SOYOK 11 lb Digital Kitchen Scale, Six Units

What the maker puts in writing

• “[MULTI-FUNCTION SWITCHING MODE]—Food scale can bear a maximum weight of 11LB, and can also provide you with a weight scale accurate to 1 g (0.04 oz)/0.05 oz… six unit conversion functions: g/kg/lb/oz/ml/milk ml”
• “[STAY FULL OF ENERGY]—The digital food scale has automatic overload and low battery warning modes… will automatically shut down when not used for two minutes”
• “[SATISFY GOURMET LIFE]—First, tear off the blue protective film on the surface, install the included 2 AAA batteries and select the ON button… click the UNIT button to select your unit; then, press the Z/T one-button tare function, reset the weight to zero”
• “[LIGHT UP DIM VISION]—The digital kitchen scale with LCD display can be used by both the elderly and children… It can provide you with night vision mode in dark environments”
• “[SIMPLE BUT NOT SIMPLE]—…made of high-quality stainless steel… more waterproof and wear-resistant… we adopt a rounded corner design and four anti-slip bases”
• Reference 002 · Catalog: 222 g (7.8 oz), 180 × 140 × 15 mm (7.09 × 5.51 × 0.59 in)

One gram, which is the resolution of at least twelve of the fifteen scales here

This reads to 1 g / 0.05 oz.

So do eleven others: the Ultrean at $6.98, the Amazon Basics at $11.14, the Etekcity at $13.99, the GGQ at $17.98, the Greater Goods at $24.99, the KitchenAid at $23.99, the Escali at $25, the Etekcity USB at $29.99, the Etekcity nutritional at $39.99, and both OXO scales at $37.95 and $64.95, in “1/8-ounce and 1-gram increments”.

One scale on this shelf does better. The Letron at $34.99 has two platforms: a mini one reading 0.001 oz / 0.01 g up to 1.1 lb / 500 g, and a large one reading 1 g up to 33 lb / 15 kg.

Why one gram is not enough for some things.

A sachet of dried yeast is about 7 g. At ±1 g that is ±14 percent — the difference between a dough that proves in an hour and one that takes three. Three grams of salt in a loaf is ±33 percent, and salt governs both flavor and fermentation speed. Baking powder, bicarbonate and ground spices are all in the same range.

What one gram is exactly right for is everything else. 500 g of flour ±1 g is ±0.2 percent, which is finer than any recipe needs — and the same holds for sugar, butter, water, meat, pasta and portions.

So: one gram is the resolution of flour, not of salt.

And the honest statement of that limit appears on exactly one page on this shelf. The Greater Goods at $24.99: “Not for laboratory or microgram measurements.”

What this page does not publish is the other half of the resolution question: the minimum weighable load.

Five of the thirteen scales sold on Amazon.com do publish one: 2 g — the Amazon Basics at $11.14 and the Etekcity USB at $29.99 · 3 g — the GGQ at $17.98 (“from 0.1oz/3g”) and the Etekcity nutritional at $39.99 (“between 3 g - 5000 g”) · 0.01 g on the Letron’s mini platform.

The consequence nobody writes down: a scale with a 2 gram threshold displays zero for 1.5 g of yeast. That is not imprecision, it is a refusal to weigh — and on this page the threshold is unstated.

Six units, and two of them do the same job

“g/kg/lb/oz/ml/milk ml… just one button to easily switch to any unit”

Six is the most on this shelf, shared with the Ultrean at $6.98. The fewest is three — the Escali at $25: oz, lb:oz, g — and that scale carries the only lifetime warranty here.

And “milk ml” needs explaining, because five pages on this shelf sell it and none says what it is.

A scale cannot measure volume. It measures mass and divides by an assumed density.

Water is 1.00 gram per milliliter, so 250 ml of water weighs 250 g and the conversion is invisible. Milk is about 1.03 g per milliliter, because of its dissolved sugars, proteins and minerals. So “milk ml” applies the other divisor.

The entire content of the feature is a three percent difference. On 250 ml that is about 8 ml, which nothing will notice. On a liter it is 30 ml, which a custard might.

The other pages that sell it: the Ultrean at $6.98 — “Yes! It includes milk volume measurement” · the Etekcity USB at $29.99 — “milliliters (milk and water), and fluid ounces (milk and water)” · the Etekcity nutritional at $39.99 — “g (water & milk)/ml (water & milk)” · the GGQ at $17.98 — “ml”, water only.

The better habit, which no page here suggests: weigh liquids in grams and ignore the volume units. A mass in grams is a number you can check against the packet; a converted volume is not.

And the one-button switching is worth a word of caution. A single button cycling six units means five presses to get from grams back to grams, and the unit does not reset on power-up on most scales — so check the display before you trust the number.

Two warnings nobody else publishes, and a two-minute shutoff

“automatic overload and low battery warning modes”

At least two of the fifteen scales on this shelf publish either. This, and the GGQ at $17.98: “Power-low alarm and overload remind.”

Both matter in a way that is easy to overlook.

An overload warning protects the load cell. A kitchen scale measures by flexing a strain gauge, and pushing past its capacity bends it permanently — after which the scale reads consistently wrong rather than failing outright, which is worse. At 11 lb capacity the thing that does it is a full stand-mixer bowl or a leaning hand.

A low-battery warning protects the reading. A dying cell on a strain-gauge scale makes it drift rather than go blank, so a warning is the only way to know the number is suspect.

