I've also had very good luck with MyWeigh's kitchen scales. Their bathroom scale--thI had the one where you had to tap it first with your foot before fully stepping on to it. Anyhow, after a while, the voice readout and print numbers weren't matching up at all. Of course, the kitchen scale doesn't get a huge amount of use--it's my baking/portioning out ground meat scale, and I don't do those things every day.
Thanks, Ari > On May 14, 2018, at 8:39 AM, Sieghard Weitzel <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Cristóbal, > > You must have bad luck with the My Weigh talking scales. I had my first one > for close to 20 years and it did not work any more at some point last > November. I contacted the company and they also have a partner here in Canada > (probably their distributor) where I sent the scale along with a money order > and they sent me a new one. This one is a bit different, I guess it’s the > newer model which doesn’t come with the plastic bowl any more, but I have > used it now since last November without any issues whatsoever. > > I’m glad to hear the Drop scale is accessible and has the simple scale > function, but as you also pointed out, you would prefer a talking scale and > in this case so do I, having to grab the phone, unlock it, open an app and do > all that every time I want to weigh what might be one of 8 or 10 ingredients > in a cake recipe sounds like entirely too much trouble.Too bad nobody has > made one yet which works with Alexa. > > As for the other one you mentioned I would call this a case where you get > what you pay for, can’t expect too much with a $20 scale. When my My Weigh > stopped working I initially had also ordered another talking scale from > Amazon, I think it was called “Jobar”, but it had a horrible voice and I > didn’t like how it worked. > > Regards, > Sieghard > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > Cristóbal > Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2018 9:50 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Follow up to a posting about accessible bluetooth kitchen scales > > Hello list, > > Towards the end of last year, I posted a sort of query/rant about Bluetooth > kitchen scales and how I was having no luck with the MY Weigh Vox talking > scales. No matter how careful I was, the vox scales would unfailingly crap > out on me only after a few months at the most. At the time of that post, the > two of my vox scales died within days apart of each other during the > Christmas holidays. Being stuck without an accessible scale was not fun. That > and they were already replacements of replacements of replacements… My Weigh > did swap them out for me and at least that time, they didn’t even charge me > the standard $25 fee. I just had to pay shipping for both of the scales to > Arizona. Came out to something like $10. > Anyway, the most recent Vox 3000 scale replacement I got towards the middle > of January and this time . . . it lasted all the way to mid-March… > In the meantime, I had been checking out some Bluetooth kitchen scales for > accessible alternatives as it seems that My Weigh really is the only > manufacturer that makes talking kitchen scales that can weigh to the gram. > And as it appears that I’m more or less Charlie Brown when it comes to vox > scales, I didn’t want to continue to play the swap out game for eternity. > I came across two Bluetooth options. The Perfect Bake 2.0 Smart Scale: > https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Recipe-Kitchen-Wireless-Bluetooth/dp/B019C4PUOA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526269584&sr=8-3&keywords=bluetooth+kitchen+scale&dpID=51EpnAj-ZTL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch > for $20.00. as well as the Drop Scale - Connected Kitchen Scale: > https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Scale-Connected-Step-Step/dp/B00TTY34KG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526268636&sr=8-1&keywords=drop+bluetooth+kitchen+scale&dpID=31UVszDTlQL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch > which I got on sale for $56.00 from its usual $80.00. As of this posting, it > looks like the Drop Kitchen scale is $70.00. > Both devices have iOS apps. The Perfect Bake Smart scale I ended up returning > as I found it to feel on the cheap side in regards to materials (it felt very > plasticky and flimsy) and the paring was kind of a hassle. I don’t recall > exactly the process, but I do remember not being able to figure out the > buttons (memory serves that there were four buttons) and ended up calling my > sighted wife to help me out. The app it was more or less accessible with from > what I was able to gather VoiceOver reading the different areas, but again, > the app and its layout just felt a little too busy for me. > To be clear, both these scales and their associated apps have the main