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Too high-tech for your own good
May. 8th, 2025 11:43 amSeveral years ago we bought a new bathroom scale, with a digital readout customizable to your choice of pounds, kilos, or stones (!). A month or two ago it died —- not any of the high-tech internal workings, of course, but one of the plastic feet broke, and since weight is calculated by pressure on the feet, all the readings were suddenly about 25% off. (I could live with it if they were consistently 25> off, but no such luck.) I glued the foot back together, and that fix lasted for a couple of weeks before the glue joint broke and we ordered a new scale.
The new one, the latest model from the same brand, looks even more ultra-modern, being made largely of glass. If you move it, it lights up for a few seconds while waiting for you to step on it. In fact, if you walk across the bathroom floor, it lights up for a few seconds while waiting for you to step on it. I guess the idea is that it doubles as a night-light for mid-night bathroom visits.
The new scale arrived April 27, and I installed the four AAA batteries that came with it, and it worked great. (AAA batteries are an improvement, being easier to find than the 2032 watch batteries the old scale needed.)
On May 7, ten days later, the new scale refused to report a weight because its batteries were low.
Maybe it’s just that the batteries provided with the scale are crap, but maybe the scale should concentrate its efforts on weighing people rather than lighting up the floor.
The new one, the latest model from the same brand, looks even more ultra-modern, being made largely of glass. If you move it, it lights up for a few seconds while waiting for you to step on it. In fact, if you walk across the bathroom floor, it lights up for a few seconds while waiting for you to step on it. I guess the idea is that it doubles as a night-light for mid-night bathroom visits.
The new scale arrived April 27, and I installed the four AAA batteries that came with it, and it worked great. (AAA batteries are an improvement, being easier to find than the 2032 watch batteries the old scale needed.)
On May 7, ten days later, the new scale refused to report a weight because its batteries were low.
Maybe it’s just that the batteries provided with the scale are crap, but maybe the scale should concentrate its efforts on weighing people rather than lighting up the floor.
