Outstanding Product, significantly better than competition
In my family we have used Seca mechanical scales for over 50 years, first in Europe (where I was born and grew up) and over the past 28 years in the US. This is my first electronic Seca (the mechanical one is still working perfectly 20-yrs on but is now in a secondary residence): after 6 months of use by the whole family, I must say it is a significant step forward over the mechanical one but still maintains the quality and accuracy that this manufacturer is known for. Specifically: - surface is extremely wide: while this makes the scale a little larger than usual, it is much better, especially for big people like me (I wear size 14 wide shoes): I do not have to keep my feet unnaturally close when climbing on or off. The very low profile of this scale also helps in this respect. - Legibility: very clear LCD display, with large digits and excellent contrast. - Measuring options: pounds or kg. This is a good option for me since I still think metric (even after 30 yrs in the US), though it may be a little confusing for American users because the scale defaults to metric when first shipped: there is a tiny switch on the back (bottom) of the scale (next to the battery receptacle) to change to pounds. This switch is actually quite small, and not very well documented in the one-page instruction sheet, so it is easy to overlook, as happened to a few reviewers who posted a complaint about "Kilograms only". Please note that this is absolutely not true: the scale measures in pounds as well, but is shipped defaulting to metric, so you have to adjust that before first use. - Accuracy: excellent: my reference is the Exacto professional scale in my doctor's office, and the Seca is exactly identical, except that it is much easier to read the decimals compared to the Exacto. - Durability: besides our own experience (4 months, and a family of four using it daily), I can add the experience of an identical scale in my health club, which has been in constant use in the men locker room for over two years and is still going strong. - Ability to handle carpets: this is a very nifty feature but, once again, not very well documented in the instruction sheet, so it's easy to miss: the scale comes with four extra plastic feet extensions that are meant to clip over the standard ones to maintain accuracy if the scale is on wall-to-wall carpeting instead of a hard floor. This attention to detail is typical of Seca, and very thoughtful. - Battery life: this was a concern of mine, going from a mechanical scale to an electronic one: so far (4 months), it is going fine, so I'm no longer concerned: even if it eventually turns out I have to replace the batteries (size AAA, commonly available pretty much everywhere) every six months or so, it's an acceptable, very minor inconvenience in exchange for the convenience and accuracy of digital. - Operation: here, again, the device is very thoughtfully designed but somewhat cryptically documented. There essentially two modes of operation: you either step right on, and the scale will automatically switch on and for a few seconds show you the previous reading, which will be replaced in memory by the new one in a few seconds. Now, this may be confusing if several different people are using the same scale, such as in our family or at the health club: for these cases Seca has provided another mode of operation: give the scale a light tap, then wait until the dial shows zero before stepping on. In this mode, the scale will not show the previous reading, just the current one. - capacity: this is one of very few scales going well beyond 300 pounds max. capacity, a feature important for some people (including me). The only negative of this product is the documentation: the "owner's manual", a single sheet, is affected by the (typically European) preference for multiple languages, saving paper and a preference for pictures over words. The result is a lot of information in tiny font with tiny pictures and symbols crammed into a single, small, sheet folded even smaller, accordion-like. But if you have the patience of decrypting the instructions, you will find you bought a great, reliable and useful tool for what is ultimately a very reasonable price. One final note: a couple of reviews refer, somewhat disparagingly, to the "Chinese" origin of this supposedly German product. After a very thorough examination, I could not find a clear "made in China" label anywhere on the scale itself: however, I could not find a clear "made in Germany" label either, so the jury is still out on this issue. Still, I like to judge products by their inherent quality and features, not by their provenance, and, in my view, there is nothing "cheap" about this scale: it is, in my view, in every way consistent with the excellent reputation and quality that, over so many years, I have come to expect from this company. Read more