And the shutoff is the joint-shortest on the shelf. “will automatically shut down when not used for two minutes”

The shutoffs published here: 2 minutes — this, the GGQ and the Greater Goods at $24.99 · 3 minutes — the KitchenAid at $23.99 · 4 minutes — the Escali at $25 · 5 minutes — the Letron at $34.99 · unspecified — the Ultrean · nothing — the Amazon Basics, three Etekcity scales and both OXO scales.

Two minutes is a nuisance rather than an economy, because of the tare. A multi-ingredient recipe is weighed cumulatively — bowl on, tare, flour in, tare, sugar in, tare — and going to the cupboard between two of those costs you the zero.

One scale answers it properly: the Greater Goods at $24.99 pairs the same two-minute shutoff with the only timed HOLD on this shelf — “keep readings on screen for up to 5 minutes”.

The workaround here: lay out every ingredient before you start weighing.

A first-use instruction, which no other page on this shelf gives

“First, tear off the blue protective film on the surface, install the included 2 AAA batteries and select the ON button on the flat surface to turn on the power; secondly, click the UNIT button… then, press the Z/T one-button tare function”

It is the only step-by-step on this shelf, and the first step is the one that catches people. A stainless platform ships with a protective film, and left on it looks like the finish.

The nearest equivalent is the Ultrean at $6.98: “Before First Use: Remove the plastic wrapping from the batteries before use” — a different wrapper, the same kind of problem. The other eleven pages say nothing.

And “on the flat surface” matters more than it reads. A strain-gauge scale measures the deflection of a beam, and a scale on an uneven countertop or on a cloth reads wrong because the load is not carried by all four feet. Four anti-slip bases — which this page publishes and only the GGQ at $17.98 also does, with “4 no-slip rubbers” — only help if they are all touching.

The rounded corners are the other physical detail here, and the reasoning is unusual to see stated: “In order to prevent edge collisions”. A 180 × 140 mm slab that lives in a drawer gets knocked, and a corner impact on a scale is exactly how a load cell goes out of true.

The body is 15 mm thick and 222 grams, and the catalog dimensions are identical to the Ultrean’s — 180 × 140 × 15 mm — which suggests the same housing from a different brand. The Ultrean’s own catalog weight of 5 g is not credible for such a body, and this scale’s 222 g is the realistic figure for both.

Against the rest of the shelf: Etekcity 200 g · this 222 g · GGQ 250 g · Greater Goods 367 g · Amazon Basics 381 g · Escali 431 g · KitchenAid 535 g · Letron 544 g · Etekcity nutritional 544 g · OXO 5 lb 581 g · Etekcity USB 700 g · OXO 11 lb 816 g.

The OXO at 816 g is nearly four times this scale, and weight is what stops a scale sliding when you stir a bowl sitting on it.

Night vision, waterproof, and both claims are loose

“It can provide you with night vision mode in dark environments”

What that means is a backlit LCD, and four scales on this shelf publish one: this, the Ultrean at $6.98 (“a negative white digital display”), the Etekcity at $13.99 (“Backlit LCD screen with large fonts”) and the OXO 5 lb at $37.95 (“optional backlight”). The Greater Goods at $24.99 publishes a “bright Hi-Def LCD” without calling it backlit.

And a backlight on a kitchen scale is worth more than on most displays, for a reason this page half-states: the platform is above the display, so a large bowl casts a shadow on the one number you need.

Two scales on this shelf attack that problem properly, and nine ignore it.

Both OXO scales — “Display pulls away from base to avoid shadowing from plates or bowls”: the display physically leaves the body Greater Goods, $24.99 — “the bright Hi-Def LCD display extends beyond the weighing platform for better visibility under large mixing bowls”

The waterproof claim is the looser one. “it is more waterproof and wear-resistant” — more than what is not stated, and no rating is given.

One scale on this shelf publishes a rating: the Etekcity USB at $29.99, “IPX6 waterproof design, allowing you to easily measure liquids and wipe the scale clean”.

And one publishes the opposite: the KitchenAid at $23.99 — “Hand wash only; do not immerse in water or put in dishwasher; for best results, wipe with a damp cloth and dry thoroughly.”

Both OXO scales solve it a third way: “Platform removes for hand washing.”

For this scale, treat it as the KitchenAid instruction: wipe the platform, keep water away from the battery hatch and the button seams, and dry it. A sealed stainless top is not a sealed body.

What is not published

No minimum weighable load, as above — five of the thirteen scales sold on Amazon.com publish one, from 2 g to 3 g, and on a 1-gram scale that threshold is what decides whether a small ingredient registers at all.

No warranty. Three items on this shelf publish something: the Escali at $25 — a lifetime warranty, the only one here · the Greater Goods at $24.99 — a 5-year limited warranty plus “lifetime support from our St. Louis team” · and the GGQ at $17.98 — “12 Months Support”, which is support rather than a warranty. Ten publish nothing, including the $64.95 OXO.

No platform dimensions. One scale publishes its platform as distinct from its body: the GGQ at $17.98 — “7.5” x 5.5” in stainless steel panel provide more stability and space for larger containers”. Three publish overall dimensions: the Amazon Basics (8.3 × 7 × 1.3 in), the Greater Goods (7.6 × 5.6 × 1.3 in) and the Escali (8.5 × 6 × 1.5 in). The catalog figure here is 180 × 140 mm — about 7.1 × 5.5 inches — which is the body, and the platform is smaller.

No HOLD function, where three scales here have one and only the Greater Goods gives it a duration.

No capacity meter, which exactly one scale on this shelf has: the OXO 5 lb at $37.95 — “Convenient meter shows how much of Scale’s capacity remains”.

No waterproof rating, as above.

No country of manufacture, which no item on this shelf publishes.

Availability

Read on the day this page was built: $7 at the American Amazon shop.

Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.