focus > on interactive recipes with a heavy visual element to them. You follow a > recipe and you can see on the display how virtual bowls and what have you > filling up and so on. This too added to the over all feel of the perfect bake > smart scale giving more of the impression of being a kid’s toy than anything > else. In the Perfect Bake Smart scale, there is an element where you can put > VO focus on and as the weight fluctuates, VO will announce the changes, but > it kind of gets lost with everything else on the screen. That and for me at > least with this model, I started to get all sorts of crazy readings into the > thousand of grams. I really didn’t play around with it much to see if I could > figure out or correct the weird readings since I knew within a couple of days > I wasn’t going to keep it so I just sent it back. > As far as the Drop Kitchen scale, it’s actual feel seemed more in line with > its higher price. It is small (maybe 7 inches in diameter) with a rubbery > surface where you would put whatever bowl or plate or any other container on > it. There is one simple button that slightly sticks out of the side of the > device and is almost like a little apostrophe or comma in a visual sense that > you press to pare with your phone or iPad. Paring with this scale was super > easy. The iOS app (Drop Recipes) is fully accessible and the first time you > launch it, you go through a couple of prompts including the paring part which > was done in a snap. > This scale like the Perfect Bake Smart scale is again, focused on recipes, > but what this scale has that I didn’t not come across in the Perfect Bake > Smart scale was a simple scale function. When you first set up the app and > device, the default screen is the whole busy recipe section and the different > steps and so on, but you can have the scale screen be your default which is > super clean and simple. You’ve got a menu button that says hamburger button > like a lot of other apps do, then there’s a heading that just says Scale, > after that is where the weight would be announced and it the scale is not > connected, VoiceOver will say not connected. If the scale is connected, then > you’ll have “current weight”. After that element, there’s a toggle where you > can switch from grams (it can measure to the tenth of the gram), to KG to > ounces. Double tapping it will cycle you through G, KG or OZ and lastly there > is a tarra button that simply says “zero”. All these fields are laid out > vertically. > I ended up keeping this scale mainly due to the clean layout of the scale > feature. If VO focus is left on the current weight element, VO will speak the > weight fluctuations instantly. There was an app update a few weeks ago that > broke this real time announcement and it was frustrating as you had to flick > focus away from the current weight field and back to it to get the updated > reading, but the developers put out a new update a couple of weeks ago that > fixed it. > To be clear, my preference is to have a simple accessible talking scale, but > as again, it appears I’m eternally cursed in this regard, I’ve found the Drop > Kitchen scale to be a satisfying solution. I don’t know if I would have > bought it at $80 since1) again, it’s main purpose (recipes) isn’t really > VoiceOver accessible, but for an actual scale, it’s completely accessible and > easy to use and at $56.00 it felt a little more reasonable. Since I was > spending money on shipping vox scales back and forth every couple of months > anyway. > That and I had also written both companies about their VoiceOver > accessibility. The Perfect Bake Smart scale folks gave the standard “we’ll > take it into consideration” whereas the Drop Kitchen people wrote me back > expressing their willingness to improve on the recipe aspect, but were > skeptical on how it could be done since again, there’s a large visual element > to it, but they also took the time to check on whether VO spoke the weight > measurements in real time and also mentioned that one of the support staff’s > sibling is blind and uses it. > I’m fairly confident that the app will continue to be accessible and as has > already been demonstrated, if something gets broken, it’ll get fixed. > The Drop Kitchen scale site is: https://www.getdrop.com/ if anyone wants to > check it out. It seems they also support other appliances, but I’m not in the > market for an oven or anything so I have no idea about accessibility for any > of those other items. 2) > One complaint I’ve read about the Drop Kitchen scale is that the battery dies > fast and as it’s a particularly unique battery which you have to write the > company for, but I’m going on two months with this scale without any issues > so we’ll see. > Cristóbal > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. 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