Heston Blumenthal Precision by Salter Digital Kitchen Scales - Premium Compact Baking/Cooking Scale, For Weighing Food/Coffee and Liquid, 0.5 g Increments, Slim, Stainless Steel/Black

Really good set of scales. Accurate and fast response. I use it daily.I don't use the smaller scale often, but it is useful occasionally when measuring yeast for bread or other small amounts if salt or spices where a normal scale lacks the accuracy.

We would like to think that we know quite a bit about kitchen scales in our household. We have certainly been through enough of them. Firstly, most modern scales seem pretty accurate on the weighing side of things (which is clearly what they are designed to do and so a bit obvious I guess). I think that the technology nowadays with digital measuring is kinda more than good enough for domestic usage.So that's the boring bit done with. Most scales we have had, thrown away, or which stopped working, were unusable etc all had plenty of design elements that either irritated or actually even annoyed. In most cases the display is too small, or not with sufficient contrast to read easily under kitchen lighting. Then often the display gets completely hidden by your food/container when placed on the scales! Another annoyance oft encountered is the insistence of many scales to decide they have been on for long enough and take it upon themselves to switch off! Very frustrating if the auto-switch-off is too keen. Then there are those scales which have so few buttons that you have to go through the same succession of repeated button-presses every time you use them. I could go on (and quite often do!)...Now, let's talk about the Heston Blumenthal Dual Platform Precision Scales:THEY ARE BRILLIANT!Well, I hope that has helped any prospective purchasers make their decision.Kind regardsMr Tester.Oh, you want more information? Okay, does this help:1) Build and overall quality 10/10. These scales are simply beautiful in their design. They are elegant and I would imagine will spend pretty much all their life out on your kitchen worktop. Any nosy neighbours who pop round to borrow a cup of sugar will shrivel up in jealousy the moment they espy your beautiful scales. When they ask to borrow them too just tell them to go away and get their own sugar and scales. The build quality is top-notch with stainless steel surfaces.2) Design 10/10. If anyone out there can design a better kitchen scale then you should be in manufacturing now. These scales have been so well thought out. The secondary smaller weighing platform may seem overkill but it isn't - it's a handy extra that you will almost certainly use at times. The main thing about the design is that you can pop a dish, plate, bowl, or even a bag of haggis-bits -- and you will still be able to clearly see the display. What more could a simple man (or woman) want eh? Sheer genius in my opinion that someone has designed some scales that are actually readable when weighing food!! Probably being a bit overly sarcastic here but hopefully you get my point.3) Display 10/10. Actually - 15/10. What a stunning display. Large (very large) main readout and the type of LCD they have used is sort of reversed with pale numbers against a dark background. The bottom line is that they are wonderfully readable in pretty much any situation (haven't tried them when scuba diving as yet though). My wife's days of peering to see stupid small LCD readouts are a thing of the past. Heston has nailed it with this display. A total winner and this type of display ought to be made a legal requirement by the EU I reckon. You will not be disappointed. Apart from the stunning display the information is quick and logical to access. Very very good indeed.4) Value for Money 10/10. They might not be the cheapest kitchen scales on Amazon but actually, for what you get I believe they represent very good value for money. Mainly because anyone receiving them will be so chuffed that they will have forgotten about the money the moment they plop a tomato on to weigh. Although arguably completely useless to some purchasers I feel I have to even mention the box they come in. I never thought I would rave about a box that a gadget comes in but this one is special. It more befits an item of jewellery. The box is unbelievably well made. If you want to keep you scales in their box then every time you put them away you'll have a 'special moment'. We keep our scales out all the time but, if you are in that situation, then the box is so lovely that I am sure you could find another use for it... please send suggestions to the address below! It's strange but the moment you get your hands on Heston's scales you know you have something special as the box is, after all, the first tactile experience you get when opening the package.5) Functionality 10/10. They work, and they work very very well. They do not turn off every time you bend down to scratch your ankle. They are simple and logical in operation. What more could a person want (except for more money and better looks maybe)?You may have gathered that we like our Heston Scales. Yes we do.If you buy them, my humble opinion is that you will like them too.For the forseeable future we do not anticipate looking at any other kitchen scales. Our scale-quest is over. Ended.If you buy them, my humble opinion is that you will not need to look at any other kitchen scales.For those of you who think I am being overly-biased, well okay you may have a point. However, I have only bothered to spend the best part of 30 minutes writing this review because I do like to give credit where credit, I feel, is due. We have literally wasted time, effort, money and food on inferior kitchen scales over the years. This time we have got it right......or should I say Heston/Salter have got it right!(Please note that I do not have any association with Heston Blumenthal or Salter, other than that of being a very happy customer). Also, please remember that this is my personal and honest opinion, and ultimately you may have a different experience and thoughts should you consider purchasing the item.

At first sight these precision scales from Salter certainly look the business: robust, well made and attractive they even come with an impressive 15-year guarantee. The specification is equally impressive, boasting two weighing platforms, a zero/ tare function and support for various units of measurement. So what's there not to like? Consider this.As soon as I unpacked them, I tested the scales with a small packet of drinking chocolate, declared net weight 35g. The larger platform recorded 37g, about what I expected allowing for the packaging. The smaller platform, however, returned 34.1g for the same item, a discrepancy of nearly 10%. And so it proved with other products, all my tests returning similar results. The smaller platform consistently weighed less. A change of batteries made no difference.Thinking I might have missed something, a hidden switch for example, I contacted Salter customer services who duly pronounced the scales defective. Needless to say, said item is now on its way back to Amazon for a refund. Shame, really, as I was initially very pleased with them. Interesting to note that the Amazon reviews currently score this item at 4.2 whereas on the Salter website they only get 3.2 a third of which are 1-star. Not surprising, really.

This is a good-looking scale and boasts of being a 'Precision' instrument, endorsed by Heston who profiles himself as a science kind of chef. The scale is fine for general use when it is first used and generally for the first 1-2 years.I found two key problems:1) after some time, the scale's auto-zero mechanism becomes unstable and the scale starts "drifting". It manifests itself by the measurement changing, by itself (up and down by 10-20%) for a period of time (up to 30 seconds) before it stabilises back to where it started (it appears to remember the correct weight). This is very frustrating, particularly when in mid-weighing (e.g. adding weights by using the manual zero in between - suddenly having the scales showing numbers all over the place) when the last thing you want to do is stop and wait for the scale to settle down...Sometimes I walk away from the scales giving it time to settle, only to find the power-saving has then turned the scales off all together, leaving me without knowing where I am with my ingredients measure.I have had this happening twice on two different scales around 1.5 years after purchase.2) When weighing very small amounts (e.g. for molecular gastronomy where you sometimes measure 0.1-0.5g), even on the small "precision" scale with max 200g limit - The scale's software is over-aggressive in resetting the 0.00g, meaning the scales does not show the correct measure as you carefully pour ingredients onto the scale - until you have poured much more than you need. For example, you can pour slowly onto the scales and the scale will maintain 0.00g all along and if you then remove what you poured on, it will then reveal -1.5g as thge software had a quick and sizable change on the scale, it showed on the display. This is not what I expected when buying a "precision" scale.The scale is hard to keep clean, if you have an over-spill as liquids can get under the weighing platforms.The metal covered scale platform is great for keeping clean, but they are NOT heat resistant for taking a pan directly from job to scale!Overall the scale is a good average kitchen scale that will work for 1-1.5 years but it is NOT a serious Precision scale, not will it last forever. probably a bit expensive for <2 year life-cycle.