy ✓ Have to weight boxes/packages that overhang the 10x8 scale top and would hide the display on a model where it's built into the scale ✓ Need a small, light scale that doesn't take up a lot of room and isn't difficult to handle ✓ Need a scale that can operate on batteries but like knowing it has a backup/alternate way of getting power ✓ Require weight to be read in ounces, pounds, pounds plus ounces, and kilograms/grams ✓ Don't require any fancy perks like syncing the scale with your computer or tallying up the number of objects sitting on its surface ✓ Don't need it to be super tough and able to take a lot of abuse; it can handle general use fine, especially it the items are set down nicely or don't weight much, but if you're tossing multiple heavy packages on it every day without a care, it'll definitely not hold up too long. ✓ Want a higher capacity than 20 or 50 lbs, but don't want to spend an extra $10 or $20 for a scale that goes to an extreme capacity like 400 lbs Overall, this was a very good purchase! I've been using it for a few months and I have no issues with it. We'll see if it withstands the test of time, but for now, I couldn't be happier! It's definitely made it far easier for me to deal with the listing and shipping aspect of eBay, so I've been able to do more with my store. I'll never have to bother with that monster of a scale my parents own ever again and I'm glad for it!